mike-hr Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 McraigL and I teamed up and built two new forges, I finished mine last week, and am really happy with it. The shell is 12-3/4 inch OD well casing by 18 inches long. We bedded boiler bricks in the bottom for a floor, grouted in with castable refractory cement. A piece of half inch thick kiln shelf sets on the boiler brick for a replacable floor. Inside wrapped with 1-1/2 inch Kaowool, coated with ITC100. The usable area came out to be 6-1/2 tall x 9 inch wide inside measurement. Propane is injected via a MIG tip drilled out to 1/16 inch, plumbed in by using a Thread-a-Let welded to the elbow. a 2 inch gate valve makes for excellent control of incoming air from the blower. John at Gearhart Ironwerks turned us on the the ribbon burner. Glass blowers have been using them for some time. It uses Mizzou refractory cement poured around crayons for a lost wax technique to create the burner holes. John told me folks are getting approx. one third better 'mileage' on a tank of propane, I don't think he's far off. These burners are really efficient. We mounted the burners above the centre line of the forge area to get a swirl of flame inside. The typical 'hotspot' opposite the burner is greatly reduced, and I have been pulling out 18 inches of hot steel of consistent color. Great for pickets and railings. Some folks have complained that these forges will burn up steel, but with the fuel valve and the air valve right there, I can turn it down to a low blood red color real easy. In conclusion, there's many ways to make forges, here's one more to help keep everybody confused.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratch Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 (edited) Wow a third less propane! I like that idea... maybe it's time to make another forge... hmmm. you're getting an even 18" of hot steel even though the burner is only about what... a foot or so? Edited September 17, 2008 by Scratch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triw Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I like the design maybe you could do more detail on the burner in a blueprint. Thanks for sharing. William Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Why is it called a Ribbon Burner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbalist Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Now that looks interesting, not seen a burner like that! Vic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Scratch, the ceramic part of the burner measures 3 x 9-1/2 inches. Once the forge is at temperature, the heat distributes through the whole chamber. WWW, I'd be happy to do a write-up on it, once the BP section here gets ironed out. I did two BP's over 6 months ago on a couple different projects. They aired on a Tuesday, but haven't seen any daylight since. It takes a bit of energy to write up a BP, I just want to make sure they didn't die first. There has been articles in the ABANA mags and the CBA(California) newsletter describing the burner. RT, I don't know why it's called a ribbon burner. That's how it was presented to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratch Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Scratch, the ceramic part of the burner measures 3 x 9-1/2 inches. Once the forge is at temperature, the heat distributes through the whole chamber. WWW, I'd be happy to do a write-up on it, once the BP section here gets ironed out. I did two BP's over 6 months ago on a couple different projects. They aired on a Tuesday, but haven't seen any daylight since. It takes a bit of energy to write up a BP, I just want to make sure they didn't die first. There has been articles in the ABANA mags and the CBA(California) newsletter describing the burner. RT, I don't know why it's called a ribbon burner. That's how it was presented to me... I'm sure I'm not the only one interested in seeing a "how-to" on this. Even if the 1/3rd thing isn't quite accurate, it still looks like a good/different way to get a nice even heat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 great another project... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Sweet forge. A BP would be very cool AND USEFUL once they mess gets fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyshackleford Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Seconded on the interest! I am looking to incorperate a gas burner as part of my shop, and this design is appealing to the eye and the wallet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_tate Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 I looked this up in Google, and found a handy PDF discussing problems that can occur with this type of burner. Yes, the guy sells burners, but he has a very detailed installation, safety systems and a troubleshooting section as well.http://www.joppaglass.com/homepg/joppa%20cat%202008_v_web.pdf Also ...Pop-back or Pre-ignition Condition Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 Roy, thanks for that link. I've experienced the pre-ignition situation when I was goofing around with how cool I could get the forge to run, but still run. Since it was new, I noticed my greasy fingerprint marks were smoking behind the burner, where it's usually cool to the touch. I shut the gas feed off for a few seconds, and then re-opened it. It started running good again. My low tech blacksmith indicator for if this happens again, is I put a dab of axle grease behind the burner on the air pipe. If the grease starts smoking, I know what to look for. It's a bad idea to leave any forge unattended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kovacija(blacksmith) Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 great work guys!!!:cool: Is the heat spread all around or yust around the burner''? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Martin Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 What do you mean mike-hr? I can't view the PDF sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solvarr Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 This style of burner was more common in the 50's and before. There are a few older styles of gas forges and household boilers that used these. My sister in law threw away a heater with 8+ of them in the bottom. She thought we were kidding about driving up and taking care of it for her. They had steam radiators throughout their house and the boiler had a large mica peek window. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeatGuy Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I make ribbon burners with a hard refractory brick. They work at least as well as cast refractory and can be made in under an hour. I will post some pictures of the most current version if there is any interest. brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I'm sure there is a load of interest. Post the pix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeatGuy Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 My gallery contains a couple of photos of the first version.NeatGuy Gallery - Blacksmith Photo Gallery The attached file contains the latest version for my design. I will post some photos of an actual burner. bradRibbon Burner.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arbalist Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Do you have to have a fan, or can it be used with a venturi instead :confused: Vic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 Arbalist, I don't know the answer to that. I will say that, in my opinion, blower-type forges are a whole lot easier to run and get the flame mix tuned how you want it. All the pro smiths I know use blower forges instead of atmospheric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcraigl Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Back to work! You have no time to chat on the puter. Back to work!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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