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3D printed plastic burner experiments (photo heavy)


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Question for Mikey, what lighting is best when evaluating these flames?  I am usually in dim lighting when testing as it highlights the zones.  Today the sun came out, I was in shaded but brighter sun light and the flame was purple in that lighting.

Also, you like the 3/8 burners.  I have scaled down v41 to a 3/8 mix tube v42.  I don't have the proper mix tubes or nozzles to play with in this size yet.  All I have are a 4 inch nipple and a 1/2 inch x 3/8 inch threaded reducer as a nozzle.  It runs rich with the 023 but I suspect having the proper sliding nozzle will correct that

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Starting out, I liked shaded light best for flame observation, but over time it became clear that anything but bright sunlight would do fine. Your brain learns to interpret what your eyes are seeing. It's just another learning curve. I appreciate what you observed about the purple tinting with a change in background lighting; that is interesting. However, you have taken a long step beyond me. You will need to do a little practical testing for scale formation to see how to interpret the color shift. I suspect that you saw the red of super heated oxygen molecules in that flame, but it's now time to check the results on a steel surface, then change the flame until the red shift is absent and check again. Your eyes are the probes; your mind is the meter.

I also suspect that you will end up doing flame retention nozzle experiments to mach them up better with your new burner design; a hybrid nozzle with step and taper both built in. If you begin to suspect I've little more to teach you...you are so right :) 

I can't cut and paste on any of the threads anymore; will try to sends you some useful information on better gas tube and MIG tip choices for 3/8" burners. You are ready for miniature gas assemblies now.

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I could not find an email address for you, Curtis, but for the first time in months IFI allowed me to cut and past into Birners 101. So you can find a list of recommended materials for miniature gas tubes and MIG tio jets there (alas with all addresses striped).

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So, with the increased diameter of your mixture chambers, why should you care? These miniature gas assemblies also make an end-run around long gas pipes, while increasing flow speed. You will note that no minimum gas tube length is mentioned. Make them as short as you find convenient.

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I just recently realized I can display images smaller in the post.   I am leaving them a bit larger now so they can be clicked on for a better view when desired.  

Big day today.  Finished the vacuum table.  Ugly and functional.  

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Tested different investments.  Also tested vacuum chamber use for bubble removal.  These prints are mostly hollow, it is possible that with a vacuum chamber, we could pull the air out of the void and have investment enter.  We tested today by pulling a deep vacuum on a test piece.

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We also worked on a better nozzle for the 3/8 version.  A piece of 1/2 inch pipe was bored to slip over 3/8 mix tube.  A piece of 3/4 pipe was bored to press fit the 1/2 inch step.  It was a quick and dirty job.  We will build some better ones when we get some stainless.

We also mostly completed the new big furnace.  Now we need to rebuild the little furnace.

14 hours ago, Mikey98118 said:

a hybrid nozzle with step and taper both built in

I built this guy a while back.  I have a picture of it on page 2 (third image).  I needed a bigger nozzle and just happened to have a Zoeller flare for a 3/4 inch burner so I made a step out of 3/4 inch pipe.  It is the nozzle I always select now.  I am wanting to experiment more with nozzles.  

13 hours ago, Mikey98118 said:

IFI allowed me to cut and past into Birners 101

It has been read.  Thank you for the information.  I read everything that goes into Burners 101, Forges 101, and the NARB thread.

My accelerator assemblies are made from left over 1/4 inch pilot tube pieces.  It is a good match for the tip.  I turn down the mig tips and braze them. 

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The more common pilot tube assemblies are a 3/16 tube(left in the image).  I have lots of left over pieces.  I measured an ID of 0.128" and plan on swaging an end to braze in capillary tube.  Hopefully it performs well.

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Once you get your foundry going, you can start 3D printing forge parts too :)

Cast legs, brass door hinges and latches, and brass castings that burner portal tubes can be dropped into to get a burner to line up at the perfect angle on forge and furnace shells made from commonly found parts, like coffee cans, and five gallon paint buckets, etc...

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Hey guys, I am not into gas forges (I use coal only) and know zero-zilch about them or 3-D printing but this may be of interest (in the future).  I browsed through a few posts and it seems that you are printing in a plastic media.  My son happened to run across an article about 3-D printing in METAL.  I thought you folks might be interested in pursuing this sometime.  Looks like it's in the formative stages and probably will/would be rather expensive.....just food for thought.

NOTE TO MODS:  The link below may be construed to be a commercial link, but I'm posting it for the informative value.  If you deem it to be commercial, please remove and let the guys in this thread know how they may access it.  Thanks.

https://3dprinting.com/news/joule-printing-by-digital-alloys-fast-and-low-cost-metal-printing/

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Hi Arkie,

I work for an engineering company, helping design it's measuring robots, but it also has a metal 3d Printer division, using laser melting of metal powders in inert gas atmospheres to make parts in load of different metals, from Titanium, to Cobalt steel, to Dental grade and Surgical grade steels. They are used in aerospace, automotive, dental and medical fields.

The link you've attached to is basically a MIG-welder type 3D printer. The issue with these resistance-welding type of printers is how much energy you have to put into the material to melt it, leaves the material you have already printed massively overheated, and the resolution of the printer is such that you have to do a lot of machining afterwards to get the dimensions you were after.

There is another Wire-based 3D printer technology that uses semiconductor lasers to melt the wire, and gives a very localised melt with very fine resolution, and can even bridge over gaps. https://www.additec.net/μprinter/

Have a look at the videos. Note: this is not the company I work for, it is just an elegant wire printing technology. I appreciate elegant.

Tink out!

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I LOVE 3D printing, I've been using a solar pumped columnated version (think system wide solar collectors) to build space craft and habitats since the late '60s but that's Sci fi. Thomas will recognize something connected to the Maple Syrup wars. That system was imagined by real scientists who knew what they were talking about. I was one of those writers who thought asteroid mining would be "easy." Sorry for the digression but it's why I'm excited about 3D printing becoming affordable on a . . . guy in his garage level.

 Were a person to own a laser 3D printer similar to the one Tink linked I'm thinking it'd be silly to make metal burners when a boy could use zirconium silicate instead. MAYBE? Dust don't drop the things eh?

Frosty The Lucky.

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But they were lonnnnng novels. I was hoping for another one but John Ringo is good at leaving the reader wanting more. I just finished listening to the latest novel in the "Black Tide Rising" series.

Frosty The Lucky.

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We attempted our first pour.  We suspect we were pulling too deep of a vacuum and cracked the investment.  It is amazing how much aluminum can be pulled through a crack.  We shut off the vacuum and poured to the top.  It ended up hideous but we managed to pull a working burner out of it. 

We have built a bleeder to control the amount of vacuum for the next attempt.  

I also printed a 3/8 version and a 3/4 version.  The 3/8 version has a beautiful flame with the 023 tip and a stepped nozzle.  The 3/4 version has not been run yet as I have to get bigger tips.  I am curious which tip it will end up needing.  

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Try thinking of an .0.030' tip in this burner design series as having the flow balance equivalent to .023" in a Mikey burner, so you will end up with either an .030" or .035"  tip, most likely. It is encouraging that you can use A MIG tip without resorting to a capillary tube in a 3/8" burner. Simple is a big deal with kit buyers :D

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What temperature was your flask when you poured the aluminum? Just thinking it might be something else going on than too much vacuum. I have full vacuum (as much as my pump can create) when I'm pouring, but my flask goes from 1470F for burnout, down to 1100F for one hour, then I pour with the flask at 1100F. Don't have cracking problems. Of course, I'm pouring brass, so the temps are different than for pouring aluminum, but the point is don't pour with the flask at room temp and don't cool it to room temp and then back up to pouring temp. That can cause cracks.

Now you guys have me reading the Boundary series and looking into the Black Tide Rising too.

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6 hours ago, John in Oly, WA said:

Now you guys have me reading the Boundary series and looking into the Black Tide Rising too.

Insidious aren't we?:) Boundary appears to be a good rousing space opera, probabilities take a hike. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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12 minutes ago, John in Oly, WA said:

the physical universe has to shimmer and flex a bit. That's sci-fi.

Actually that's what Einstein required of the universe, he called it, "A reference mollusk."

I tend to drift from reality to reality. Where I get messed up is when I'm reading a story and discover I'm composing one of my own. That can get REALLY weird when you're listening to an audio book.

Have you read any of Larry Correia's books? I got hooked by "Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent." His "Monster Hunter International" series is crazy good on several levels. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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