Thread: Shed heating ornament

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Great to see see your progress Gerbilsquasher. We had to keep ourselves entertained while we waited lol.



I am sure we can think of some ways to alleviate the Danger. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you.

Nice forge.

Dean

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It did cross my mind that at this stage the contraption could be used as a patio heater or even a BBQ if you threw a steel plate on top... but not a forge. I guess I don't think like a blacksmith..... yet!

Made some more progress over the last day or two, mainly the cone for the flue and the supports thereof.

Marking out bend lines:

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Bending on the Sorta Dodgy Micro Brake Press:

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Folding up the supports:

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Tacked together it looks like it means business before I weld it proper:
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Ironically I seem to have come down with the flu while working on the flue..... about time for some heat in the shed methinks....

Originally Posted by eskimo

so what holds and seals the middle section ( i guess its steel) to the top and bottom drum?

Gravity, mainly. The centre ring is slightly larger than the lip on the open side of the brake drum and the lip sits inside. If the edges of the ring are flat then it seals quite well... and if the stove is 'driven' properly there should be a partial vacuum inside while it is burning, so any small gaps will draw air into the flames rather than emitting smoke.

Even a commercial pot belly will produce smoke if not driven properly. Shut the flue flap with wet kindling and you will quickly see how many gaps there are in a store-bought stove...

Originally Posted by rascal

Eskimo and anyone else,
I have plenty of truck brake drums available for pickup in Melbourne or Adelaide.
PM me with your needs.Free.
John

thanks John
My son picked them yesterday....now to get some warmth into the shed

Originally Posted by Gerbilsquasher

Gravity, mainly. The centre ring is slightly larger than the lip on the open side of the brake drum and the lip sits inside. If the edges of the ring are flat then it seals quite well... and if the stove is 'driven' properly there should be a partial vacuum inside while it is burning, so any small gaps will draw air into the flames rather than emitting smoke.

Even a commercial pot belly will produce smoke if not driven properly. Shut the flue flap with wet kindling and you will quickly see how many gaps there are in a store-bought stove...

that makes sense

G/day Gerbs, the heater is coming along well

I can't see any empty bottles of inspirational fluid scattered around ?

Originally Posted by shedhappens

G/day Gerbs, the heater is coming along well

I can't see any empty bottles of inspirational fluid scattered around ?

Excellent point. Might have fended that flu off too...lesson learnt I hope?!?

Originally Posted by shedhappens

G/day Gerbs, the heater is coming along well

I can't see any empty bottles of inspirational fluid scattered around ?

Nah. Its too cold in the shed for that. Wait til the heater is going!

Dean

Originally Posted by shedhappens

G/day Gerbs, the heater is coming along well

I can't see any empty bottles of inspirational fluid scattered around ?

There were some out of view of the camera. I have lost a favorite beer glass when I left it on the welding bench and knocked it off. My peripheral vision was impaired when I was wearing the welding helmet. That's my story and I'm sticking
to it.

Originally Posted by CMB

Excellent point. Might have fended that flu off too...lesson learnt I hope?!?

Learnt a along time ago... a couple of bevvies and then a straight whiskey and two aspirin before bed kicks viral butt!!!

Was feeling much better the next day.

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Nah. Its too cold in the shed for that. Wait til the heater is going!

Dean

Too cold for beer?

Originally Posted by Gerbilsquasher

There were some out of view of the camera. I have lost a favorite beer glass when I left it on the welding bench and knocked it off. My peripheral vision was impaired when I was wearing the welding helmet. That's my story and I'm sticking
to it.



Learnt a along time ago... a couple of bevvies and then a straight whiskey and two aspirin before bed kicks viral butt!!!

Was feeling much better the next day.



Too cold for beer?

It is always too cold for beer as far as I am concerned. I have never liked it and don't drink it. Whisky is much better and cider if I have to and it is not too cold.

Dean

I have pulled my finger out and finished it... except for giving her a coat of pot belly black (local hardware only had aerosol cans... where's the fun in that?). Anyway, I will show a few more pics of the process and the completed 'ornament' with fake cellophane 'fire' burning inside.

Next I made the flap housing (which also connects to the flue) from some 140 mm diameter pipe I had lying around. The smaller piece was made from the same original pipe but was slit down the length (several times as there was some experimentation involved.... but the final amount of material removed was pretty close to the amount calculated from the difference of the two diameters (pi * d then subtract one circumference from the other) The smaller piece didn't end up very round at all, and had to be forced into a better shape with pressings and large hammers. Finally the smaller piece was located sorta concentric to the larger by sheet metal spacers of the appropriate thickness and cooked inside and out with the MIG.

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A flap was made by turning a 10mm thick round 'slug' into an elliptical shape.

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Once ground into a shape that wouldn't jam in the pipe, holes were cut in the side of the tube with a hole saw, for the pivots for the flap. I got these pretty close to being exactly opposite each other by using an indexing head and a vertical height gauge. The pivots are merchant bar and I have increase the bearing surface by welding some of the thick washers (left over from making the rivets) to the outside of the tube concentric with the holes.

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Completed pipe with flap. The handle gives a visual indication of flap position

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The top plate was made from two separate pieces of 8.0mm mild steel, and plug welded together. I did it this way to give a 'ledge' for the top cover to sit on.

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While welding the two plates together I was careful to make sure the holes lined up (I put the rivets in the holes to make sure of this) and I clamped everything tightly.

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The top cover is also made from two obround shapes of different sizes and plug welded together. These were actually the slugs from the holes in the top plates. This allowed me to machine the lifting hole as found in many commercial equivalents. A square hole was machined all the way through and a recess was machined on the underside with the trusty Cincinnati.

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I will need to make the appropriate tool for this slot but for now a screwdriver will do.

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The flap housing was welded to the top of the plates once they were welded together, and the whole assembly was attached to the top brake drum with the rivets as per the bottom plate

The plug welds on the top of the plate were ground and linished flat. This assembly is now finished.

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I didn't take too many snaps of the ring. A lot of the parts were laser cut, as was the door in the ring after it was rolled. I made the hinges from some stuff lying around. The handle and the hinges pivot on shoulder bolts.

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The cinder box was folded up from some gal sheet and the corners TIG welded.

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After much grinding, the unit was finished. There were not many photos in these final stages because I trying to get the thing finished....

Here I have cleaned most of it up and painted the legs with VHT engine enamel

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The flue was installed in the roof and of course I had to try it out, along with a coldy or three....

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It really throws out some heat.This is the new shed which is at about 750m above sea level and regularly drops below zero.... and the shed is missing a large amount of the flashing between the roof and the walls, so a lot of the heated air escaped into the cold night. Still, if you were within 10 metres you could feel the radiant heat from the brake drums, which are around an inch thick in most places.

Of course should you decide to build one it doesn't have to be as elaborate as mine to do the same job... I started this one ten years ago, and a lot of things got in the way... but I am very happy with the result.

The length some blokes go to stop their beer freezing