Hammahead Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I'm a newbe to the hobby, 65 years old with time and a friend who want to try banging steel. I'm a retired graphite machinist with access to the material. Having looked at what's out there I thought of a kind of new approach. My ex employer gave me a couple of crucibles 15" od x 14" Id 9"h made from electronic grade graphite (very strong and heat resistant). We put a 3 " hole in the side and blow air from a dog hair dryer from the junk yard.we put 4 3"x3"blocks in the bottom and rest what I call a hearthplate 13.9" of x1" thick with 16 half inch holes in the center area. Crucible is contained in a chop saw floor stand. Our first fire went beyond expectation. Paper and kindling to start, with coal added in about 5 minutes. With blower going mostly restricted.we had enough heat to get a 3/8 rod to temp and flattened in a minute or 2. Has anyone else tryed this approach? Does anyone have an interest? I'll keep my eye on this site. If interested I'll send pictures to visualize the project. Iforgeiron has been a great help so far, so thanks and keep forging.Hammahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Welcome aboard, Hammahead! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Your forge sounds like a really interesting approach, one that I personally haven't encountered before (although some of the senior folks here have seen more than I ever will). Please, give us some pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Sounds like you have re-invented the firepot, which has been made from everything from dirt to clay to cast iron to steel over the centuries. Can you heat the middle of a 3' long piece of steel? Most firepots require slots on the side to get stock into the proper location of the hot spot for what needs to be done. I'd love to see pictures of your set up; I used to have a section of a 14" diameter graphite rod from an arc melter from a steel foundry; but recently gave it to a glass worker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mod34 Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Your duplicate post has been hidden; please check to make sure your browser is functioning properly and be careful with creating duplicates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Whose? JHCC or I? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 No, Hammahead's, looked like a double tap. Sometimes I have that problem when posting and can't remember if I hit submit reply & my system is running slow. BTW Hammahead, welcome to IFI and I think your idea borders on genius, I would love to have some graphite like that to play with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 And Hammahead (great name, BTW) is new to the forum and thus unfamiliar with the posting speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammahead Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 (edited) Thanks for the interest guys. Arc meltelater graphite is a different grade called low density, this stuff is high density, made to grow silicon computer chip material. It is also useful to make resistance heaters, both of which I have made a boat load of. It is made in Japan by Ibiden industries, owner of micro mech the company I worked for now retired.if you ordered a similar piece of material it would cost about $2000. Thankfully mistakes are made and this stuff was in the scrap pile. Going out to take pictures now. Edited April 26, 2018 by Hammahead Last minute thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammahead Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 I wanted to show it working, but my pal Ratatatt thought correctly clean it up first. So wire brushes and spray paint first. Although almost everything is used or junkyard, it doesn't have to look it. Anyway hopefully I can get the pictures out of the phone and on the site. As noted I'm a newbie to the site. Thanks to all, Hammahead Ps. No luck with photos. Can't access recent pics from this page. It will only accept new photos taken while here. Maybe some of you have same experience. Stupid LG phone..Hammahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 Can't help you; I always send my pictures to my email on my desktop and save a copy there and then post them on IFI as I don't access IFI from my phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted April 27, 2018 Share Posted April 27, 2018 I machined graphite dies and crucibles for a smallish continuous casting machine. We ran nitrogen around and inside the crucible to keep it from degrading at high temp, otherwise it would just be burning up in no time. I believe it was Sumitomo graphite, but I could be wrong as this was back around 1994. Machining and grinding that stuff requires a superb air filtration system as it gets EVERYWHERE...... It is also very abrasive and eats HSS tools for lunch. Carbide did a good job, and the surface grinder didn't have a problem with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammahead Posted April 27, 2018 Author Share Posted April 27, 2018 Hi biggundoctor Sumitomo was one of our competitors in the semiconductor industry, lol. Ibiden, sumitomo and another got $ 15 million fine for price fixing around that time. That material as you say is wicked abrasive and nasty dust wise. We used diamond tooling almost exclusively in turning large diameter (12 to 50 in), what I mostly did. Crucibles and heater elements. You are right the stuff will degrade at high temp, but as long as my buddy makes a minor screw up now and then he'll keep me in forge material. It is also just an experiment. If they burn out to quickly I'll have to get the welder out and go more traditional route. My ex employer was good to me and gave me an almost new Bridgeport and a pretty good 14x40 engine lathe. They went all cnc years ago, except for me and a few old timers. I retired after 39 years 2 years back. Only 1 small fire so far, going to really crank it up Sunday and try taking pictures of the whole process. Cool talking to another graphite machinist, nobody knows what it's like till you do it. Thanks for responding Hammahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammahead Posted May 12, 2018 Author Share Posted May 12, 2018 Unit togeSorry to take so long to figure out the pictures. This is the fire pot .next is the hearth plate. Next are the standoffs, and side view of hearthplate. Next standoffs in the firepot. Next Unit assembled. This is a modified chop saw frame with support struts.Now the unit is locked into the frame. This is the air supply pieces. That's everything but fire. Rain is coming soon, but when everything corporates I will show you the real first working fire and first attempt to form steel with heat and hammer. Thanks for your patience. Hammahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 12, 2018 Share Posted May 12, 2018 Looks deep, how do you get the middle of a long piece of steel up to temp in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammahead Posted May 12, 2018 Author Share Posted May 12, 2018 We are starting small. The fire pot is 13 1/2 inches. I.D The first fire was more of a test since we didn't have an anvil. We had the coal level to the top and all of it was HOT. I've put together a piece of 1/2 inch steel plate on a stand so we can try some real stuff. The firepot should big enough to start. Hammahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 13, 2018 Share Posted May 13, 2018 remember you want the workpiece to have a good mound of coal on top of it too for man processes. Why many forges have slots to be able shove the steel through the middle of the hot spot while not wasting fuel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Interesting. Let us know how it works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Interesting, I used to machine "scrap" graphite for custom glass molds that I got from a facility that made special assemblies for potting electrical devices. They tossed a lot of end cuts and used to allow me full access to their junkyard. As I recall the material was quite easy to machine with just a wood bandsaw, file, belt sander... but I have no idea whether I was eating up the teeth or not (never had to replace the saw blade, but wasn't in any kind of production anyway. Boy the dust sure got everywhere though. I ended up working in a dedicated storage room with exhaust fan and still struggled with it. Even using a full respirator with HEPA filter cartridges I found traces of black dust inside the respirator and my nasal passages. Not to mention that the dust on the floor was a good contender for slickness with black ice... Don't miss that even a little bit. If I recall the binder for the graphite I used would break down fairly quickly on direct contact with molten hot glass (figure in the 1900 to 2100 deg. F range), but was fine with short contact with glass at working temperatures (probably the 1400 - 1800 degree range). Not sure how this will equate to use as a coal forge, but personally I would go with steel plate as a preference. Note that thick sections of graphite will also transfer heat from forge interior to exterior pretty quickly as well, so your pot design may not be all that efficient. Here is a shot of some of the glass tumblers I used to make with the custom molds: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Cool info, cool story, cool glasses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammahead Posted May 18, 2018 Author Share Posted May 18, 2018 This kind of graphite is fairly heat resistant. It's used for heating elements and extreme high temp purposes, up to 3,000 degrees c. at those temps an oxygen free atmosphere or vacuum is nessesary. This is just an experiment on a low budget. The material is free, to buy it is outrageous(2 grand plus). If it doesn't hold up I'll get the welder out and fab something out of steel. So far I have less than $50 in it mostly for air supply. Will fire it up soon for an hour or 2 and see how it looks. Will post pictures of firing. Hammahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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