[TheForge] Propane Users tank sizes and usage

[Jerry Frost]

Uh. . . Where to start.

Mig tips, yeah most of us building burners use mig tips 
now. I may have been the first but don't claim anything 
but lazyness as inspiration. I wasn't sure what size 
orifice to use so figured drilling and tapping one hole 
was a lot easier than having to remove, redrill and 
replace the whole fuel pipe for every change.

I don't know which burner you're using Dann but if it's 
built from a kit it's probably the "Side Arm" type 
Robert Grauman came up with. He was visiting us while 
we were building. Robert and I were sitting around 
talking about burners, furnaces, etc. and I described 
my "T" burner. He evidently thought I was describing 
the Side Arm and that's what he built. When he sent me 
a picture some years later I almost replied telling him 
he had it all wrong. Then I came to my senses, his 
configuration worked just fine and was easier to build. 
It made me realize the exact configuration isn't as 
important as getting the ratios and alignments right.

I brought Rich a "T" burner for the 06 Dig and after 
cutting a hole in the side of his forge and doing a 
little tuning had it running plenty hot. It's a 1" "T" 
burner and is doing what two 3/4" commercial burners 
weren't. I don't know if Rich built another but that 
would be gross overkill.

I don't claim the "T" is hotter or more efficient than 
Mikey's design or most others. What it is, is really 
easy to build with minimal tools and skills. Like any 
jet ejector type burner it's ultimate efficiency will 
top out around the max an air / propane torch can. Some 
designs take less tweeking to reach top performance but 
in balance they're harder to build.

Whether you buy or build is up to you, some folk just 
want to get to work and others like me like making the 
tools almost as much as using them. Another factor is 
the age old money / time dilemma, if you have the time 
you don't have the money and visa versa. Even when I 
don't have a lot of time I have more time than money so 
spending some time building burners and furnaces far 
offsets the cost of buying them. I typically spend 
around $8-10 per burner, not counting regulator, hose 
and tank and around $25-50 on the forge/furnace itself.

Lastly, running to the local plumbing supplier on a 
quest for workable fittings is half the fun. I 
especially like the look on the sales person's face 
when I tell him what I'm making and why. <grin>

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Dann" <dann at wctatel.net>


>
>
> Dan,
>
> Interesting...
> Mike Porters burner  uses a mig tip for the propane 
> orifice? .. hmmm.
>
> Guessing here:  as Zoeller Forge is selling Porter's 
> book,   the LP BURNER that Larry Zoeller made for me 
> a couple years ago, is probably a "Porter" type 
> Burner.
>
> Rather than hunt down parts,  I couple years  back, I 
> asked Larry to include everything for the burner, 
> including the regulator, and hose.  Just add BBQ LP 
> tank: have complete forge burner.
>
> http://www.zoellerforge.com/flare.html
>
> I thought it was a good value.    Consider the time 
> spent running to the hardware store... not knowing 
> exactly what you are looking for... so feeling a bit 
> like an idiot while searching through catalogs.  Then 
> choosing, ordering and getting a one of a kind item 
> that my small "mom and pop" hardware store will 
> probably never order again... and then  when the part 
> comes in.... <grins> finding out that it was the 
> wrong fitting.
>
> Yuppers! It was a great value.
>
> Looking at Zoeller's new web page, I see that Larry 
> has all that stuff listed now.
>
> Then I  had another brain fart... Maybe this Porter 
> Burner is similar to what Frosty helped Rich Fizzell 
> assemble  a couple years ago.  I think that Rich said 
> his burners also use a mig tips for the propane 
> orifice.
>
> Rich  said he really liked Frosty's burners, and used 
> them to replace  the stock burners that came with his 
> Whisper Momma.
>
> <big stupid grins>
>
> Dann
>
>