Rex Price's "T-Rex Burner"
(T-Rex Burner shown with optional revolving choke. Slider above is
standard.)
Preface
It was pointed out to
me by a dear friend that my words below may be misunderstood if they are
not read carefully. I need to make one point very clear before you
proceed. When I make glowing remarks about this burner being "state
of the art", etc., I am most certainly not referring to burner technology
found in high tech industry, but instead "state of the art" so far as the
home forge and foundry operators, and small independent businesses, are
concerned. If you look at the miserable burners found on most commercial
forges, some of which will not even reach forge welding temperatures, my
point should be clear. The burner I am describing below is light years ahead
of the burners on any commercial forge I have seen, such as those for sale
by Centaur Forge, and others, and well advanced over what most blacksmiths
have built for their own use. There are burners available from the various
air amplification technology companies that easily eclipse this
burner, but you will be paying a great deal more for them too. This is most
definitely not new technology, but having burners of this quality and performance
level easily available to the home forge or foundry operation at a reasonable
price is. Please read my comments below within the framework that I intended
them to be interpreted. Thank you.
Note: Rex now has a web page devoted to the various burners he is producing. From there you can access his burner/forge troubleshooting page, or a burner price sheet page. I suggest you read through my page here first however, as it has a lot more information specific to the T-Rex burner. After reading through this page, if you are interested, go to http://www.hybridburners.com/ for further information.
My Personal Evaluation
I am so impressed
with this burner that I felt it deserved its own page so that I can describe
its properties and options in full. However, I do not sell these burners,
and will refer you directly to Rex
Price's web page, the machinist who is responsible for the superb design,
and who machines these precision burners in his own shop in Georgia. This
page is intended to provide a critique of this new burner, and my personal
endorsement of it. The name "T-Rex" is very appropriate for this burner.
The burner is truly the top of the food chain, the "baddest" burner
in town, the king of beasts, much like its namesake who lived 65 million
years ago. The greatest endorsement I can give the T-Rex burner is to say
that I am switching my two gas forges over to use these burners just as soon
as Rex is able to get them shipped to me. I can't wait to see what they will
do when installed in my big four burner forge. :-)
Note: I have only had time, due to my recent 5 month illness, and subsequently to the construction of my "dream shop," to install and use one T-Rex burner on my four burner forge. It is rather amazing how different it is from the "Reil" burner it replaced. My four burner forge could easily run with only two of these burners, and would probably be hotter than I can achieve with the four Reil burners running, and would use less fuel too. I doubt I will install all four of them on this forge as it would be a waste of two burners. I would never use more than two of them, and only rarely more than one. As to my Mini-Forge, I am permanently installing one of the "Shorty" burners in it, which is discussed at the bottom of this page, and which now has its own page.
I am elated
to, at long last, be able to provide a source for top quality forge and foundry
burners. Even more, these burners are what I consider to be the finest forge
and foundry burners easily available anywhere in the world today to the home
operator. Rex took the information I have posted about the Mongo series of
burners and designed the ultimate burner, which he has named the "T-Rex Burner."
It is in-fact a hybrid design Mongo burner because it uses the air intake
porting that would normally be found on a 1-1/4" diameter Mini-Mongo burner,
and combines its massive intake suction power with the smaller and more
universally useful 3/4" diameter Micro-Mongo burner tube. The result is a
hybrid Mongo burner that will fit into any burner mounting designed for the
standard 3/4" burner, but this burner has a far greater output, approaching
that of the much bigger Mini-Mongo burner. The most amazing aspect of this
burner is its fuel economy. It was tested against a "Reil" burner, and was
found to use no more fuel, but produced higher temperatures in the test device.
Apparently this is due to the efficiency of the fuel/air mixing, and the
ability to instantly tune the burner to a perfect neutral flame at any gas
pressure setting, thus obtaining the maximum burn temperature possible. This
was a totally unexpected. The burner now comes with a sliding choke sleeve,
and stainless flared nozzle, as standard.
The technology
that Rex has employed is not new, it is a jet ejector burner, but the way
in which he has put it all together into this "super-burner" is. This burner
is not made of "off the shelf" plumbing parts, but is a finely machined precision
tool that has been thoroughly thought through and tested. When I received
one of the burners for testing, I was initially impressed by its weight.
It is rock solid, no thin sheet steel or cast iron fittings. The intake assembly
is all turned and milled 1018 steel, providing an axially true adjustable
jet, fitted with a replaceable Tweco 14T
tip. The tip is replaceable, not because it will ever wear out, but to
allow you to change the jet orifice diameter easily, if you should ever decide
to alter the operational properties of the burner....not recommended.
The operational
characteristics of the burner are outstanding, but are also different from
most burners of this type. When I first hooked up the newly arrived production
version "T-Rex Burner" in my test jig, adjusted my regulator to 3 psi, slid
the flared nozzle to a reasonable exposure of about 3/4", opened the choke
and tried to light it, it refused to light! I am familiar enough with propane
burners that I knew the cause, but it was still a surprise to me. Usually
by adjusting the gas pressure down to the lower end of the range it will
allow easy lighting of a burner, but not this time. I then closed the choke
down to leave only about 10% of the intake port open, and this time it lit
immediately. I quickly learned that the gas pressure and choke must be
coordinated together with this burner, due to the tremendous intake
suction the burner creates, and which creates such an air blast out the burner
nozzle that it will blow away the flame, no matter where the the nozzle is
set if you do not have it choked properly.
I continued
to experiment with the burner, and after about 5 minutes I was very comfortable
with its "touchy" operation. You have to learn how to control all that power
the huge intake assembly makes available to you. I found that I was able
to instantly crank up the pressure to "jet engine"
levels, and while doing so, smoothly adjust the choke to maintain a stable
and neutral burn. This applies clear across its operating range, which for
me was zero gage pressure to 30 psi, the limit of the two gages on my test
jig. There was no tendency to blow out the flame once I understood how the
choke and gas pressure had to be operated in relation to each other. As to
the nozzle flare, its tuning is almost irrelevant because you can easily
tune the flame for any operating pressure with the choke and still maintain
a stable flame. I initially set the flare at 3/4" of overhang, and adjusted
it a little bit back and forth, but found that anywhere between 3/4" and
1-1/4" worked fine. It was not at all critical, so no careful tuning will
be needed with this burner. To say the least, I am very excited about using
these burners in my forges.
The air induction
ports are long milled slots, providing the necessary cross-sectional area
to allow the burner to draw in all the air that its advanced design is capable
of. Simple drilled round ports would limit the intake volume, creating an
artificial BTU limit far below what the burner is capable of delivering.
The BTU output is now limited only by the frictional coefficient of
the 3/4" burner tube, a parameter that can't be altered or improved
upon. In other words, this burner is constructed to operate up to the
full theoretical design capacity, or output, that the burner is capable
of.
The standard
T-Rex comes with a sliding choke sleeve, shown above the burner in
this image. I found this "slider choke" worked very
well, and in fact produces a better shaped flame, but was not as convenient
for me as the milled quarter turn revolving choke that is in place on the
burner in the image. The revolving choke is no longer offered as an off the
shelf option, but can still be orderd on a custom basis. I like the revolving
choke option because of its instant and convenient adjustability. Also, it
will not accidentally slide down the intake assembly when you release the
thumb screw lock like the slider can. Both chokes
will function well however, so what you are buying with the revolving
choke is convenience. Since making the revolving choke requires a lot of
time, it is not cheap to produce, and the price is not listed on the price
sheet page. You will have to e-mail Rex for a quote.
There is
an additional concern associated with this burner that I need to advise you
of, actually two of them. Although I am switching over my forges to use these
burners, and they will all be fitted with stainless flares, these burners
easily can generate enough heat to melt stainless steel nozzle flares if
you run the burner up into to its upper range. Melting and collapse can be
controlled to some extent by proper positioning of the nozzle flare in the
outer layer of Kaowool in your forge. However, even with these precautions
you can easily damage or destroy the flare. The first signs of nozzle distress
is usually the appearance of little sparklers in the burner flame, caused
by the flare deteriorating and flaking away. Maintaining a slightly reducing
flame will help prevent this. The only sure prevention is to keep the heat
down below the destruction point of the stainless flare, or use of a ceramic
nozzle, which we are working on, even as this is being written. Until we
have a ceramic nozzle source, you will just have to be aware of the problem
and be careful.
The second
concern relates to safety. These burners are capable of extraordinary
temperatures, and this poses all the normal dangers associated with high
temperature tools, including "flash burn", which is normally only associated
with arc welding. If your forge temperature remains in the lower yellow range,
you will probably be fine, but if you crank up the heat into the upper
yellow-white range, you may be subjected to strong UV radiation. So, please
read the safety warning comments I have
posted at the top of the Mongo Burner section of my Design Page....better
safe than sorry, especially where your eyes are concerned.
This burner
will find application in virtually any forge, melting furnace, and even in
heat treating ovens. Its smooth adjustability and controllability, from little
more than a cigarette lighter flame at zero gage pressure in my test jig,
to its jet engine output at 30 psi, gives this burner broad application in
almost any high temperature propane fired heating device. I consider this
burner to be the ultimate achievement in atmospheric burner development for
the home forge and foundry community. We have come a long way since the "Reil
and EZ-Burners" first came on the scene. I don't expect to see this burner
bypassed any time soon, if ever. I think it would be fair to say that this
burner does not represent the cutting edge of burner technology in the home
metalworking community, it is the cutting edge.
I will close
with these comments. This is a top of the line burner in every way, the best
available anywhere for the back yard operator. For the guy who demands the
best, and who wants to get the most out of a given tool, this burner is the
clear choice. You will not do better anywhere, hands down. Yes, it costs
more than building yourself an off the shelf plumbing parts "Reil or EZ-Burner,"
but the difference between them is like the difference between night and
day. This is a superb tool, so if you are looking for the best naturally
aspirated jet ejector burner you can get, one that is designed specifically
for forge and foundry work, this is it. Enjoy!
Another burner in the
developing T-Rex family of burners is the "Shorty Burner." This is a scaled
down version of the T-Rex, and has application in some locations where the
T-Rex is too big, or just not convenient. Have a look at the
Shorty Burner Page if you are interested in a
miniture version of the T-Rex. For additional burner models not discussed
here, please visit Rex's burner page linked just below.
Go to Rex's Burner Page for
furner information.
The Full Site Map - Lists All Pages on This Site
Page By: Ron Reil
Edited With: AOLpress
©Golden Age Forge
28 Oct 01
