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[Meddadog]

I can't seem to find any magma except the bottomest z levels magma sea. But pumping that up that many z levels seems unfeasible on the 5x5 embarks I do. Do you just have a ton of dwarfs pumping? I can't imagine with gears and axles you can build enough power to build a pump stack that long.

Any and all suggestions on how to get magma up and actually use it for forges and smelters?

[Haymaker]

Getting magma from the bottom is always a bit of mega-chore, but yes both options can be done. Powered up magma pumping takes more planning, a source of water (and a big pool) to create perpetual waterwheel power and dwarfpower just takes alot of dwarves.

I have tried both methods several times but my forts either died from/and A) Overseer mistake B) FPS death because dual core 2,4ghz is definately not enough

[Fleeting Frames]

Yes, it is possible to get enough power. And how many z-levels? Magma sea can be just 12z away on thin embarks.

However, even if you're wanting to flood the surface, I'd still recommend using minecarts for transport. If you avoid wasting time by acceleration or hitting wall and falling, you can get similar output as screw pump over a magma sea.

Granted, if you flood the surface, you'll kill the FPS anyway.

Just forges and smelters?

Use a piston or transport a magma-filled minecart by hand. Here's one design for quickly filling without carving tracks across 100 zlevels or waiting for magma to evaporate..
      #
+^^^⎕

+floor
⎕ cart, set to push west when empty of any items.
^ ramp (E, EW, NW in this order. Note that if you instead drop the cart down on NW ramp, the magma ramps must be EW EW)
# wall

Wiki has more info, though fastest minecart systems are only on forum.

[PatrikLundell]

The normal case is that magma is present only in the magma sea. It's not unusual for magma pipes to exist, resulting in a magma pool in a cavern or a volcano, but these cases are in the minority.

I generally set up my magma facilities down by the magma sea, but the mine cart hauling method works fine as well (although I usually don't have any metal on my embarks (except candy), so a magma safe mine cart is hard to come by).

[gunpowdertea]

I (used to..., well depends on tree growth) dig down as fast as I could after establishing an initial fort upstairs. Then, I'd move most operations down. Ore is "transported" down using drop chutes or a minecart ramp (corkscrew).

To get magma up I prefer the piston. It is most dwarvish, as in "high risk, transports a ton of magma, takes a while to set up, takes even more time to set up if you want it to be repeatable". I then build a control room that overlooks the piston, with colour-coded levers to plunge it down, to open and close magma reservoirs, the obsidianizer on top, the drainage system at the bottom, etc., complete with windows, shields that will be activated before you "pump" and a nice amount of booze and high quality meals for the operating staff.

[Luriant]

Agree with Fleeting Frames.

To bring magma up to flood the map, use a pump stack.
But for furnaces, you can use a magma safe minecart filled with magma.
I use this method.
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Magma#Design_3:_Minimalist_magma_moving

Magma Filled minecart can be handle by dwarves, at slow speed because of weight.

Garnierite is cheap in embark, make a nickel minecart, design a single dump zone next to the magma (delete others dump zones), mark minecarts for dump, pump magma in the tile and stop at 7/7, pump magma out of the tile with the pump from above, and reclaim, make a stockpile for minecarts and make a track stop to dump the content to the hole you need to fill, with 4/7 magma in a tile you have infinite heat, the forges don't consume magma. Make a Hauling route to assign the minecart, and then assign other minecart.

I have magma furnaces in the first winter, and with sand/clay tiles, I make crafts for the next caravan.

Advice: Put a magma safe grate in the magma source, or your pump operator can be injuried by fire imps or magma crabs.
Advice 2: Make 2 or more minecarts its better, you can make a whole batch of filled minecarts with the same work.

[Sethatos]

I prefer a pump stack to the piston because you can alter it on different levels if you like later. It is definitely a chore for 100 z levels but they get easier every time you do one. Easiest way, if you have sand is to make all the components out of green glass, as it's unlimited, cheap, and magma safe.

[StarWars1981]

A 100z pumpstack is pushing reasonable engineering. That's just freaking boring, and the designations will take you 20 minutes easily. Took me forever to designate out a 30z one. Of course, PART of it was screwy, manually run and asymmetrical, but the rest were just a standard vertical pumpstack, dangling from mechanisms. However, it's a fire-and-forget system: build once, pull lever on/off. Do that whenever you want, without the need for many dwarves or more designations.
And don't be afraid to combine them: say a long-term, micromanagey or time-intensive device to build a reservoir, then a pumpstack (of reasonable length) to transport limited quantities up. Or measured ones, however you want to describe it.

[Bumber]

Magma Filled minecart can be handle by dwarves, at slow speed because of weight.

You can use wheelbarrows. For long distances (100+ steps) they'll need to be magma-safe, or else they'll suddenly disintegrate, and the dwarf will attempt to haul the scalding minecart back to the closest available stockpile. Hauling by hand is slow and causes burns, which could lead to infection.

[PatrikLundell]

I've never had any dorf get visibly burned (i.e. detected by me) from hauling magma filled mine carts, and I've used that method extensively to obsidianize cavern lake entrances. I haven't used wheel barrows, though. In addition to this, there is the issue of dorfs getting tired and dropping the cart (a lot better than dying of dehydration en route, though), and another dorf comes along and hauls it to a stockpile rather than the destination track stop. Some times the dorf hauling the mine cart from the stockpile to track stop has dropped the cart as well, but they tend to reach the destination eventually.