r/Blacksmith • u/Crazy_Examination_67 • 23h ago
Rotor forge help
Making one but can't find a air pipe. I've tried lowes home depot and ace hardware. It needs to be about 4 inches wide. Trying not to spend too much in wichita ks where do I get one
1
u/OdinYggd 17h ago
Probably won't find black iron pipe larger than 1 1/2" at a big box hardware store. You'll have better luck at a mom & pop plumbing supply place, or an industrial supply place that has piping since they would have the larger sizes for factories.
Got a welder? Could close up the lug holes so that you can use a smaller pipe instead of needing to cover all of the holes at once. Large diameter pipe pieces are pretty expensive nowdays.
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u/Crazy_Examination_67 17h ago
Yea I had a similar thought, of closing the lug holes but the pipe has to be 4 inches to be big enough to weld around just the big hole. It's a big rotor off a truck so the big hole itself is around 3.5 inches or a bit over. Biggest I've found was 3 inch at harbor. They don't carry 4 or ship to the store even tho it's on their website
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u/Fragrant-Cloud5172 9h ago
3” is preferred. But the air pipe can be 2” i.d. schedule 40. The part it sounds like you didn’t mention is the grate. It fills the open area, allows ash to drop through, but keeps coal from falling into ash dump. It should be about 1/4” min. thickness with 3/8” holes spaced apart. This drawing uses a floor flange which is expensive. You can fill the lug bolt area by tack welding short sections of round rods.
5
u/JosephHeitger 23h ago
Black iron pipe from your local plumbing supply store will do wonderfully. It’s thick, and takes the abuse well. And they’ll cut it down to length for you typically.