Compressor.

[Ethersin]

Well my compressor is broken.. the fan mashed it's self against the cover, destroying both fan and cover.

So im looking for another. I want a relativly small one that can kick out up to 100 psi. I'll only use about 60 most of the time but when i want a bit more heat i go a bit higher.

Any site's or places you can reccomend would be much appreciated.

But no general hardware store's cos' they're useless down here.

Cheer's

[Sam Thompson]

You don't need a compressor, just a means of supplying a draught. It's often possible to find an old cylinder vacuum cleaner that has a 'blowing' out let at the opposite end to the 'sucking' outlet. I used an old Hoover for several years; you can control it with a G-clamp on the rubber pipe.
By the way, most smiths in this country use 'blacksmith's breeze' which is a kind of coke, coal merchants sometimes know it as 'Sunbrite Beans'. It shouldn't cost much more than

[John B]

Hi Rich, forget the compressor, drop me an email, I may be able to help.

[Frosty]

Compressor is a term I've heard more than one Brit use for blower. Saying the fan hit the case and destroyed both makes me think this is the case here.

Sorry if calling you limeys Brits upsets any of you.

Frosty

[John B]

Hi Frosty, if you look at Ethersins' earlier posts with piccies on I believe you can see a small compressor attached to his forge.

As I understand it, a compressor does what it says, compresses to a pressure and delivers that pressure up to a rated output, stores it in a tank, then its bled off at the required setting for whatever tool or application is being used,

Blowers/fans push/pull (depending on blade configuration) a volume of air through, without storing it in a tank, varying the speed will vary the pressure.

I think I am correct in saying forges need a fair volume of air at a relatively low pressure (up to 9PSI?), compresors are not the right tool for the job, and are quite expensive to run in relation to a suitable blower/fan.

I don't have a problem with Limeys, its the mis-spelt version I would consider taking exception too (with the S at the front)

[Ethersin]

Cheer's for the post's guy's, yeah John hit the nail on the head, well i was using some wierd piping that lowered the pressure when it got to the forge, but gave alot of air output.. Actually... It just may of been bad "plumbing" on my side. Well i have a few fans around amongst the other thing's I can try.

What do you think of a cpu fan from a computer in a coke bottle, hooked up to a motorcycle battery? Apart from probably a burnt out fan?

Cheer's again

[BeaverDamForge]

Cheer's for the post's guy's, yeah John hit the nail on the head, well i was using some wierd piping that lowered the pressure when it got to the forge, but gave alot of air output.. Actually... It just may of been bad "plumbing" on my side. Well i have a few fans around amongst the other thing's I can try.

What do you think of a cpu fan from a computer in a coke bottle, hooked up to a motorcycle battery? Apart from probably a burnt out fan?

Cheer's again

Most computer fans are only a few watts, not enough for much of a fire. I was thinking of using one on my gasifier, since I close off most of the inlet of the microwave blower (shaded pole motor/squirrel cage fan) I use now. But I've gone to giving it full blast for a few minutes before starting to blow out the ashes, and I don't think a computer fan would do that. I've thought about having several blow into a box or manifold, not sure how that would work.

I was going to use a shop vac for one forge, but I had to close off most of the inlet of that too, and no way was I going to stand next to that noise for long!

Good Luck!

[Sam Thompson]

You really should look at a few proper forges before spending time/money on re-inventing
what others have already done. Have you tried to visit any local forges. The flue is as important as the blower; the visible smoke may be unpleasant but the CO and CO2 produced are invisible and odourless and will cause long-term health problems.

[Ethersin]

Thank's for the post's.

Beaver was so right about the computer fan.. It's a refreshing breeze.. But i don't think the fire would notice it.

And Sam, your right but, the problem is I have alot of time.. and a bank roll of nothing. So time is all i have to spend.

Well im going to look into an apprenticeship, for smithing soon, so that'll knock me straight on everything.

I have a concrete BBQ chimnley that im going to try move over to my forge soon. So i can stop dying, and get a good air flow from that aswell.

Buut the only thing i can do at the moment is steal the miss's hair drye and risk a bloody nose, or change the motor in the cpu fan (which was a actually a side fan for the tower) i just realised. im sure i've got a stronger one here somewhere.. or make me some bellows out of thin air.. actually... come to think of it i thin i have a large desktop fan here somewhere...

Well i'll go look, Cheer's