MetalMuncher Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Hello everyone. I have been having some issues with my shop vac blower and so decided to make a box bellows. What I need to know is how does it work? I mean, I kind of understand how it works, but wont that little side chamber that connects the two exhausts sort of deminish the air pressure on its way to the tuyere? And where does the tuyere go? I have posted a picture from a web page that describes how to make one, but they werent very clear as to how the tuyere works. I am very grateful for any help,advice or pictures. Thanks dudes!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belcher Shoeing Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 basically it works like a piston. the box encases the air which is pushed by the piston, out of a hole in the bottom on the chamber. simply connect your pipe(with tuyer)t othe hole at bottom and pump it! they are fun! Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 Belcher Please go to the green bar at the top of the forum and click user cp. Then add your location and save. We would like to know where in the world you are located. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalMuncher Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 Hello Glenn, I have made a small one and worked ok...but when I put a "T" to connect both the pipes of the exhausts, it sort of stops blowing as hard as it used to. Something with the "T".Then I saw the little side chamber on a real one. I will make one with the side chamber and see how it goes. You know what I talking about? The piece of cheese hanging off the piston chamber? But I think it diminishes the air pressure..I could be wrong but it looks like it would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 the little flaps are valves, they close to keep from sucking hot coals into the box when you are pumping in one direction and only allow air from the main chamber valves to enter. The small chamber receiving air form the big chamber does a good bit for increasing the pressure, like on a garden hose without a nozzle, the water just kind of flows out, but when you put the nozzle on it decreases the size of the exiting orifice and shoots water much farther. Like leather bellows there are single action like you built metalmuncher, without the second box, and double action with the secondary box. When built properly a very efficient bellows and very easy to build, can be made from plywood for very cheap or from nice solid wood for kind of cheap. No leather to rot out and harden either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaverDamForge Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I built a box bellows out of some prefinished plywood I had laying around, which helped determine the dimensions. I made the stroke shorter than the one in the drawing you have, it's about 13" IIRC (stops on the handle prevent the piston from crossing the exhaust holes). Shorter stroke and square cross section made more sense to me. I used some stiffeners in the middle of the sides because it's 1/4" (if you squint right) plywood. The piston and ends are 3/4", and the valves are 1/4", hinged with red duct tape (what I had). The handle is plastic tubing, I cut it shorter and used a piece of rubber hose for a grip. I also had to plug it, it was leaking air from the back side of the piston. The piston seals with a foam strip ( 1/2" 'backer rod') and a strip of towel stapled over it. The pushrod seal is a piece of towel too. The chamber on the side houses the exhaust valves and brings the air to the tuyere connection. The air has nowhere else to flow and plenty of area to flow through, so no restriction there. Entering the pipe going to the tuyere might produce some turbulence, but the velocities are low enough it makes little difference. I used a piece of flex exhaust pipe to connect to the forge. I also swapped ends after using it once and deciding I'd rather use my left hand. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 (edited) One of the things I like about a box or accordian bellows is how compact they are. What I haven't seen though is a box bellows mounted the way accordian bellows are, vertically under the forge itself. It could be operated with a lever/treadle and counter weight and it'd be a terrific space saver. The one drawback I can see right off the top is flamable gasses flowing down into the bellows making one of those wonderful boom noises. Routing the air pipe up higher than the air grate, then back down to it, an inverted "J" trap like under your sink, would cure that though. Frosty Edited October 21, 2008 by Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalMuncher Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Thank you BeaverDamForge!!(sorry I dont know your name) Thats exactly what I needed. Its awsome, nice piece of work. Mine is slighly bigger, to be able to (hopefully) forge weld. Your forge looks interesting....Thanks for the pictures man!!!By the way, I posted some of my work in "Knives in general". Check it out. Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironrosefarms Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I don't really need one of these but reading this I got a big time desire to build one. Thanks for adding another item to my projects list :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckybackery Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 nice gob on making the bellows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysdexik Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 I realy like the look of this idea, you move air push and pull. Has anyone seen a way of storing air like a double bellows, a kind of "blader" maybee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmercier Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 One of the things I like about a box or accordian bellows is how compact they are. What I haven't seen though is a box bellows mounted the way accordian bellows are, vertically under the forge itself. It could be operated with a lever/treadle and counter weight and it'd be a terrific space saver. The one drawback I can see right off the top is flamable gasses flowing down into the bellows making one of those wonderful boom noises. Routing the air pipe up higher than the air grate, then back down to it, an inverted "J" trap like under your sink, would cure that though. Frosty Funny you should mention the treadle, I have been planning to make a box bellows and mount it vertically, with a 'handle' on both the top and the bottom, and a weight attached to the top, so i can step on a treadle and push up and step off and have it return down , pumping air in both directions. Instead I ended up building a pair of great bellows the last three weeks, so the box bellows is on hold for now.http://www.tharkis.com/images/temp/bellows.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pault17 Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 Darn, just when I was all ready to make a round accordion bellows. Metal muncher -thanks for starting this one up. this is a little more up my woodworking alley. Frosty, I like the space sawing vertical Idea to-thanks for thinking out loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grafvitnir Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 In the catalog Gerald Boggs posted a few days ago there are some strange bellows I've never seen before but that reminded me the oriental box bellows just in a vertical position. Have anyone seen a real one? I guess they too had the problem Frosty wrote about of the explosions because they mentioned the word "inexplosibles" Rub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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