Bouncing some forge ideas

[huntmaster99]

Good afternoon everyone,

Been getting some of that good ole experience lately, things I should do and not do. But the short of the story is that i've been using a Mr Volcano Hero 2 for a few weeks now and its been good so far, got it too hot to look at without polarized glasses and even then it was borderline. Only complaint is the rubber hose at the joints to the burners melts too easily if you apply any sort of pressure (the hose drooping). The second part is the holder for one burner broke off so i'm running one burner. Fixed the first problem but the second one makes me want to build my own forge and after reading some posts here I think I can.

Im aware of the volume vs burners and im going to keep the same volume the Mr Volcano has, burners have been great and saved me a ton of time and effort. Going to shorten it from 16 inches to about 12-13 and make the internal shape square. The shell will be 1/8th inch mild steel plate and ill attempt to make a swinging door of sorts, or maybe keep the tried and true 'slide a firebrick around' door.

Its got 1 inch K-wool and a thin coating to seal that in. I want to get at least 2-3 inches of insulation and that be sealed in with a 0.5 to 1 inch of castable refractory. And then get some sort of reflective ceramic coating for the interior. I originally thought about using the high temp fire bricks for the floor so they can be attritable and replaced but saw that wasn't the best idea. Ive looked at the kiln shelves and those are a bit much for me. Could I cast my own shelf of sorts with a high alumina refractory? Also for the reflective coating, i've only seen ITC-100 mentioned. Are there any others to look at or consider.

The shell will be 1/8th inch mild steel plate and ill attempt to make a swinging door of sorts, or maybe keep the tried and true 'slide a firebrick around' door.

Can anyone see anything that is overkill or not enough? And if anyone has any tips and advice I'd love to hear it!

Thanks,
Andrew

[Mikey98118]

4 hours ago, huntmaster99 said:

Could I cast my own shelf of sorts with a high alumina refractory?

Yup, and for the prices they want for high-alumina kiln shelves nowadays, you are much better off to buy Kast-O-lite 30 castable refractory, and make your own floor. You don't have to shell out for a fifty pound bag of it ether. They sell smaller amounts right here at IFI.

[huntmaster99]

Perfect then thats what I think im going to do. As much as I like the safer K-wool from Mr Volcano it would cost me 38 bucks to line the design with the old stuff and 150$ with the safer stuff. Ill just wear a respirator.

Did the math and it looks like the total internal volume is about 368 in^3. and ive gone for 6 in floor by 5 in high and 12 in long so standard length K-wool is a perfect fit.

[Mikey98118]

2 hours ago, huntmaster99 said:

Ill just wear a respirator.

Mostly, you want to where a respirator when you're pulling out the old stuff. Before its heated a few times and crystallization begins, I don't worry about handling it. If you properly seal coat the forge interior's flame face, the ceramic fiber can't do you any harm. But, when the used up crystal filled worn out ceramic blanket is being removed; then take every precaution.

[Frosty]

2" of kaowool is plenty, using more is gilding the lily, the difference isn't significant. Ceramic blanket isn't terribly dangerous until it's vitrified but it isn't completely safe, wearing a dust mask won't hurt a bit. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mikey98118]

Agreed