Peppie's Propane Puffer

[Peppie]

Thought I  would share this build with ya all.

After much research, and some great advice from some very trusted members here, I have decided to build a floor mounted ribbon  burner forge.

Total inside cubic in ( after wool,and refactory) will be approx 400 cubic in. The burner will have approximately 20-24 ports (crayon diam) 3" X 8". Fed by 2" pipe. Air supplied by a kiddies bounce house blower.

 Two layers of 1"  X 8# X 2600 degree ceramic wool. 1/2" Mizzou refactory, and then plistix 900

[Mikey98118]

Nice looking "D" forge.You might want to increase the size of both openings, to keep the shell away from hot exhaust.

[Peppie]

The back one is 2  1/2  X 4, the front is 4 X 6.  What size would you suggest?  I sized them based on work fitting in and out. I have a forced air forge that has a small opening in the front, doesn't seem to make the shell hot enough to do any damage. 

[Mikey98118]

I would suggest the opening sizes you already choose, for your REFRACTORY openings, with your steel shell kept another inch away from those openings.

[Peppie]

TY Mikey98118,

Not to late to adjust. Easy fix.

[Mikey98118]

Yes; its an easy fix now, but would be a sad mess later

With the burner and forge designs coming on line these days, yesterdays little booboos aren't any longer.

[Peppie]

Had some time in the shop today. Almost finished with the door guides.

[Peppie]

Fab work completed.  Ready for paint. Wanted a soft self closing door. Got all the bugs worked out.

[Mikey98118]

Smooth working; I like it so far.

[Peppie]

TY Mikey,

I also enlarged the front pigeon hole, and fabed a small hood for it. Still need to make the rear door a bit larger....maybe. It is only there for a pass thru.

[Peppie]

Had some time to work on the new forge. Has a few coats of high temp paint. Installed 2 , 1" layers of wool.

Fabbed up the floor/stand. Next will be the insulation for the floor

[Peppie]

Got the base bricked, and refractory spread. Fabbed the ribbon burner. Coated the door and the back of the forge body, before I ran out of gas for the day

[Cedar Crest Forge]

Nice forge. What kind of tank(s) do you need to keep this 24 port 2 inch diameter forge running all day ?

[Peppie]

I have a 100lb tank, with a 40lb back up. One of the advantages of a ribbon burner is the ability to run the burner at a lower psi in turn using less fuel.

[Mikey98118]

Considerably less fuel than most homemade burners; not all, but they are the best path for the average newbie.

But, as I've been saying for twenty years, there is no such thing as the best burner (or the best forge) for every use. No one shoe fits all.

[Frosty]

I'm just waiting to see your forge running Peppie.

I have a two ribbon burner forge as seen in NARB lives thread and it'll run longer than I want to work at the anvil on a 40 lb. tank without freezing it, call it 6 hrs. It doesn't even cool the 100 lb. shop tank enough to form condensation.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Peppie]

Frosty, 

It will be a few weeks before I can lite it up. Wife has me boxed into to a honey-do list. She bought new furniture, and I have a crap load of painting to do just so the color of the new pillows dont clash with the walls.. Go figure??

[Peppie]

Pulled the burner out of the mold today. Looks great. I used Bic Pen Blanks for the ports.I used  toilet bowl wax ring on the form for a easy release agent. 

I thought it best to angle the ports a bit so the flame wasn't pointing directly on the side of the forge.

Got some heat cycling to do next.

[JHCC]

Looking good!

[Peppie]

TY JHCC

Got her all plumbed in, and setting on its permanent home. Been doing some short low temp burns, after I baked the burner in the wife's oven for a few hours. Shhhhhhhh.

Going to slowly increase the temp and burn time for two more day before turn the inside a nice orange ish white. 

I will post up a video of the swirl soon.

How far off the burner block should the flame be? 1/4"?  1/2"?  1" ? Looking for that sweet spot.

[Peppie]

After a number of heat cycles, I brought this forge up to full temp today. OMG!!

I am very pleased with how it came out, and more so on how it work.

I waited until darkness fell to film this to get a better view of the fuel rich swirl. Tuning is a breeze with the gate valve, and the needle valve. 

This thing ROARS!

[Mikey98118]

The design seems to be a success.

[Peppie]

Mikey, I believe so. Today I welded up a 4"x2"x2", 12 layer Damascus  billet. All went well.

[Paragon]

Cool forge.   Were you able to tweak your air and fuel to get the flame to contact the burner head?

I think I need to find one of those blowers for mine.

[Peppie]

Paragon, Yes I can control the gas with the regulator, a long with a needle valve. The air is adjustable via a gate valve.

My understanding is the flame should not touch the burner head. Keeping the casting cooler.

Am I out in left feild?