Brake drum forge.

Blackjack · Mar 4, 2010

One problem with a MIG is that you can't really use it as a heat source for undoing stubborn nuts or shaping chunks of metal.

This isn't a lot of help with the nuts, but it's an inexpensive way of heating metal to bend it...

The hair dryer was £4.88 from Tesco, the tube you can buy in 6 foot (maybe they're 2metre) lengths from Partco, I used 2 1/4" OD 2mm wall, the disc for the hearth came out of a skip at more or less any garage.

I was looking for a brake drum, but the disc seems to work OK.

rtbcomp · Mar 4, 2010

What fuel do you use?

GrahamGKD · Mar 4, 2010

Hmm, my neighbour at the back of us has been using something similar (not the disk brake disk part but the burner). He has a length of scaffold tube about 4 or 5 foot long with a hair dryer taped to one end and a hole about a third of the way down from the hair dryer where he stuffs his burner (propane I think). He is planning on using it to make some aluminium castings. He has bought some special crucibles for the molten metal. If my posting on here goes quiet it will probably be because he has blown us all up :rolleyes:

English Steve · Mar 4, 2010

I have a set of plans somewhere for making a brake drum forge. IIRC it suggests using a lorry drum, and gives some good advice on burners, clinker valves and the like. I downloaded it from the net somewhere, so it's probably still out there - never quite got around to building one yet. :rolleyes:

Blackjack · Mar 4, 2010

English Steve said:
I have a set of plans somewhere for making a brake drum forge. IIRC it suggests using a lorry drum, and gives some good advice on burners, clinker valves and the like. I downloaded it from the net somewhere, so it's probably still out there - never quite got around to building one yet.

That makes it sound awfully complicated, and it wasn't.

rtbcomp said:
What fuel do you use?

Ordinary house coal.

biodoctor · Mar 4, 2010

pardon my ignorance ,but how does it work :dontknow:

brightspark · Mar 4, 2010

coke would be hotter and cleaner

Blackjack · Mar 4, 2010

biodoctor said:
pardon my ignorance ,but how does it work

To the left of the top picture theres a hair dryer.

That blows air along the pipe into the vertical section of the "T" piece that's bolted to the brake disc.

You light a coal fire on the disc, once it's going, you turn the hair dryer on and the air being forced through the coal makes it burn hotter and faster.

Putting the iron in the fire (it's steel really, but I thought I'd slip that in for the etymologists....) and covering it with coals means it heats up fairly quickly.

A brake drum would probably be better because you could have a deeper fire, but nothing seems to have drum brakes these days, and they last longer than discs.

Blackjack · Mar 4, 2010

brightspark said:
coke would be hotter and cleaner

Apparently charcoal works too.

But, mostly it's whatever they have on the garage forecourt...

However, if you're doing it right....

"In a typical, but by no means universal, coal forge, a firepot will be centered in a flat hearth. The tuyere will enter the firepot at the bottom. In operation, the hot core of the fire will be a ball of burning coke in and above the firepot. The heart of the fire will be surrounded by a layer of hot but not burning coke. Around the unburnt coke will be a transitional layer of coal being transformed into coke by the heat of the fire. Surrounding all is a ring or horseshoe-shaped layer of raw coal, usually kept damp and tightly packed to maintain the shape of the fire's heart and to keep the coal from burning directly so that it "cooks" into coke first."

From here. http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Forge

clearly not really enough room for that on the back of a brake disc...

biodoctor · Mar 4, 2010

Blackjack said:
To the left of the top picture theres a hair dryer.

That blows air along the pipe into the vertical section of the "T" piece that's bolted to the brake disc.

You light a coal fire on the disc, once it's going, you turn the hair dryer on and the air being forced through the coal makes it burn hotter and faster.

Putting the iron in the fire (it's steel really, but I thought I'd slip that in for the etymologists....) and covering it with coals means it heats up fairly quickly.

A brake drum would probably be better because you could have a deeper fire, but nothing seems to have drum brakes these days, and they last longer than discs.

Thanks for that,it's a brilliant idea,could you use BBQ briquetts ?,most trucks still use drums although rather big,if you want smaller ones,older Land Rovers use them and there only about 10-15 quid for a pair.

Jerry

malcolm · Mar 4, 2010

I love the idea and especially the pragmatic approach.

There's a great big hole in the middle of discs and drums. Presumably you have some sort of grate over it to stop the coal falling through and the air is forced directly through some burning coal?

1980s Renaults have brake drums but they aren't very big. The tall bearing housing would probably have the coal sit around the edge of the hole - I wonder if it would be as good as discs (that the Renaults were technologically advanced enough to have at the front).

scarecrow · Mar 4, 2010

i have been using one for years get things nice and hot thats a drum of an old MF20 works a treat

Blackjack · Mar 4, 2010

biodoctor said:
Thanks for that,it's a brilliant idea,could you use BBQ briquetts ?,most trucks still use drums although rather big,if you want smaller ones,older Land Rovers use them and there only about 10-15 quid for a pair.

Jerry

Yeah, I know a couple of truck mechanics, so I could probably get one off of a Class 1, but this works now so I'll see how it goes.

Not sure about BBQ briquettes, but the Yanks seem to do a lot of forging with charcoal, so possibly, but it might burn up rather quickly...

Blackjack · Mar 4, 2010

malcolm said:
I love the idea and especially the pragmatic approach.

There's a great big hole in the middle of discs and drums. Presumably you have some sort of grate over it to stop the coal falling through and the air is forced directly through some burning coal?

1980s Renaults have brake drums but they aren't very big. The tall bearing housing would probably have the coal sit around the edge of the hole - I wonder if it would be as good as discs (that the Renaults were technologically advanced enough to have at the front).

I used a piece of stainless weld mesh over the hole. The wire is probably 1.5mm and the mesh is about 10mm squres.

I got a bit carried away with the ash gate....

ytre · Mar 4, 2010

excellent project yet so simple and efficent. Well done

Blackjack · Mar 7, 2010

I had it fired up yesterday and messed around a bit.

Here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af2lmJn_EaI

Angusdog · Mar 7, 2010

Neat! And I've just realised you're that bloke whose video I watched last week about making crush tubes. Thanks for making these informative videos - It's nice to see people taking the time to share the knowledge. I've bookmarked your YouTube page so I can glean even more information from you

I'd love to build a forge like that, purely for the primeval joy in playing with fire and metal.

Blackjack · Mar 7, 2010

You could subsribe to my You Tube Channel..

http://www.youtube.com/user/timmytenbikes

I think you get an E-mail when I post a new video if you do that.

I've also got a web site at..

www.thefont.info

Mostly about building custom bike frames, but the tube bender was pretty neat.

Angusdog · Mar 7, 2010

What? You're that guy as well? I found your site when looking for a cheap tube bender, that page is bookmarked as I like the low-rent solution rather than the US guys who all seem to buy those 'proper' benders with expensive dies etc. Sometimes I invest in the proper tool for the job, but home built is much more satisfying and easier on the wallet than shop bought.

Blackjack · Mar 7, 2010

Yeah, the clue would have been the big "Blackjack's Bike Tech" logo across the top of the pages...

Brake drum forge.

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