Coke Forge Build

[DMIOM]

......
Loving my new TIG  ,it welds canny .




Rob

" Loving my new TIG , it welds canny "

I think the man holding the torch has more than a little bit to do with it as well!      

Dave

[Arbalist]

This is the best made forge I've ever seen, you aren't going to get it dirty are you Rob? 

[vtsteam]

Rob, did you bend the pipe yourself? 

[RobWilson]

I think the man holding the torch has more than a little bit to do with it as well!      

Dave

More like monkey see monkey do Dave    having a half decent welder dose help 

This is the best made forge I've ever seen, you aren't going to get it dirty are you Rob? 

Oh yes , black and crispy it will become , I may give into my school  boy patience and whack a bit coke on it this weekend .

Rob, did you bend the pipe yourself? 

Narh way to much hard work bending thin wall stainless tube Steve ,

I recycled some scrap tube , just cut out  sections and re welded them .



Apart from the motor and a few bolts/screws , all materials have been recycled   


Rob 
 

[DMIOM]

.....Oh yes , black and crispy it will become , I may give into my school  boy patience and whack a bit coke on it this weekend .
.....

BBQ at Rob's this weekend then? 

and anyway, even after firing it, Robs "shiny filter" camera probably means even the clinker will look chrome-plated!

Dave

[John Rudd]

.....Oh yes , black and crispy it will become , I may give into my school  boy patience and whack a bit coke on it this weekend .
.....

BBQ at Rob's this weekend then? 

Aww....bummer can't make it.....my wedding anniversary....35 years....

Mebbe another time....

Rob, hope the maiden firing goes well for ya....

[vtsteam]

Oh I see Rob, you "just" welded thin stainless tubing together so it looks perfect.

You had me scared there for a minute about the crazy skill required to bend wide thin stainess steel tubing into clean opposing 90 degree bends and have them mate up with the flanges in a tight space.

But now I see you just did basically the same thing by butt welding the tubing. Oh uhhhhh, no problem. Piece of cake.....

[RobWilson]

Cheers Lads 

  it wont work on coke Dave 


Happy anniversary John  save is some cake    ,,,,,,,,,,,my tenth in a couple of weeks . 


  Well there was a tad  of faffing about involved Steve   


Well I gave in lads      , dragged the forge  out of the shop and whacked some coke on  ,its  not quite finished but  finished enough for a bit mess about .



Blower performed spot on , bags of air . 


Rob

[John Rudd]

That looks great Rob!

Reminds me of metalwork class at school....iirc we made a small garden trowel, a poker for the fire and dome other domestic implements, can't remember ...such a while ago..


So what you going to make either your new forge? New shoes fer pit ponies? 

[vtsteam]

Hey, hotness!!!   

Looks right.

What's that ball in the front of the coke? 

 

[John Rudd]

Hey, hotness!!!   

What's that ball in the front of the coke? 

Baked potato perhaps? Mmmmmmm....nice with butter...

[RobWilson]

  Cheers LADS 


Thats a lump of PET coke Steve    ,, there is also normal coke and MET coke on the hearth , I was just seeing whats what 


Its been so long in the build John I have forgotten what I needed the forge for    I remember now ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,a coat hook 


Rob

[vtsteam]

Oh, so like you have 3 kinds of coke readily available over there 

Ours, apparently is made from platinum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Foundry-Coke-Melting-Forging-Blacksmith-Use-25-lb-bag-/151664966157

 $68 + $25.78 in shipping from a neighboring state for 25 lb.

[tom osselton]

So how big would the bag be if I remember coke doesn't weigh much.

[RobWilson]

Oh, so like you have 3 kinds of coke readily available over there 

Ours, apparently is made from platinum:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Foundry-Coke-Melting-Forging-Blacksmith-Use-25-lb-bag-/151664966157

 $68 + $25.78 in shipping from a neighboring state for 25 lb.

Bloody hell Steve ! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I pay £6.50 for 25 kg bag  and get this ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,one type is a 50/50 blend of English (MET)and American (PET) coke 

http://www.mgfuels.co.uk/coke-blend.aspx   , do have to collect it (in work time )     

So how big would the bag be if I remember coke doesn't weigh much.

About the size of a builders rubble bag Tom .


Rob

[Meldonmech]

 
  Hi Rob

                     It's working great, did you forge anything while the the forge was nice and hot?

                                                              Cheers David

[vtsteam]

Rob, that's the first time I've ever even seen it available anywhere online, here.

Btus (or calories) are relatively proportional to weight, rather than volume for different fuels.

And diesel fuel is somewhere around $0.40/lb, locally available.
20 lbs of propane costs me $16 and is locally available. So that fuel is  $0.80/lb
Blacksmith coal via ebay, delivered is about $1.00/lb

This dude seems to want to make a killing on the non-existent ebay coke market at about $4.00 a lb. delivered.

It would be cheaper to buy brand new machine parts than cast them with that coke. 

[RobWilson]

  Hi Rob

                     It's working great, did you forge anything while the the forge was nice and hot?

                                                              Cheers David

Hi David  , I did not forge a thing as the anvil was not accessible , so I just poked and prodded the coke about and vaporized the end of a bit 20mm bar 

Rob, that's the first time I've ever even seen it available anywhere online, here.

Btus (or calories) are relatively proportional to weight, rather than volume for different fuels.

And diesel fuel is somewhere around $0.40/lb, locally available.
20 lbs of propane costs me $16 and is locally available. So that fuel is  $0.80/lb
Blacksmith coal via ebay, delivered is about $1.00/lb

This dude seems to want to make a killing on the non-existent ebay coke market at about $4.00 a lb. delivered.

It would be cheaper to buy brand new machine parts than cast them with that coke. 

Hi Steve ,

Aye at that price for coke , bit of a rip off .Is there no were else that you can by coke form ? 


Rob   

[drmico60]

Prior to the industrial revolution coke was not available. Charcoal was the preferred fuel for blacksmiths.
Mike

[RobWilson]

Just messed about today again ! 

I am going make an  extraction hood  for the forge ,so I dug out this heating fan from the loft .



It shifts a fare old bit of air , only thing is the motor is in the wrong place for my needs . So I removed the motor ,stripped the motor and swapped the field coils around
so the motor would spin in the opposite direction ,and mounted the motor on the other side of the fan case . 




Being on the outside with little air flow for cooling I ran it for a couple of hours to see if it would overheat ,its was fine peak temp was 65c , time to come up with a hood design . 


Rob 

[krv3000]

spot on rob brill as per 

[vtsteam]

No Rob, no furnace coke available here that I know of. In fact if any U.S. member or visitor reading this knows of a place within 200 miess of southern Vermont where furnace coke can be bought, I'd appreciate the info.

Prior to the industrial revolution coke was not available. Charcoal was the preferred fuel for blacksmiths.
Mike

Yup, there are even wood forges now (really charcoal forges which are making the charcoal from the wood simultaneously). My own interest in coke comes from wanting to run a cupola for melting iron, and the failure of my sawed off cupola on charcoal: http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,8574.0.htm and http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,8484.0.html (I think the problem with the furnace was that charcoal wasn't dense enough for that particular sawed off version, so I've always wondered what would have happened with coke.)

[RussellT]

Hi Rob

How much hotter do you think the fan motor will get when you raise the ambient temperature by quite a lot?

Russell

[awemawson]

When I had a similar potential fan over heating issue when my oil fired furnace was set up permanently at my last place, I introduced  an elbow into the air flow diverting air through the motor via a 28 mm copper pipe. It kept the motor alive for many a year 

[RobWilson]

Hi Rob

How much hotter do you think the fan motor will get when you raise the ambient temperature by quite a lot?

Russell

what do you call  quite allot Russel ?

Rob