Bruno Medeiros Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 Alright, here's a build album for my two-burner forge. It's my first forge, so I probably did some things wrong, but hopefully this can help some other newbies. Here's a list of stuff I used for the main forge body and where I got it from (not included- various pieces of steel that I got from a local supplier): Harbor Freight 11 gal air tank 12x12" weldable sheet for forge faces (actually 12x11.875". eff you home depot) Adjustable screw handle things Insulating Firebrick 1" ceramic fiber blanket Fumed silica 15lbs Kast-o-Lite 30 1 pint Matrikote High heat spray paint Gas supply kit (mine is semi-custom) Hybridburners T-Rex burners I have two burners, but I probably could do with just one of the T-Rex burners. They are beasts. Well, that's it! I probably could have done thing better or cheaper, but I'm happy with it. Onto the photos: I forgot to start taking pictures in the beginning, but here is the air tank I used from Harbor Freight. I didn't want rounded ends, so I cut off the ends with an angle grinder. Then I cut back 2" from either side so I could use them as doors. I also cut off the handle, feet, and grinded off the hole for the air valve thingy. Milling out the front and back openings. Could have done this with an angle grinder, but I have a router cnc... so why not? Back door cut out pretty cleanly. Front face welded to front door/body. This project is the first time I've ever welded and ended up warping the thin face a little. I got it all worked out in the end, but just a warning to anyone else welding thin material for the first time. Front door almost complete! cut off the excess face, made a little porch and bracket to hold fire brick covers. Making and testing leg placement. I ended up permanently welding the back door on. Figured if I ever do maintenance I can do pretty much anything by just having the front be detachable. I was too lazy to make the front door be on a hinge, so I made little bolt bracket things that screw into the main body. There are 4 of them and they hold the front on nice and snug. Time to weld on the base! Also, you might have noticed I put little angle supports under the front and back porch. The welds are def strong enough to hold the porches on their own, but I figured this might help fight any warp due to the heat. I have no idea if it will or if it's even a concern, but it doesn't look bad so there it is. Cut out all the pieces for the rolling stand. In the foreground is the adjustable work rest for the forge. It can move in/out and up/down. Grind a flat in the rest rod so the set screw can set better. Here it is on the stand. Stand almost done! Just need to add tool holders and paint it. Ding! Stand is done. Used a forstner bit to drill a shallow hole and then cut a soft firebrick in half to make the front doors. The holes are so I can more easily use tongs to open the doors when they're closed. I picked up 12' of 1" ceramic fiber blanket on ebay and lined the forge with two layers of it. A little more on the bottom to make a flat floor. The particular blanket is rated to 2600 degrees. For the front door, I laid in insulation and then welded in thin rod to hold it in place. The rod gets buried in the insulation so it should be safe from the heat. Fumed silica + food coloring + water = ceramic fiber blanket rigidizer. Sprayed it on in a water sprayer. I'm not sure if this is 100% necessary but during my research it came up a lot so I just did it. Also got the fumed silica on ebay. It was pretty inexpensive and mind-bogglingly light. Next I added ~1/4" of refractory cement to every surface in the forge. I added a little extra to the area opposite of the burners since they'll be getting blasted. I used Kast-o-Lite 30 as my refractory. It's rated to 3000 degrees. After the cement has cured completely, I painted on a thin coat of Matrikote. It's an IR reflecting material that apparently works wonders with getting your forge hotter faster, similar to products like ITC-100 or Plistix (or so I've read). Anyway, it was cheap to buy a pint of it so it couldn't hurt! I also painted a coat on the forge facing sides of the firebrick doors. Painting the forge body. I don't know why I waited until everything else was done to paint it. Maybe I wanted to get the messy cement stuff out of the way first? Probably. Made a little bracket for my gas fittings and valves. Lined up my burners how I wanted them and then stuffed ceramic wool scrap in the gaps. The burners look misaligned, but it's actually the burner holders that are wonky. All done! Here's the back. And here's the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 Looks good Bruno. Where's the flame and glowy yellow insides picture? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Medeiros Posted June 3, 2018 Author Share Posted June 3, 2018 Coming soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Medeiros Posted June 8, 2018 Author Share Posted June 8, 2018 Whoops. Tried to get you that yellow hot photo, Frosty, but got distracted by warping. Thin face around the doors warped on the first heat. Might need to shave my firebrick doors down a bit, but otherwise I think it's still functional. If it ever becomes a big issue, I suppose I could cut off the face and replace it with thicker steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMike Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 finer than frog hair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 Warpage is the norm with steel that close to the doors, making it thicker hasn't made me happy. I hold the steel shell a couple inches back from the doors and extend the castable refractory out for a heat shield. It still warps just not as badly. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotoMike Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 I wondered when I saw the build where the ends were cut off and a flat piece of steel welded on in their place. I used an air tank for my build and retained the end caps, one because they required no additional steel and two because they were about an eighth inch thick steel with a rounded shape which I thought would add strength against warpage. so far that has held true. I'm on my 3rd 100 pound tank and have just replaced a burner. no warpage. I cut the tank at the weld seam and put a hinge on it to facilitate future maintenance. with my new burner I made the mouse hole bigger in the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 Orange to yellow is best supplied with the right re-emissive coating; not by running the burners higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudman Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 Wow, that came out really good. Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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