It’s Finally Burning - a first build story (photo heavy)

[Daguy]

It’s taken a while, but my forge build is finally complete bar the IR reflective coating.  Many thanks to all who gave advice.  

I started by building a naturally Aspirated ribbon burner on a 3/4” Frosty T-burner mixer.  I built the frame for the castable from scrap wood and put shipping tape, the type used to tape boxes shut, on what would become the interior of the form before assembling it, punching holes in each crayon socket and coating it with Crisco (butter flavored, for the curious) before inserting the crayons.  This combination worked like a dream as a release agent.  I highly recommend it.

The mix chamber was built from 2X2 square tubing, 1-1/2 inch shorter than the length of the flat portion of the shell.  I just used a couple of pieces of hardwood to vibrate the Mizzou I used for the port section, but that rocked quite well.  I could only push the reinforcing wire about halfway down into it, but by vibrating (hitting) it with the sticks, it settled in nicely and when the form was removed, no voids.

I had greased the crayons, and tried to pull them, but broke all but one or two . So I drilled them out with three progressively larger bits and pushed the last little bit out with the flat end of a bit one size smaller than the holes.  The hardest part was getting the crayon residue out of the air mix chamber.

next it was time to get the paint off the shell and attach legs.  I used some warehouse rack angle iron that had been scrapped off of a rack that lost an argument with a Hilo at work (no casualties other than the one piece of steel), cutting a semicircle the size of the forges O.D. out of one side of angle on each “leg” and welding them to the shell.  A similar method was used to attach a work support piece to the front and a straight piece of stainless angle was welded on for a burner mount and it was time to paint!

[Daguy]

I used Rustoleum black “hammered” finish paint, because it seemed fitting, but dang! It turned out looking good, too! As you’ll note in the background, I was properly su”pug”vised throughout the entire build

[Daguy]

And a few photos/videos of it all fired up

I do have a few video clips of it running, but I can’t figure out how to attach video here.  It has a very nice “swirl”, which is what I was after when I mounted the Narb where and in the orientation to the chamber that I did.  Overall, I’m pretty happy with it.  

It seems, though, that forges are a lot like cigarettes.  After you’ve been tempted to start your first one, if you’re not actually building one, you’re thinking of the next one.  I’m already looking at a Freon tank that’s about 2/3 the size of this one and thinking about my leftover build supplies . . 

[JHCC]

On 10/2/2018 at 5:46 AM, Daguy said:

I can’t figure out how to attach video here.

The best way I've found is to post the video to YouTube, and then post the YouTube link here.

then we delete it if anyone posts a comment that violates the IFI ToS

[Buzzkill]

Looks pretty darn good to me.  I like your burner placement and angle.  If it's giving you a good swirl in there it should work out very well overall with no direct flame impingement on flat stock.  My last build was an updraft configuration with the ribbon burner mounted in the flat floor, but I think I like your solution better.    It is like an addiction though.  Every single time (so far) when I've finished a build I want to do another one to try out other ideas sparked by the building process.   I can usually resist the urge for about a year though. 

For generally flat stock that doesn't need more than 8 inches or so heated at one time a freon size forge works well, is pretty fuel efficient, and doesn't heat up your work space nearly as much as the larger forges.  That size is what I've ended up using for the majority of forging that I do, but of course it does have its limits.

[Daguy]

Thanks, Buzzkill.  it has an awesome "swirl".  If there was some way to post a short video, I'd show one that I didn't know my phone would do.  But I haven't figured out how.  I hit  "Slo-Mo" and it took a video that runs less than a minute.  When I viewed it, it has about a second at either end of normal speed but the rest of it shows the burn in slow motion.  I'm hoping someone who views this thread will give me a little help on posting a short vid.

[Daguy]

I know youtube is not necessarily respected here, but I figured out I could post the video to youtube and link it here.  Check out the link below and let me know what you think. I welcome ANY feedback.  It's how we learn.

Swirl

[Frosty]

I agree, Youtubing & linking videos is much better than posting them here as vids.

That's working very well, GOOD JOB! You can see the combustion is complete before making the first whole turn in the chamber. That's not  necessarily the fuel air burn but perhaps burning the calcite in the refractory burning orange. 

Missou?

The only suggestion I can think of here is maybe a lip on the floor and a rim around the door to help contain the vortex IN the chamber. 

I really like it on all counts. The video doesn't have loud annoying music. Thank you! Well done!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daguy]

Missou - yes. And as for annoying music,  it would mask how quiet the ribbon burner, built pretty much to your specs, ran. 

To tell the truth, People I work with tell me I'm clever.  I make a living as a Machine Maintenance Mechanic.  You can read that as Jack of all trades, Master of none. But it is only because of the brain trust I found on this forum that I was able to accomplish the build. Many thanks to all contributors!!!

[Daguy]

I notice as I read through this that a message has been lost. I don't recall all of it, but the pertinant part is: an Ulu works wonderfully to precision cut the Cerawool.  

[Frosty]

My compliments all round. I HATE videos with music unless it's necessary, say a dance video.

Me too, I was amazed how much quieter the ribbon is. The single outlet burners in my too BIG shop forge can be heard more than 100' away with the shop doors closed. Folk have told me they followed the sound from the road. An exaggeration unless I had more than one burning I'm sure but they're LOUD. The ribbons let folk talk in barely raised voices standing close enough to get roasted by the dragon's breath. 

Ah HAH! You live by your skills as a trouble shooter so this build was a piece of cake for you! Without Jacks of All Trades the masters would be out of jobs when their widgaroony twirlers break. 

Again, good job!

We're typing at the same time. Ulu! Maybe a scaled up pizza cutter? I just made fast blades from 14 ga. scrap I sharpened and taped for a handle. Utility knife blades are too short and I don't like picking the dust out of my pocket knife. Next build I'll give an Ulu shaped object (USO?) a try.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daguy]

That's a good idea! Maybe I'll try to make a scaled up pizza cutter just for future builds.  a 1/8th inch thick disk punch a rivet hole dead center and put a bolt through it, chuck it up in a lathe and use a 4" angle grinder to get a true or at least usable circle blade edge, thenafter attaching it to a handle just store it in the box with the cerawool.

[Daguy]

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

I HATE videos with music unless it's necessary, say a dance video.

Maybe I'll post a link to a video of me making the pizza cutter with a Klezmer Band or maybe Bagpipes overdubbed.  Of course then I'll have to dance while I work. 

[Frosty]

What tune on the pipes and will there be drums, in a mini kilt and blingy sporan?

Like it or not I'd watch several times and if you look good in a mini kilt I have friends who might become fans.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daguy]

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

What tune on the pipes and will there be drums, in a mini kilt and blingy sporan?

Well of course it would have to start with a salute to Scotland. I’m thinking more along the lines of Scotland the Brave than Flowers of Scotland, the National Anthem.  It’s a little more up tempo.  I’ve always liked Ye Banks a Braes and then after that various jigs.  And I stick to a utility kilt in the forge/shop.  Can’t be havin’ with a lack of pockets.  And I just ordered a utility sporran to go with it. 

 It seems, though, that forges are a lot like cigarettes.  After you’ve been tempted to start your first one, if you’re not actually building one, you’re thinking of the next one.  I’m already looking at a Freon tank that’s about 2/3 the size of this one and thinking about my leftover build supplies . . 

Oh yeah, and I think drums would be nice touch.

[Daguy]

On 10/2/2018 at 1:51 PM, Frosty said:

Ah HAH! You live by your skills as a trouble shooter so this build was a piece of cake for you! Without Jacks of All Trades the masters would be out of jobs when their widgaroony twirlers break. 

And all kidding aside, yes I may have been able to figure this out (or not) on my own. My background helped me differentiate between good advice and , shall we say, not so good, ut the success of the build is definately attributable to the knowledge gleaned from this forum.

[Frosty]

Yeah, to paraphrase Dad again, "Learning from your mistakes is smart. Learning from other people's mistakes is smarter."

I've said it many times, I didn't "invent" any of this stuff from the T burner to the recent multi outlet (ribbon) burners. I was given a bunch of materials by a coffee shop buddy that got me going the naturally aspirated burners, jet ejectors in particular. The ribbon gave me the old (this should work better nudge) after posts here, other fora and a couple magazines about having trouble finding blowers that develop enough static pressure to make a ribbon work.

My Nudge said HUH? Pressure? Have any of these guys looked under the lid on a gas range? Ayup, that's a NA inducer driven by natural gas at ounces per sq inch pressure and feeding a multiple orifice burner. Google google google and I'm looking at glass glory holes, ceramics kilns, and so on about multiple orifice burners and they're almost ALL naturally aspirated unless they're really large. 

A little tinkering and there it is! WAY more successful than I anticipated, I expected to have a stack of failed versions to analyse but oh no, the most simple test methods and one try and it works a treat. 

Oh and "ribbon" arrangements for multiple outlet burners is pretty rare, almost everybody uses shapes that work better for their purposes. The most commercially made common ribbons are under gas grills, griddles and BBQs. 

I've learned a LOT more from Iforge than I've contributed. It's a grand place to hang.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daguy]

Agreed used NARB as an acronym because the one I built actually was.  

14 hours ago, Frosty said:

 after posts here, other fora and a couple magazines 

And as for “other fora”? You may be a smart cookie when it comes to science, Frosty, but it’s a pleasure to exchange ideas with a man who knows how to communicate and has a good grasp of the English language.

Daguy

[JHCC]

"Forum" has been in the English language since the fifteenth century, and "forums" has been used as its plural in English since 1647, in Stapylton's translation of Juvenal's Sixteen Satyrs. "Fora" is the correct Latin plural, but its use in English is an affectation most common among classicists and those who have been hit on the head with birch trees.

[Daguy]

But I like Birch . . . it's pretty.  

And Stapylton's translation of Juvenal's Sixteen Satyrs is like a twist-off beer cap.  Just because it's there doesn't mean we have to use it.

[ThomasPowers]

When referencing this site and it's denizens; do we refer to it as the IFI Fora and Fauna?

[JHCC]

IFIFAF?

[Steve Shimanek]

Birch slapped.....;)

[Daguy]

BTW, Guys, HTC-100 applied, Forge complete.  It's Hammer Time!  

 

(right after I catch up on the honey-do list)

43 minutes ago, Steve Shimanek said:

Birch slapped.....;)

[ThomasPowers]

careful I got moderated once when I mad a typo posting something similar!