Got a friend who was shopping for burners for a forge, so I offered to build him one. I don't have a gas forge so I thought it was time to make a pattern. I like black walnut. Lineup dowels drilled and nozzle covering one. Paper line split Dowels made Painted and lettering added Two cast MIG tip installed. Manifold is turned far enough for tip to clear air holes. First burner finished. Tube is 1" 0.049 304 SS (what I had) with two 3/4" air holes. Fire time!! Nozzle has no step, just the 0.049 wall thickness, I need to make a larger step nozzle.
Looks good Andy. Let me know when you can make it run on natural gas. I hate hauling propane and bitch at the price every time I have to.
Really nicely done. Very nice looking parts. I'm sure it will work well. Why does everyone seem to want to forge and black smith these days?
Forged in fire I suppose. I haven't watched that show since season 2. Frankly I'm sick of reality tv bs. Our TV lives on TCM these days.
I've been blacksmithing for thirty years or so, but with a coal forge, like my friend. We both would like to have a gas forge for various reasons. However I think the Forged in Fire series is a good thing, more people are interested. Jason: I expect to build a natural gas burner. I don't have gas service but have a pipeline across my property. They have offered me a farm tap (free gas) in exchange for a right of way on some other property. So I may be getting into gas in a big way: foundry, forge, shop heat, heat treating, etc.
And that, right there, is why it's so useful to be able to cast metal at home. You can make darn near anything you want.
OK, now you can take a break from bifilm theory and help me. I should know the answer but it is not clear to me. I cast the first two burner manifolds perfectly. The third one however had a big shrink spot. The next two, (pictured) also cast well. Did I have the shrunk one just too hot? Or too cold so it didn't feed from the sprue? Surely the missing sand off the end did not cause the shrink, or did it? By the way, if anybody would like one of these they're pretty cheap.
My guess: Your gate solidified before the part, and so the part became the riser. I would add a riser at the boss where the gas valve goes. See Rule 6: http://www.atlasfdry.com/rule6.htm .
Am I right in assuming these are cast in aluminium Andy? I have most shrinkage problems when the metal is too hot. The missing sand off the end may have been part of the problem as well, as it increases the volume of metal down that end. I did four identical small-castings recently, from the same crucible, at the same time; No. 1, 3 and 4 were perfect but No. 2 shrank! It can be quite maddening sometimes. I need to make a pyrometer, so that I can eliminate one variable, Cheers Charlie
Yes, scrap aluminum of unknown metallurgy. I have an immersion thermocouple but get lazy when everything goes well.
