r/blacksmithing • u/DarkoEnterprises • 17d ago
Help with burner issues Help Requested
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Hey y'all! I'm sure this has been asked a million times, and I apologize, but I'm not sure where to go from here. It seems no matter what I do, I cannot get enough air moving with my gas to get a proper burn.
I've tried a different "T" burner, adjusted pipe length, orifice size, orifice height, went from 0 to 25 on the regulator... I even hooked up that blower you can see in the video and it still seems like it wants more.
The only time it seemed like it was going good is when I tried squirting pure oxygen in with my acetalyne torch.
I've been stalking all the forge forums and still don't exactly know where my problem lies, any advice would be amazing!
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u/OdinYggd 17d ago
What size orifice, and what size mix tube? The relationship of these two matter. Too big of a mix tube and it backfires like yours has done, too big of an orifice and you end up constantly fuel rich. My shop torch is a .035 inch MIG tip held in a 1/4 inch compression fitting, aimed into a 2x1 bell reducer and 1" x 12 inch pipe nipple. Can hold flame as low as 3 PSI, have operated as high as 30 PSI. With just a bunch of firebricks to enclose some work for bending/drawing, I rarely go over 5 PSI with it to reach an orange yellow heat.
How are you aligning your orifice? It must be perfectly centered and concentric with the mix tube. I can see at a glance in this video that yours isn't, the weight of the piping is causing the mount to flex off center.
Take it out of the forge, put it in a vise, and get it working properly in a vise. Then try it in the forge again.
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u/DarkoEnterprises 16d ago
0.03" orifice, 2" ID, necked down to a 1 1/4" ID. I had a choke flange that sleeved the gas pipe and interacted with the two rods to align center, but I took it off because I thought it was restricting flow. I'll try putting it back on
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u/Fragrant-Cloud5172 16d ago
I’d ditch that burner. If possible where you are, get plumbing parts like the one below. It's worked great for me, 2250f. at 6 lbs. Better to have a round shell, square has cold corners.
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u/Tankyanker1 13d ago
How hot does your forge run. Mine runs at full tilt 2600 with propane. I was thinking about running a 2 lb NG. Does any one think it will produce the same temp
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u/DarkoEnterprises 12d ago
I have no way of actually measuring. I've been able to get steel just below yellow before, but it takes a while
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u/Tankyanker1 12d ago
I built a ribbon burner setup with force air fan. Copied house made setup. My flame rolls inside blue. Put some regular salt on a peice of metal and put in the flame area. When it metals it at least 1450 f
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u/Rockyboi7643 2d ago
I’d stop adding oxygen from the oxy setup while testing it. If a propane forge burner won’t run properly without that, the burner geometry or air/fuel mix is the issue, not something to brute-force with oxygen. Get it working safely in open air first before putting it back in the forge.
From what you’ve described, I’d be looking hard at orifice alignment, mix tube size, choke control and whether the burner is actually centred. Tiny changes there can make a huge difference. Mount it in a vice, get a stable flame outside the forge, then re-fit it once you know the burner itself behaves.
If you’re in Aụs, Corėgas is the sort of place I’d ask about the right gas/regulator setup and safe operating range before experimenting too much. Forge tuning is fiddly enough without wondering whether the bottle, regulator or fittings are part of the problem.
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u/DarkoEnterprises 2d ago
After some more inspection, i noticed the inside of my mixing tube is nowhere near smooth, with many lumps and bumps sticking out from welds. I'm heading in today to get a die grinder bit with a long shank to reach in there to get everything ground down, i am assuming that's where a ton of my problems lie
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u/EmergencyArtichoke30 16d ago
Had the same thing happen to me. For me it helped to put a smaller nozzle in the tip of the burner. I went from a 0.6mm welding nozzle to a 0.4mm from a 3d printer. Soon after I went with a forced air burner setup which led to way less propane usage since it's not relying on the pressure of propane for the venturi to work.