Re-building my forge setup WIP

[Daniel J. Luevano 4]

So this is something I've been really planning on doing all year, my charcoal forge fell apart and I decided, living in colorado with all the fire bans we get, that I should finally switch to propane, I mean why not? I've experienced the joys of propane from a friends forge and my time on forged in fire (also the pains of propane as well) so with a new forge i will also re do everything else.

 

This includes:

- a new single burner brick and clay forge

- a new atmospheric burner

- modifying my block of steel anvil

- creating a new anvil stand

- a stand for the actual forge

 

So I have a fair amount done already but here we go.

 

 

I know what you're thinking "a plywood box for your anvil?" Kinda working with a limited budget, I decided on a box....not even a trapezoid or anything like that, just a box...its surprisingly sturdy, I also added a bit of support in the middle inside the box, so I'm not at all worried about the stand being able to stand up to a beating, I'm also going to seal the box to weather elements and water.

 

So the ASO, I've had for about 7 years at this point, cleaned up thr face a bit and rounded half of it to mimic a horn, I've got some heavy steel plates, might cut a hardy hole and such into a section of plate and add it to the stand on the sides of the anvil.

 

So its on the smaller side, wouldn't be able to hold a sword sized bullet but could hold mostly everything else, its also temporary until I can get more bricks and kao wool to build a proper larger forge. I used a sand, bentonite clay, plaster mixture for the "fire cement". Again temporary....

 

This is my burner, its simple to make and mostly cheap (cheaper than buying a already made one) and works pretty well for how simple it is, its the "candle v2 burner" https://youtu.be/67rxU02fv6o

 

 

I'll be updating this topic as I progress through to finishing everything!

[Wayne Coe 74]

Check out the Build a Gas Forge and the Ribbon Burner attachments on the Forge Supplies page at

www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com.

Let me know if I can help you.

 

[Daniel J. Luevano 4]

Got my forge set up outside and fired up the burner, not sure if I need to get even more air flow or if something else is wrong, seems to be kind of sputtering even at higher pressures. (The flame also seems to be igniting inside the pipe now, used to not...so not sure whats causing that)

Edited October 13, 2020 by Daniel J. Luevano

[Alan Longmire 3,881]

That burner design is always going to have trouble getting enough air entrained in the mix.  The two things you can do are 

1. Open the cap as far as you can while keeping a good, non-wobbly connection, and

2. Pull the MIG tip out as far as you can if it's adjustible. Which reminds me, what size tip are you using?

[Daniel J. Luevano 4]

4 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

That burner design is always going to have trouble getting enough air entrained in the mix.  The two things you can do are 

1. Open the cap as far as you can while keeping a good, non-wobbly connection, and

2. Pull the MIG tip out as far as you can if it's adjustible. Which reminds me, what size tip are you using?

I'm using the 0.035" tip you mentioned on my burner post....so you're saying the tip shouldn't be deep into the nipple? That I've put the welding tip too close to the opening there?

 

The thing is I thought I needed to have it further in than I originally had it (before the flame was just coming out of the end of the burner but now it starting at the air intake side, so now the burner is heating up way too much.

[Alan Longmire 3,881]

The further in you put the MIG tip, the less air you get mixed into the flow, and vice-versa.  Ideally you have the tip on a sliding tube that can be run in and out to check what happens to the flame.

That said, if you're getting flame coming out the air intakes OR up into the burner tube at all, you're not running a high enough pressure on the propane.  Try to experiment only adjust one variable at a time.  Only air intake, only propane pressure, or only tip position in the tube.  You will probably need from 3 to 7 PSI to establish a neutral flame.  Eventually you should start getting a feel for what needs to be where, but yeah, there should never be flame in the burner tube.  Pressure is the first thing to check when that happens.