Newbie questions about burners, etc.

[JamesFK13]

Good morning, I’m in the process of building my forge. I’ve made me burner and just wanted any input or advice as to how the flame looks. Will it be hot enough to forge weld? 
 

Also, as far as firebrick vs insulation. Will insulation walls correlate to a hotter forge since the brick will absorb some of the heat or will the brick act as a radiant heater once the heat has soaked in? 
 

Here’s the burner in a make shift housing of fire bricks. I’ll be building the housing later today. 

 

[Mikey98118]

The flame looks okay.

[Brandon Ade]

The hard firebrick you have in your photo is fine for the interior and it will take longer for the forge to heat up as the bricks absorb heat, but when hot they hold heat very well and will radiate that heat back into the piece. It will also stay warm much longer after turning off the forge so if you come back in say 30 minutes it will still be hot and you can get back up to temperature faster. 

You will need to wrap the exterior of the bricks with insulating blanket, otherwise the bricks will radiate heat away from the forge and it will be much less efficient. Also the bricks will be very hot and a safety issue if you don't insulate the bricks.

My recommendation would be to build the interior flame faces with hard firebrick (or castable refractory like Mizzou or Kastolite 30) and then coat in ITC-100. This provides a very durable surface with the IR benefits of ITC-100.

The difference between fiber insulating blanket (coated in Satanite) vs hard firebricks (coated in ITC-100) is time and durability. You can get to working temperature faster with insulating blanket (or soft firebrick K26) but it is fragile and breaks down faster than hard firebrick/castable refractory. Hard firebrick will last longer (esp. when coated with ITC-100 or bubble alumina) but will require longer heat up time, and can be more complicated in the build process depending on design.

[JamesFK13]

Thanks Brandon. I went with 2” insulation all around with firebrick on the floor. I’ll post a pic of what I have so far.
 

I just don’t know if my burner is hot enough or what kind of flame I need to achieve. 
 

I still need to mount my burner, make some kind of door and I think I’m going to put a tray in the front, but here’s how it looks so far. 

 

[Frosty]

Have you rigidized the refractory blanket? The fibers that break loose, especially after coming to red heat and higher are a breathing hazard. Think silicosis or mesotheleoma kind of breathing hazard.

I think you'll do well to spend some time looking through the Forges 101 section. It has some of the most current forge build discussions including materials, construction, shape, size burner placement etc. 

The fire brick in your forge is going to cost a LOT in fuel and considerable time just getting hot. There are much better alternatives unless you need a forge that stays hot for hours after you're done for the day. 

The wide open end is going to waste a lot of heat, even hanging a piece of refractory blanket in front of it. 

At least be safe, rigidize the blanket and cover it with a water setting refractory so you aren't gouging scraps and fibers loose with a piece of work. 

As it is your forge is NOT a safe forge, even when it's not burning.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JamesFK13]

Thanks frosty, I’m waiting on my rigidizer now. In the meantime, I built this. 

[Mikey98118]

You need to fine tune those flames; that is done by shortening the MIG tips on "T" burners.

[JamesFK13]

Mikey, I took close to 3/8” off of the tip. I cut them off if in increments of about 1/8” and tested it. What exactly am I looking for? More of a cone with less of the orange flame? 

[Frosty]

Did you debur the jet orifices with a torch tip file? Having a smooth clean jet is IMPORTANT. Don't get carried away though or you'll enlarge and make the jet out of round which disrupts the smooth conical stream of propane  you need to make a burner work correctly.

You'll know you're getting close when it starts sounding like a jet engine. They can be unpleasantly loud as in wear hearing protection loud. 

The visual cues right now are the bushy flames and orange streamers. You have a way to go. Where is the jet when you look straight through the air intakes of the T? 

The "Jet" is specifically the END of the mig tip where the orifice is. Just so you know what I'm talking about by "Jet" position.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JamesFK13]

I used a piece of mig wire. I could feel the burr on the inside and went around the entire inside edge to make sure it was clean. 

[Frosty]

Buy a torch tip file set, they're cheap and work properly.

You don't plan on running those THAT close together do you? They'll be robbing each other for combustion air no matter what you do. Move them at least 8" apart.

Frosty The Lucky.