Rebuilding my Alcosa forge

[hermetic]

Rebuilding an Alcosa ex school forge that I bought at auction in the eighties (for next to nothing) It was in a poor state, and the next 25 years in a damp shed didn't help! But it was complete, and now it's back and proud!

 

[FOMOGO]

Great work on the forge. One of those jobs where a bead blaster would have been a great asset, but we often have to make do with what we have. Mike

 

[rwm]

The forge looks great but what's the little torch setup you have to the left of it?
RObert

 

[hermetic]

Thanks chaps, yes, a beadblaster would have been wonderful, as the rust was 100% cover over the steel, but underneath it was surprisingly not really pitted at all. The brown paint is an antirust coating. I don't really expect all the paint to stay on, but most of the forge does not get that hot!. The little torch set up is also an Alcosa product, bought at the same auction all those years ago. It is an alcosa brazing hearth which I also rebuilt. It runs on propane or butane, and compressed air from the green pump underneath. The circular top tray is firebrick lined, and rotates like a turntable. I will probably use it most for heat treat and preheating. I built the canopy so that I could connect it to my fume flue. I could do another slideshow on this if anyone is interested. I have thousands of stills, but did all this work before I had a GoPro, so no video, apart from a very grainy demo of a hot wire cutter I made., shot on the stills camera!

 

[rwm]

How does the propane and compressed air work? Is is a lot hotter than a handheld propane torch? I usually use Oxy Propane to braze since the hand held is just a little to weak. Would the propane compressed air replace this?
Robert

 

[hermetic]

It works very well! The torch is a Flamefast T4 , it uses a standard propane regulator, and the air pump is a rotary carbon vane type pump with delivers air at 4psi. It is a lot hotter than ordinary propane torches, but I think oxy/propane will be a hotter still!, as it is used in the UK for cutting up large scrap steel. This torch produces a large but controlable flame, I would have thought that the oxy/propane would be a smaller more controlable flame, but I have never actually had the opportunity to use one. https://www.flamefast.co.uk/hot-metal-found/t2-t4-gas-torches.html
When I get the gas connected I will post up a short video of it working. Thanks for the interest!
Phil https://www.youtube.com/user/philhermetic