Kelly R Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) New to forging, welding and fabricating for about 6 weeks now. So why not go for it and build everything myself? I’m in the finishing stage of building my first forge. I made a mold of my ribbon burner and planned to cast the top portion of the forge with castable but way underestimated how much I would need. I made the batch and if was only enough to do half of the 3” I wanted. Can I just get more castable and pour it on top of the first layer to fill it up? I just added photos of the burner for now. Will post the completed system when done. FullSizeRender.MOV Edited July 1, 2022 by Mod30 Resize photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Welcome aboard Kelly, glad to have you. Without knowing which refractory you're using I can't say for sure but probably yes you can. I sure wish you'd joined and spoken up before putting so much effort into your first burner. Ribbons are really effective for what they do well but not so great as a general forge burner. The design you're using tends to blow considerable flame out of the forge to burn in your breathable air rather than INSIDE the forge where it can do work for you. My only suggestion for now is to put the gauge where it will do you some good, in the gauge port on the regulator. On the downstream side of the needle valve isn't going to tell you anything useful. Needle valves control the volume of the flow, the regulator controls the psi. downstream from the needle valve will show psi much lower than in the supply line. Needle valves on burners provide eyeball control once you've used the burner enough to know how to read the flame. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly R Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 Thank you for your suggestion about the gauge. I’m curious to how the burner will work in the forge. Apparently they work differently when inside rather then outside of an enclosure. It was KAST-O-LITE 30 LI PLUS CASTABLE that I used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 You're welcome, it's a common mistake though it makes intuitive sense. Gun (blown) burners work pretty much as well inside as outside an enclosure, they're not particularly susceptible to back pressure. Naturally Aspirated (NA) burners are the ones that are strongly affected by back pressure. The combustion air in a NA burner is supplied by the low pressure zone caused by the jet of propane flowing down the center of the mixing tube. So anything that affects input or output influences how much intake air can be induced. A blower supplies the combustion air for a gun burner so it takes a significant blockage of the exhaust gasses to effect them. The plans you're following is a proven burner and you look to be following them so it'll work as designed. When you get ready to build the forge give a shout we might have some ideas for you. There are two good sections on Iforge that discuss propane burners, "Burners 101" and propane forges, "Forges 101" that will provide hours of reading and a number of proven designs for burners and forges. Remember a propane forge is a machine consisting of a burner and furnace, they need to be pretty well matched to be a good performer. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BsnNFrnt Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 Plus one on the necessity of the needle valve. The air volume off the blower makes a huge difference in forge efficiency with the ribbon burner. I use a valve on the blower side and the gas supply side to get more control. It took several attempts to get the heat where I wanted it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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