[TheForge] LP burner question.

[Jerry Frost]

Mike:

You can scale the "T" burner down easily enough. There 
is no fundamental difference between it and Mikey's 
burners. The differences are ease of construction, 
precision and performance. Burner output is equivalent 
to the area of the burner tube throat so a 3/4" burner 
has about 1/2 the output of a 1" burner and so on.

I haven't built one smaller than 3/4" but it used the 
same mig tip as Mikey's 3/4" or the Sidearm 3/4" so I 
assume any 1/2" bore jet ejector type burner would use 
the same mig tip.

The ratios for everything else remain the same. For a 
1/2" bore use a 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2" "T" or "Cross" and a 
1/2" x 4" nipple. Everything else except the mig dia. 
would be the same.

My next burner will use a "Cross" rather than a "T" for 
a couple reasons. It'll be easier to build without a 
lathe or a special jig for the drill press the same as 
a Sidearm and it'll move the gas jet farther from the 
throat for better induction.

When you're building a "T" it'll take more tweeking 
than some but it tunes pretty reliably within "specs." 
For a 1" burner I use a 0.045" mig tip, for a 3/4" a 
0.035" mig tip so as a departure point I'd use a 0.023" 
mig tip for a 1/2" and tune from there.

If you need inbetween size for the jet, use a torch tip 
cleaner not drill bits. The tip cleaner is a set of 
files and won't jam and break in the copper mig contact 
tip. Trying to shave small amounts from copper with a 
drill bit or reamer is an invitation to broken bits. 
Copper work hardens quickly and will grab bits with 
very little warning.

Let us know how whatever you try works.

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

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "GRAF" <adveniam at att.net>


>I have and use a burner much like the one Frosty has 
>up on:
> http://www.blacksmith.org/drupal/forge_burner
>
> It works fine in the forge. I now have another 
> application which requires less heat than the minimum 
> that I can get from this burner.
>
> The fire pot that I use to heat my soldering coppers 
> is regulated with only a needle valve, no pressure 
> regulator. This makes obtaining a nice even heat 
> difficult and when soldering for six or seven hours 
> leads to too many trips to clean them do to 
> overheating. In many ways the charcoal firepots that 
> I grew up using were far nicer to work with.
>
> At any rate, while working at the forge , it occurred 
> to me that building a new LP fire pot with a pressure 
> regulator would give me a much quieter, controllable 
> and more efficient piece of equipment. The only 
> problem is that the 3/4 inch burner is at least twice 
> what I need for soldering, even when I crank the 
> pressure down to near 3 lbs, where the flame  gets 
> unstable.
> I am only using 50/50 solder . If the coppers get 
> much above 850 or so I can not move fast enough to 
> keep from burning the solder which reaches a liquid 
> state at half that.
>
> So, has any one tried making one of these burners 
> with 1/2 to 1/3 the capacity?
> I'd appreciate orifice sizing suggestions still using 
> the mig tips if possible. I wonder if 1/2 pip would 
> be to large, perhaps 3/8?
> I am guessing that the ratios in the sizing are not 
> linear 1" > 3/4"> 1/2 etc.
>
>
>
> Mike Graf
>