So a lot of burners from blowtorches to gas cookers all the way through to Rocketdyne F1 motors used on the Saturn five rockets have a baffle in some form or another to stabilize the flame front and bring it closer to the fuel nozzles. My new spray nozzle was machined with some nice radiused edges which is not a good thing, as air can flow around the rounded edge and in my case separate the flames from the nozzle by about six inches. So by fitting a sheet stainless cup around the nozzle that is short enough for the fuel spray to miss it, I was able to bring the flames close to the nozzle and allow flames to go back into the tuyere a short distance. The photos show the difference between a baffle and no baffle, incidentally I was able to melt iron for the first time without the refractory disc fitted on top of the plinth which is a big plus. The furnace runs much smoother and noticeably quieter than without the baffle and the deep jet engine rumble is gone now, another plus. The photo shows the setup, with a corrugated stainless spacer to keep the nozzle and baffle in the center of the tuyere. The next photo shows the baffle free operation and the fourth photo is running with the baffle fitted. I was even able to cast a 4" diameter slug of iron into some green sand after the test run. The only difference between the two runs is the baffle assembly and it should be something any oil or gas spray nozzle could be fitted with. Nozzle without baffle: Furnace running without baffle fitted: Baffle fitted around the nozzle: Furnace with baffle fitted: Iron successfully melted and poured:
