Recommended burner type for a foundry?

[MichaelL0533]

Hello,

Noob here. Some friends and I are starting on building a foundry. We've done some reading and watched a lot of videos however it is sometime hard to tell who actually knows their stuff and who's just talking out their xxx. So we're coming to you guys because you seem like you know what you're doing.

A lot of the burners we have seen are those pipe burners like the one pictured below. I have also heard that ribbon burners are more fuel efficient and superior when it comes to forging, but I do not know if it is better when used in a foundry. (we would like to be able to cast iron or steel).

Can I please have the general consensus on which is preferred? (and where to find the recommended blueprints and/or the math to calculate measurements and such). If another type entirely is what is recommended can you please point me in that direction?

Thank you very much in advance for any and all help. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Mod30
Language

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Michael, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. 

The owner and moderators have strict rules about keeping the site G rated so you need to watch your language. You probably you meant to say talking out their HAT rather than their Donkey just a typo  . . Yes? 

There are too many factors determining how much burner you need for what purpose. Efficiency isn't the same thing as effective, don't get hung up on efficient it can be counter productive. 

A properly tuned propane burner flame can run close to 3,200f so you need to know the BTUs per second required to melt the mass of metal you wish. Once you've determined how much burner you need you have to determine how much furnace (melter) you need. It must have sufficient space between crucible and furnace wall to contain the volume of flame required to supply the necessary BTUs per second. Then you have to take into account heat loss through the furnace shell and to exhaust.

A long ago friend cast iron in 30 lb melts with a 1 1/4" naturally aspirated "sidearm" burner. A T burner or one of those pictured would work as well. You'll need to provide the basic information for anybody to be able to evaluate or make useful suggestions. I'm not a caster but fire is fire and a furnace is a furnace, I can make educated guesses if I know enough to make them.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Have you looked into building a cupola for melting cast iron?  Better throughput and a simple design.

Melting steel is much more involved; what kind of steel would you be melting and how much how often?

[MichaelL0533]

My apologies, I'll keep it G in the future.

I looked into the sidearm burner style and that is very similar to a burner I have made in the past. I'll see what I can do with that with the size constraints I have.

And honestly I think we would be casting iron much more often than steel. we would just like the ability to do it. Casting iron however might become a fairly common thing.

[ThomasPowers]

In what amounts?  Cupolas work really well!