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John Larson 
I took my new little Octagon 50 to Dan Boone's hammer-in Saturday. Though I drove through falling snow for a hundred miles, the last hunnert were dry. When I arrived about 7:30 am the sun was breaking through into mostly clear skies. The day was splendiferous. Nol Putnam demonstrated artistic forging in the morning and Bill Clemens made a little anvil like the BGCM is using on chess pieces for Blacksmith Days in May. I watched Nol until about 10:45 and then made my way through the tailgating area to get to my set up.
I'll be putting some video material on the web site in the near future and one segmnet shows a 3" anvil being forged.
The hammer ran pretty well for its virgin junket. Risky? Of course it is to debut a new machine and to discover stuff you thought you had covered from running it in the shop--whatever. There are ALWAYS surprises. Last year my air compressor motor went up in smoke in the first five minutes. Over the year I've had my Miller Trailblazer checked out to find it is perfectly fine. I tried to have the 7.5 hp motor rebuilt but the shop couldn't locate parts even though Grainger still sells the motor. My other 7.5 motors wouldn't start on the Trailblazer. (Now I figger that the failed motor was less than 7.5 despite the plate so that it could be started when it was fresh,) I searched for a gasoline engine conversion, but never completed that investigation. When I developed the Octagon 50 I converted the demo rig to using a 5 hp motor with a smaller diameter pulley. The Trailblazer starts it, but with a bigger pulley it wouldn't. Yesterday I wished I had completed my work on a gas engined compressor, and it is back on the to-do list. Maybe the tank is too big, too. It takes 4 minutes to recharge it.
As another somewhat off the wall example of surprises, when walking through the tailgaters one fella who I did NOT know hailed me over and volunteered that some people are bad mouthing me on IFI? What? On IFI? He must have been talking about the guru's erroneous comments over at Anvilfire a week or so ago. When I asked, he just had a dumb look on his face and he shrugged his shoulders. The guy must have read my brand name on my cap cuz he doesn't know me. Hey, at least the guy can read! :-) BTW, I addressed this defamy by the guru at Anvilfire.com over at farwestforge.com in response to a question by Rich Waugh. It doesn't need repeating here.
A third surprise was that I didn't have the guides completely adjusted. I investigated that this morning after unloading and putting things away. I had forgotten to adjust the driver's side guides.
In the area of pleasant surprises, the Octagon 50 is attractive to people. A very close friend suggests the prices are right. Of the on-lookers, two 30-ish guys seemed to be serious and not just window shopping, each is experienced, each has a hammer right now, and each wants mo' betta. And of various older guys, I've learned you just never know what their plan is. The two most frequent questions: How big of stock will it work? How much air does it take? I say 2 and 5, though it will work bigger and it will run on less.
Once I had the shop back in fighting trim I returned to the bandsaw and the mill and worked on die blanks. The mechanic finally got to my F-150 and diagnosed the problem and suggested what it will cost. Oh, I forgot to mention that the truck front axle started growling on the way home. Mechanic says passenger side bearings and axle need replacing at near $600.
I'll be putting some video material on the web site in the near future and one segmnet shows a 3" anvil being forged.
The hammer ran pretty well for its virgin junket. Risky? Of course it is to debut a new machine and to discover stuff you thought you had covered from running it in the shop--whatever. There are ALWAYS surprises. Last year my air compressor motor went up in smoke in the first five minutes. Over the year I've had my Miller Trailblazer checked out to find it is perfectly fine. I tried to have the 7.5 hp motor rebuilt but the shop couldn't locate parts even though Grainger still sells the motor. My other 7.5 motors wouldn't start on the Trailblazer. (Now I figger that the failed motor was less than 7.5 despite the plate so that it could be started when it was fresh,) I searched for a gasoline engine conversion, but never completed that investigation. When I developed the Octagon 50 I converted the demo rig to using a 5 hp motor with a smaller diameter pulley. The Trailblazer starts it, but with a bigger pulley it wouldn't. Yesterday I wished I had completed my work on a gas engined compressor, and it is back on the to-do list. Maybe the tank is too big, too. It takes 4 minutes to recharge it.
As another somewhat off the wall example of surprises, when walking through the tailgaters one fella who I did NOT know hailed me over and volunteered that some people are bad mouthing me on IFI? What? On IFI? He must have been talking about the guru's erroneous comments over at Anvilfire a week or so ago. When I asked, he just had a dumb look on his face and he shrugged his shoulders. The guy must have read my brand name on my cap cuz he doesn't know me. Hey, at least the guy can read! :-) BTW, I addressed this defamy by the guru at Anvilfire.com over at farwestforge.com in response to a question by Rich Waugh. It doesn't need repeating here.
A third surprise was that I didn't have the guides completely adjusted. I investigated that this morning after unloading and putting things away. I had forgotten to adjust the driver's side guides.
In the area of pleasant surprises, the Octagon 50 is attractive to people. A very close friend suggests the prices are right. Of the on-lookers, two 30-ish guys seemed to be serious and not just window shopping, each is experienced, each has a hammer right now, and each wants mo' betta. And of various older guys, I've learned you just never know what their plan is. The two most frequent questions: How big of stock will it work? How much air does it take? I say 2 and 5, though it will work bigger and it will run on less.
Once I had the shop back in fighting trim I returned to the bandsaw and the mill and worked on die blanks. The mechanic finally got to my F-150 and diagnosed the problem and suggested what it will cost. Oh, I forgot to mention that the truck front axle started growling on the way home. Mechanic says passenger side bearings and axle need replacing at near $600.
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