I am currently working on a new forge build with a ribbon burner setup. I started with a 10x10x18" piece of square tube which at first i thought was too long, but think now with the size of ribbon burner i made, will be a good size. The burner itself is a 3x3x9.5" square tube with a 2" hold on top and a piece of angle iron inside with some holes in it to disperse the air/fuel a little better. Most builds that I saw online had this, and it makes sense. I used some plastic straws in the mould to form the holes. Lots of people use crayons here, and i cant understand why because you have to clean up a mess after. The straws pulled right out with no issue when the refractory dried. I used uni-cast 2600 for this project, which is easily gettable for me and a really good price. 2" of kaowool inside the forge body, with some rigidizer sprayed on to prepare for castable. This is what I have so far: I did a test fire on the burner, and put it in my instagram stories if anyone wants to see it. I will update this thread once i get some more castable refractory in the forge and more parts come it for the air/fuel setup. Thanks for looking
Moving along with this build, and almost done! I see we have a few thread views so at least there is some interest, maybe just to see if i blow my garage up lol. Anyways, I finished with the refractory cement and welded on some feet so it sits about 1.5" above the table. I also welded on a couple standoffs so that the burner sits pretty much flush with the ceiling inside the forge chamber. The plumbing was pretty straight forward with the needle valve and the ball valve to really dial in the air/gas mix. I found a nice cast aluminum blast gate on amazon and put it right in front of the blower and I think that will be crucial in getting the right fire inside the forge. All that is left is to weld on a couple pieces of angle iron to hold fire bricks on the front and back, and then fire this bastard up. If anyone has any questions about construction or materials or if you see anything I can improve on, please ask away!
super cool. never seen anyone do that. although I've never really looked into forges. What's your instagram btw? id like to see you blow up your garage lol
I have a comment. The propane fitting is welded into a malleable pipe coupling, these types of couplings are not meant to be welded to. But black-pipe fittings are made of malleable black iron. Black-iron fittings are difficult to weld without causing damage to the fitting. This certainly would not pass any gas safety inspection. Be interesting to see it fired up !!!!
You will have more success brazing them than with a torch then trying to weld them (still not gas approved)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7n1zTebugu8zeUiF8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/TqE7yW3pyQsJxAcE9 A good run up today on the new forge. I wanted 0 air and 0 gas on startup , so i could do it all by eye and sound. I was trying not to concern myself with the pressure off the tank, just trying to get a good mix. I ended up choking the air all of the way off on the blower, the blast gate about 3/4 open and the needle valve on the gas open maybe a turn and a half. This was a good heat for general forging, with very little scale buildup on the steel. The forge body was warm to the touch after about 45 mins run time but the burner was still cold to the touch. Im pretty happy so far and after a few cycles of heat i might try a welding temp.
