Subject: Re: Rewiring FORGE MOTOR (& PB-50 warning)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 23:02:12 -0400

The big lie out there is that you can use a squirrel cage fan for a forge
blower.  For the most part, squirrel cages (read Dayton) are meant to move
CFM (read lots of oxidation) instead of pressure.  I know that there are
plenty of people that do good work with this type of air source, BUT YOU
REALLY NEED A CENTRIFIGUAL , "VANE-TYPE" BLOWER TO BURN COAL OR COKE (read it
again, if you like).

This is one of the reasons why everybody wants a Champion 400 or equal.  They
don't feel like much if you put your hand over the exhaust, but they do push
the air through a firepot (read positive pressure).  The possible exception
to the squirrel cage dilemma is the 12VDC setup because the static pressure
goes up quite a bit when the rpm's start cranking.  The potentiometer type
speed controls work better with DC, too.  For our purposes, speed controls
don't work on AC unless a brush-type motor is used, which is the type found
on old electric Buffalo and Champion forge blowers.

Dem's my 2 cents.         hollis

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From: Jim McCarty <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 14:31:01 -0500

> on old electric Buffalo and Champion forge blowers.

I will ditto what Hollis said -- BAM made that mistake on the forges 
we built for the 94 conference. Prior to that event we test drove the 
forges at the Ozark Conference and Doug Wilson struggled to get any 
kind of heat from those timid squirrel cages -- he finally begged us 
to rip it off and replaced it with one of Bill Gichner's 400s. The 
difference was amazing.  Squirrel cages suck.
-- 
Jim McCarty
Father Helias Forge
Taos, MO
Editor Rural Missouri Magazine
Newsletter editor, Blacksmiths Association of Missouri

³Foolish consistencies are the hobgoblins of little minds³