October 13, 200817 yr A fellow heard about Tom's forge and wanted a forge pot. I burned and built it today. He supplied the plate and ash-dump/air-pipe, I think he bought the ash-dump from the web for ~$30. Came out well. All I have to do now, is figure out how much to charge. I have about 4 1/2 hours in it (including foreplay and clean-up). It is always a tough call. Of course, most of the time is in assembly. I haven't had much luck selling them as u-weld-it (the way I'd rather do these). He is coming by tomorrow evening. We'll see how I do. Enjoy, MIKE More pics are here: ForgePot FatherofFrogPond
October 13, 200817 yr Author Thanks ApprenticeMan! I used the same cut file as Tom's. His works well. I'm sure this fellow will be able to use this for a long time to come. Enjoy, MIKE
October 13, 200817 yr Hi Mike, Looks good. That's pretty much what I've made too, although I welded pipe together and fabricated ash dumps as well. So, that's 4.5 man (& machine) hours, plus power, rod and consumables. If you charged the very reasonable shop rate of $50 per hour you'd be looking at $225. Right now Centaur Forge is selling a similar fire pot w/ sliding ash gate for $156.37 or w/ ash dump for $168.25. Hardly pays to make them does it? It's one thing when your "saving" yourself some cash, it's another when you're saving it for someone else. Hope you can get $150 anyway. Yours is a lot less fragile than cast iron (like Centaur Forge's) and doesn't have any freight charges. Good Luck, and let us know how it goes. All the best, Phil
October 13, 200817 yr Is that "T" welded to the firepot? I'm by far no expert... but shouldn't it be turned over...? I would think you'd get the best airflow with it curved upwards.... Am I missing something here?
October 13, 200817 yr Scratch I think it is fine, if you think about it the air may get swirled a bit finding it's way but it really only has one way out. However, with the curve going down it won't allow ash or other debris to enter into the airway going toward the blower. So I think that is the thought process on this design, keeping the junk going down toward the junk outlet... James
October 13, 200817 yr Author I didn't build that part. But I think the idea is that the ash may fall past the joint better. It came from "the internet" and had the ash door and round flange. I think he got a reducer down to ~2" as part of the deal. There is a set screw on the inlet side. I think the curve is moot. With the restriction at the fire, the elbow is more of a plenum than a manifold. I built mine from scrap and it looks like this. Air blows right through, works like a charm. MIKE
October 13, 200817 yr Author I used 3/8" plate. The cut file takes about 23 1/2" x 17 3/4". He supplied a chunk about 24" x 23 1/2". It was real close on the X axis. He came and picked it up tonight. I think he was happy. MIKE
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