Aqpayne Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 Right now I’m using a hairdryer in a hole in the ground, plan on building a 55 drum forge I saw on here. I’m wondering what’s the best bang for my buck blower or even if I should use a blower vs bellows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 What fuel are you using? And is it the side blast or bottom blast you areplanning to build? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 What are you wanting to forge? Anchors will probably require several good blowers, hat pins can be done with a fireplace bellows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 You think he's going to try to forge anchors in a 55 drum forge TP? Aqpayne, while there are several factors that will impact the answer to your question, since you gave us your intended forge design we can ballpark it a little bit, but more info would be helpful. For bituminous coal you don't have to have a constant air source, so bellows, hand crank, or double action air mattress hand pump can work fine. If you were going to be using anthracite coal you really do need a constant flow of air to keep the fire going, so you probably wouldn't want to use one of those options. The point is we need a little bit more information to answer your question. I've used the blower from a power vent water heater. Some have used vacuum cleaners (backwards flow of course), bathroom vent blowers, hair dryers, and many other options. If you have something on hand that you think might work, let us know what it is, what you plan to use for fuel, and whether the plan is for a side blast or bottom blast and then we can give you a somewhat reasonable answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 I could forge an anchor with a single small blower. It'd just be a small anchor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqpayne Posted August 22, 2018 Author Share Posted August 22, 2018 9 hours ago, Aqpayne said: Right now I’m using a hairdryer in a hole in the ground, plan on building a 55 drum forge I saw on here. I’m wondering what’s the best bang for my buck blower or even if I should use a blower vs bellows I’m Using anthracite for the time because it’s the only thing sold within 3 hours so I loaded up on it a bit because it’s a bout a 3 hour drive. Im heavily leaning on bottom blast when I go to make it I’m still looking at those options. I think I’m liking what I’ve read about the brake rotar pot and how it collects dust and from what I’ve seen those were all bottom blast, that said I saw nothing saying they can’t be side blast? Anyway tell me what you think Buzzkill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 1 hour ago, Daswulf said: It'd just be a small anchor For your ship in a bottle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqpayne Posted August 22, 2018 Author Share Posted August 22, 2018 And right now I’m currently in the very beginnings and still making leaves. I’m in about my 5th leaf. Once I get more hammer control down and figure out my heat I’ll mostly be making tools for the whole smithing experience and for iron work as that is my trade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 That or a little larger. Hmm... maybe even a kayak anchor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzkill Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 If you're using the TSC anthracite I'd recommend a powered blower. A hair dryer will work ok to start if that's what you have. You will want some way to vary the air though. This can be as simple as just aiming the hair dryer at a pipe and moving it around until you get the desired flow to gate valves to some method of allowing excess air to exit your air input system. One of my early methods was to drill a bunch of holes in the air supply pipe and use a sliding sleeve to cover more or fewer of the holes as needed to get the desired amount or air. Someone posted an ingenious method of using a conduit J box where he would open or close the cover as needed to adjust the air going to the forge. If memory serves correctly he was using a hair dryer for his air source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 Missed a previous post.... I'm thinking a little better blower than a hair dryer for a bottom blast with anthracite coal. Whats your budget? A blower can be used even if you build a different forge so getting something a little better can't hurt. You could go new, used or salvaged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqpayne Posted August 22, 2018 Author Share Posted August 22, 2018 I’m willing to spend money to buy good tools but I’m not gonna drop a grand on a blower lol. I’m hoping I can try and get something for free from an old Peice of factory machinery to try out. If not though I’m willing to spend 150 ish, and I feel as if the hair dryer isn’t getting my fire hot enough. That said maybe I’m giving to much air, I’m at the begging of that learning curve lol. I’m addition it is the tsc nut coal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 A new Dayton blower that would work (I use one) would only cost around $50-75. At the moment I forget the model numer I use and someone else on another thread recommended another similar model. A search would probably bring the thread up. There are other "new" options that won't break the bank as well. There are many other options as well. If I hadn't been given the dayton blower by a friend early off I would have salvaged a blower to use. Buzzkill mentioned some options. Personally I'd be put off the vacuum cleaner as a blower with the noise. When searching the site it's better to use your regular search browser and type in iforgeiron after the search topic. The sites search function is not great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 Not knowing where you are at makes it hard to suggest things. If you were only in the USA in an area that uses household furnaces during the winter I would suggest talking with a local furnace repair place as many of the new high efficiency furnaces have an exhaust helper blower and that is not what usually goes bad and needs the furnace replaced. They may have one on their bone pile for a dozen doughnuts or so... Last small electric blower I bought was from the Black Hole at Los Alamos and had AEC markings on it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 One way to learn air control for the fire is to build a fire from scrap wood and control the air to make the fire do what you want, from idle, to low, medium and high hear. Learn to watch the fire and maintain a constant level of heat. Hold each fire at that heat level for several minutes. Air flow is not just one setting. You can change the air flow with each new activity, that is one setting for heating the metal, one setting for holding the metal at a certain heat level, and one setting for holding the fire at idle while you are at the anvil. This saves burning up excess fuel and burning the metal. The fire has different areas of heat. Use the upper part of the fire ball as the hottest part of the fire, and you can use the side of the fire for another heat zone. Placing metal on top of the fire will preheat it so it can get up to forging temperature that much quicker when you move it to the fire ball.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 4 hours ago, Aqpayne said: I’m willing to spend money to buy good tools but I’m not gonna drop a grand on a blower lol. I’m hoping I can try and get something for free from an old Peice of factory machinery to try out. If not though I’m willing to spend 150 ish, and I feel as if the hair dryer isn’t getting my fire hot enough. That said maybe I’m giving to much air, I’m at the begging of that learning curve lol. I’m addition it is the tsc nut coal. If you are in the US, a Dayton blower is the way to go. They have the largest choice of blower with very affordable prices. if you are in Europe, there are blacksmith supplier in UK and Poland that have decent blowers for low prices. If you are in Australia, you are better off buying a Dayton and importing it via a fright forwarder. As for models, if you search on the "electric motor warehouse" for Dayton blowers, you have most of the models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 For a forge you need not only flow usually expressed in CFM but pressure to push the air through the coals. An axial fan, that is one where the air flows along the motor axis, is designed for high volume but low pressure. What you need is a centrifugal fan that can impart some pressure to the air and where the motor is at 90 degree with the air flow. The CFM required by a forge depends very much of it's construction and how big of a fire you need. In general a side blast forge needs more volume than a bottom blast forge and just to mention a figure 100 CFM would be adequate for most forges, but what is adequate? People forge with hair dryers and axial bathroom fan built in a plywood box. You will need to experiment. Fortunately those Dayton fan are, some of them. 1/3 of your budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 7 hours ago, Aqpayne said: I’m currently in the very beginnings Welcome to the insanity. Have you read this thread yet? It will help get the best out of the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqpayne Posted August 23, 2018 Author Share Posted August 23, 2018 Marc1 - what do you think of this blower? Do you know anything about or does anybody else? Dayton Model 1TDP7 Blower 146 CFM 3100 RPM 115V 60/50hz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 You need to know how to hook it up and control it. That might be one of the recommended ones iirc. It should serve you well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 The problem with that blower is it is not recommended for speed control. You would have to control the air with an air gate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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