Pro forge 200

[James95]

Hi all, just bought the pro forge 200 for shoeing and making shoes, knives, etc. 

Problem is i can't get any steel up to welding temperature, has anyone else used this forge or have any tips for forge welding?

Cheers.

[pnut]

James, on the very next page is a thread titled reviving a proforge posted by Charles R Stevens. He has been using a proforge 200 long enough to have to have relined more than once. You may want to check with him as he has experience with this very forge. He will probably reply to your post here before long. If not maybe a PM.

Pnut (Mike) 

As an afterthought are you keeping the door closed while your stock is coming up to temp?  Also are you letting the forge heat up to full temp before attempting to heat stock. I'm sure you know about those things but I'm just checking.

 

 

[James95]

Thanks for the reply mate, yeah im waiting for the forge to get hot before i put anything in and keeping the door shut. I dont know how much heat escapes from the stock hole on the side though.

[Chris C]

Don't know if this'll be much help to you, James, but there is a forge at the open forge night I attend that has a side door like the Pro Forge, as well as 5"x7" openings on the ends.  Everyone leaves the door closed and uses the open ends to do knife and tool making work.  One loses a LOT of heat when that side door is opened.  Looks mighty convenient, but proves to be might wasteful of heat.

[James95]

Thanks mate, i might try to put something over the hole to stop some heat getting out today.

[Chris C]

I understand if you close that forge off completely, the burner won't "breathe" right.  You'd be check with someone who has that particular forge................I was just puttin' in my two cents worth.

[James95]

Oh ok no worries, thanks mate.

[pnut]

Check the topic reviving a dead pro forge. It's a few topics below this one. The guy who posted it is a farrier who has been using this type of forge long enough to have had to replace the lining more than once. I would PM him and ask for his opinion. He may be able to help you figure it out. His name is Charles R Stevens. Good luck hope you sort it out

Pnut (Mike)

 

 

 

      

Edited May 5, 2019 by pnut

[Charles R. Stevens]

The pro forge comes with a wad of kool wool to block off the one end port, and close the door. I don’t recommend running much over 15 psi as scale becomes a big issue at that point. I would recommend a kiln wash and something other than the factory bottom plate. For shaping shoes and heating up to 2” round it’s a usable little forge but finicky to weld in. I do not recommend using it as a mobile forge as the liner kits are relativity expensive and the burner assembly will break off. 

[James95]

So it was advertised as one of the best farriers forges on the market and so far i can't forge weld in it and shouldn't mount it in my ute.

Think i wasted my $1700 lol.

[James95]

Is this ok?

[Charles R. Stevens]

And you paid about a grand more than market in the US...

The dang door is glowing! It should be hot enugh to melt steel...

[James95]

That's $1700 AUD nothing cheap here unfortunately.

That was after about 45 minutes of forging.  

My forge never came with anything to block off the hole so i put a brick in there. 

I'll keep playing around with it and hopefully get some results soon.

[Charles R. Stevens]

I think you need at least two ports open to provide enough exhaust. I have never seen the door glow, isn’t it lined with koolwool?

[James95]

Mine only has 1 port on the left which i covered with a brick, ill take it out tomorrow and try again.

And the door isn't lined, should it be?

[pnut]

Yes. See post I mentioned twice above. There's a picture of the door lined with kaowool.

Pnut (Mike)  

Charles, I thought that was a reflection from the flames coming out the door. ;-) the side of the door is  glowing too!!

Edited May 7, 2019 by pnut

[James95]

Hmmm strange mine isn't lined. Will need to see where i can buy kool wool and do it my self.

[pnut]

Stupid question but the rest of the forge is lined right? Also Charles is right some some IR reflective coating like plistix or itc 100 would help bring up the temp. Itc 100 is expensive. Look in the refractory section for some more info.

Pnut (Mike)

You know you need to rigidize kaowool to avoid particulate matter becoming airborne and inhaling it.

Pnut (Mike)

[Frosty]

NO ITC-100! The stuff isn't effective enough to justify the ridiculous price! Plistex or Matrikote work better and last longer.

Frosty The Lucky.

[James95]

Ok so i need kaowool and rigidizer, anything else?

I'll be ringing my supplier to let them know i got a dodgy forge

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I would also use a hard face refractory over the rigidized Kaowool such as Satanite, bubble alumina or Kast-O-Lite 30 then a coating of Plistex or Matrikote.

[James95]

Ok, wow this is all very technical lol.

[Charles R. Stevens]

The kool wool is used as both a door seal and insulator. If you use rigidiser or castolite place two wheats or waxed paper over the opening to form a relise. That way you get a good seal with out gluing the door shut. I would contact my vendor, for that money it should have come with a titanium door..:

[James95]

Thanks. Spoke to stockmans supplies where i bought the forge and they are sending me some kaowool for free. Probably be a week before its here though. Im guessing that hole in the front of the door shouldn't be covered?

[MaxwellB]

Most everything I'm seeing has the port in the door open for exhaust. If you think you're losing too much heat through that you could probably make a plug to take up 1/3 or 1/2 of the open space, just to experiment.

Make sure you rigidize the wool before you fire the forge back up. You really don't want silicosis.