Thread: burner for steam bending.

I've seen a tea urn used ... and you will be able to pump out a lot more heat than that.

It is nice having a page with images of household appliances of some antiquity ... please allow me to add



It had a ply lid with a hole cut in it and a PVC pipe with a lid as the steamer and a can that fitted over the top of the PVC pipe as a lid. We had to tie a piece of timber to the PVC tube to prevent it from going saggy with the heat - you don't want everything bent BEFORE it leaves the steamer!!

Michael

ta. sounds like this little cookers not worth bothering with.

I use an old electric hot plate, with a gallon paint can.

You get enough heat with that ?

I've used an imersion heater in the past which I sectioned and shortened.

If I was doing some steam bending now, I would hunt down a wallpaper stripper. They're ideal as they have a boiler, reservoir and hose all in one handy, portable unit.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

I've used an imersion heater in the past which I sectioned and shortened.

If I was doing some steam bending now, I would hunt down a wallpaper stripper. They're ideal as they have a boiler, reservoir and hose all in one handy, portable unit.

Something like this? I like the sound of the double walled hose.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

I've used an imersion heater in the past which I sectioned and shortened.

If I was doing some steam bending now, I would hunt down a wallpaper stripper. They're ideal as they have a boiler, reservoir and hose all in one handy, portable unit.

yeh, I looked into getting one of those. 250 bucks or something like on ebay. I've ended up just using a kettle today.

Originally Posted by jmk89

Something like this? I like the sound of the double walled hose.

thinking something bigger Jeremy. There's a heavy duty one on the ebay somewhere. anyway.

Hello
I have used the inside of a steam wheatkiller and a plasticpipe for small things, but you must remenber that, you can't use forcedryet wood, the "greener" the better, and the bending must be done in 1 step, not bending a little and heat again, coarse the structure of the wood has been chanched at the first try.

shown on my site together with a woodden one for big subjects, press the hammers.
Erik

ta Erik.

took some pics of the setup I fiddled with today. nothing special.

basically a kettle, a radiator hose, into stormwater pipe, braced with timber(cause the stuff softens under heat), and a trickle topup sort of system to keep the kettle from running out of water whilst maintaining steam....basically I kept input about the same of the drips coming out of the box.

tried a quick bend on an old former with reject spindles to see what happens. good.

There thermometer I had stuck into the back of the box read 128 degrees constantly, which is probably too high from what I've read. But its better than being too low I'm guessing.

Jake, you haven't given a lot of info on what you want to steam, and how many of them at a time. I have seen rigs for bending ribs for couta boats as below,

Steam box - about 300mm (internal) square cross section about 2.4m long with layer seperaters incorporated, one closed end, the open end covered with a hessian bag. Steam box inclined about 15deg to horizontal, with the closed end down. Holds about 20 ribs 1500 to 1800mm long, restocked layer by layer if required for continuous work.

Steam generator - an old fashioned cream churn, connected to the steam box by 50mm approx car radiator hose.

Burner - 300 -350mm diameter double ring surplus urn burner, feed from a 9kg gas bottle with regulator etc.

With this rig, the generator would be filled with water and the burner fired on full burst for about an hour to get the steam up and flowing, Unit would then be turned down to about 50% and the first batch of timbers loaded. After an appropriate period, it could be turned down further and individual ribs could be pulled and installed, formed to shape and clamped in place. For ongoing work, additional ribs could be loaded to steam once a layer of ribs had been removed.

The limiting factor with this system was generally the time available for a session and the number of clamps available for holding the rib shape. In a 3 hour session, the unit could be fired from cold, steam a set of 20 or so ribs, and get about 15 installed and formed. There were always spares in the steamer in case any split or cracked during forming. This occured for 2-3 ribs each session.

The 9 kg gas bottle was normally good for about 2 sessions between fills.

This rig may well be way above your interest and needs, but gives you an idea of fairly serious, semi production steaming.

Many years ago, whwn I asked a boatbuilder how to do this, I remember he said " the steam has to be wet ". in danish it was, so 128 is probably too much.
Erik

The heat I use is a camp site burner, much like the one shown, though bigger, designed for big pots. I use a 5 gallon metal gas can on top with a 1/2" rubber fuel hose (what I had laying around) which feeds steam from the gas can boiler to the steam box.

It takes about 15 minutes to get a good head of steam up and will run for about an hour and a half with a full can. I also have a condensation return line, from the lower end of the seam box (which is a section of stove pipe) back to the boiler. The steamer is galvanized steel and is wrapped with fiberglass insulation.



It works well, though with metal steamers, you need to keep the stock from touching the sides or it may stain.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

You get enough heat with that ?

Sure, I have a 10' section of 4" PVC pipe wrapped with newspaper.
a 45` elbow on one end over the paint can,

It may not be the fastest, but it works.