Gavj75 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Hi everyone. Ive slowly been building a small propane forge from a gas cylinder in my dinner break at work and have come to a point where I need some guidance. From looking at the small single burner forges you can buy, I see that some have the burner pointing into the forge vertically and some are at roughly 45°. Is there a particular reason for one way rather than the other as I'm not sure which way to mount mine? Thanks Gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Welcome aboard Gav, glad to have you. There are different reasons for either orientation but I think the consensus for cylindrical forges is leaning towards angling them rather than vertical. OH, was that a pun?! The idea is to direct the flame to impinge the floor at an angle and induce a strong vortex in the forge chamber. Mikey has a better grasp on burner orientation and vortex propagation than I. Hopefully he'll be along with better info. Vertically mounted burners tend to mix the flames more chaotically in the forge chamber so the temperature is less even. This isn't necessarily a bad thing some folks like a hot spot in the forge rather than even heat. Both have advantages ad disadvantages. It gets down to personal taste and what you're doing with it. Most of us end up with a couple few propane forges after a few years. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 Well, to mangle a famous football quote "swirling isn't the only thing; it's the main thing." Swirling is good for promoting even heating and hang time. BUT, it it tends to get over emphasized these days. What changed is burner technology. We have a slew of good burner designs around, and better refractory choices than in the past. "Nothin's for nothin'"; that saying goes double for forge design. Whatever advantage you lean into, cost something from some other advantage elsewhere; this is why overdoing most things in forge design is a bad plan. Top positioned and facing straight down burners bisect the work area; exposing your parts to flame damage. Forty-five degree orientation is likely to end up the the flame impinging on an under protected wall, instead of on a well protected floor. Aiming the flame at the near side of the forge floor at a smaller angle keeps it away from parts, and far away from the wall at the floor's far side, which that little bet of angle forces it to go; it also provides all the swirling the forge can use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavj75 Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 Thanks for the advice guys, im going 2 go with the angled approach. I do have another conundrum and that is that the end of my burner gets red hot quite quickly so im wondering if I need to do something to reduce this or is it normal? I'll take a few piccie's at work 2moro to give you a better idea of what i'm working with. Cheers chaps, Gav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Backing the burner into the insulation will help with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey98118 Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 2 hours ago, Gavj75 said: I do have another conundrum and that is that the end of my burner gets red hot quite quickly so im wondering if I need to do something to reduce this or is it normal? That probably means that you have a nice hot flame I try for orange hot on propane and yellow hot on propylene; that is out in the open air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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