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1-1/2” angle Iron
1/8” steel sheet
Car brake drum
2” Piping from hardware store
Electric blower about 150CFM
Constructed
Cut your 1/8” sheet to the size you want your forge to be. Mine is about 3” square. You use the angle iron to build a table using the 1/8” sheet for a top. Build a frame for the top to sit on but be sure that one side of the angle is pointing up, instead of down. Build the rest of the frame of the table using your angle iron for the legs and the bracing.
Take a straight edge and draw an “X” on the 1/8” plate to locate the center of the plate. Get the car brake drum and measure the outside of the brake drum to determine the size of a hole to cut in the plate so that the brake drum can be recessed into the plate. Cut the hole in the plate using whatever method you have. DO NOT exceed your hole six or you will have trouble later. The smoother and rounder this hole is the better. Place the brake drum into the opening allowing it to rest on the flange. Grind off as much as possible that is protruding above the plate without risking weakening the drum. Remove the drum and turn over. Weld the holes closed where the wheel studs used to pass through. This will leave the center opening only. Get a reducing bushing from the hardware store that is large enough to cover the center hole in the brake drum one end and as large as possible(but smaller) on the other end. Weld the reducing bushing in place, wide end on the brake drum. After welding the reducing bushing in place add a 6” pipe nipple to the opposite end of the reducer. Then add a tee onto the pipe, add a 6” pipe nipple to the two open sides of the tee. On the bottom pipe nipple, you need to add a cap. There are a couple methods to doing this, I just screwed a pipe cap onto the end of the nipple. If I were to build another coal forge I would do it differently. I would get a piece of flat plate large enough to cover the end of the pipe. I would weld two small pieces to that with a hole in it. I would also a small piece of steel to the side of the pipe. These three pieces, two on the plate and one on the nipple could receive a pin. These would make a hinge. I would also weld a ¼” rod to the plate under the hinge about 10” long and put a weight on it. All I would have to do is lift the weight to open the end of the pipe. On the open end of the horizontal pipe you would attach the output of your 150CFM blower and add an on and off switch.
Air flows from the fan up through the brake drum and through the coal. The ashes fall through the holes in the grate and collect in the lower pipe nipple. Just lift the weight at the end of the ash dump and the ashes will fall out, let go and the dump will close.