Hydraulic power press & gas forge

curtisk

curtisk

Well-Known Member
First, a special thank you to Mr. Caffrey: the anhydrous borax is an incredible flux! I was forge welding some wire rope and the “AB” worked great! It is much better that regular borax. By the way, I purchased it from Seattle Pottery. Great folks there!

I have been considering building a new gas forge for some time, and my recent experiences with Damascus have added considerable fuel to this desire. Any suggestions on a design would be appreciated.

Also, I have a 20 ton manual press and would like to convert it to a hydraulic power press. Once again, any suggestions on a power pack or design would be appreciated.
CurtisK
 
My recommendation for a gas forge is to build a circular design. A piece of 8-9" ID pipe X 14"-16" long, lined with 1" of #8 density Ka-Wool, coated with ITC-100. Of course if your going to use it for welding, I would recommend building a blower type burner. Use 2 pieces of 1 1/2" X 12" long iron pipe, with a 90 degree elbow connecting them for the burner tube.

The critical part of the setup is the blower. It must be something that can work under back pressure...the average "squirrel cage" or Shaded Pole type blower CAN work, but they will generally only last a short while. If you want something that will work well, and is going to last, I would encourage you to purchase one of these blowers: http://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/Templates/cart_templates/cart-detail.php?theLocation=/Resources/Products/Forges_and_Parts/blowers/112_CFM_Blower

Stay away for all the "gadgetized" burner designs out there! With gas forges KISS is paramount...the more you overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain!

Concerning converting the press.....again, it's going to be up to you, but I don't think I would want to try to use that press as a forging press. In order for it to be able to withstand the stress, your gona have to totally rebuild it/beef it up considerably. To give you an idea of what I mean...my press is 35 ton, with a 6" cylinder, ran by an 11.5 GPM pump, on a 5 HP, 3450rpm motor. To keep the press from flexing/cracking/breaking, I went to a main "I" beam that is 12" wide, with 1/2" flanges and 5/8" web, and still had to install 3/8" thick gusset plates between the flanges to keep it from flexing.
 
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thanks guys, that will go far in helping get where I want to be. Question: where do you get the KA-Wool and the ITC-100? Is that the "Satanite" stuff one of the guys wrote about?
 
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