Easy forge/Foundry

[MountainMan]

I went out to my scrap pile to find material to put together a forge for knife making but also wated to be able to use it as a foundry for melting down aluminum chips from the lathe and casting them into new parts. So I found a old brake drum and a old turkey fryer base that fit together perfectly. I ran to the hardware store and got 1.5" galvanized flange and bolted it to the brake drum. I used a 4" galvanined nipple with a T for my air intake and the bottom side of it is the ash dump. It works great as a coal forge and melts aluminum easily. Just thought I would share to help anybody else out if they where considering building one.

[ncollar]

MountainMan
Very nice, I would like to see a few more pics.
Very nice build
Nelson

[MountainMan]

Drilled a few holes threw the break drum to line up with the flange

[MountainMan]

All the pipe attached to the brake drum

[MountainMan]

Some aluminum from my first pour. I plan on mixing it with brass so I can mill some aluminum bronze

[MountainMan]

Easy DIY Coal Forge
Parts list:
Old Brake drum
1 1/2" pipe flange
2-1 1/2x4" nipples
1-1 1/2x6" nipple
1 1/2 cap
4-3/8x 2" bolts with washers and nuts

[PJs]

Excellent build and salvage work. Nicely executed! Built one years (~40yrs) ago using an old bus 16" brake drum with a crank blower I salvaged and some exhaust pipe legs and a 1/4" plate from something. Actually melted brass in it using coke and rough cast some pieces but only got to use it for 3-4 months before life changed and had to give it up...All a hundred years ago now.

Thanks for sharing and the memories!
PJ

[MountainMan]

My original plan was to use a old hand crank forge blower but those things are no where to be found in my area (South east) so for now I have a hair dryer strapped to the intake line with a rubber boot. I believe the duty cycle on the hair dryer is about 2minutes. After the 2 minutes it turns off and wont turn back on for 5min. I either need a commercial hair dryer or to stumble across a forge blower at a fair price

[PJs]

My original plan was to use a old hand crank forge blower but those things are no where to be found in my area (South east) so for now I have a hair dryer strapped to the intake line with a rubber boot. I believe the duty cycle on the hair dryer is about 2minutes. After the 2 minutes it turns off and wont turn back on for 5min. I either need a commercial hair dryer or to stumble across a forge blower at a fair price

MountainMan, I got mine from an old farrier I met at the Renaissance fair. It was a Champion as I remember that he had tossed in his scrap pile because the ring gear was cracked and the hand crank missing. It was pretty well worn but didn't know the vintage. Think I gave him $10 and helped him a few times and he taught me some, Real nice guy! Took it all apart and bevel ground the crack and silver brazed it, cleaned it all up and it worked fine for my use. Sold the whole thing for $60 plus half a bag of coke...only had about $25 in it, wish I still had it now.

They are hard to find even here in No. Cal...looked a while back and used (rode hard and put away wet) are going for a couple hundred bucks 6-8 years ago. Check around with some farriers and country flea markets. Most of the farriers have gone propane but they might have a lead.

As for the blow dryer: If it has switches to only blow air try that first. It also may be the wall wart on the cord if it has the GFI built in, which most of the newer dryers do. If not you can disconnect the heating element and the bimetal component (thermal overload)...usually a little silver cylindrical component and just blow air which is all you need. Another thought is to find a computer fan with about 80-100CFM (E-Bay ~$10-15) and run it from a wall wart but you will have to build a plenum and housing. Axial fans are not ideal because they don't have much static pressure available but might be able to overcome the back pressure with enough CFM and diameter.

Good luck and hope to see more of your build and projects with it.

Thanks,
PJ

[ncollar]

MountainMan
As Pj said open up the hair dryer and snip the wires to the heating element. They have a thermo switch that stops them from combusting. It should blow as long as you want it then. Good luck, looking good.
Nelson