Blacksmith and Machinist?

[ralphy]

I'm a millwright, but I cut, weld, machine, & smith also, and do paint & body
plus mechanic. I love all of it too!
To take a piece of metal and transform it in to something beautiful or useful
is truley satisfying.

[H&T]

To answer the original question, I have a range of machines: two lathes, radial drill, milling machine, hydraulic ironworker, several different types of saws and just about every type of welder. Plus a couple of power hammers. I make my living from working with metal. Lots of the equipment is fairly ancient, robust and serviceable, but not CNC. Some however is state of the art and up-to-date. For example synergic mig and AC/DC pulse tig. I use a combination of ancient and modern techniques. I don’t class myself as a skilled machinist, but the ability to machine one offs and do own repairs is invaluable at times. Any repetition work or tricky precision work I send to the local precision machinists. I have been in this game for a long time and have amassed a rather substantial collection of tools and equipment. To list them all would seem like bragging or make some envious. From what I can gather we here are very lucky comparemithmithd to some of you in that there is a ready supply of secondhand equipment and the distances to fetch it are so much less than many of you have to travel. I move seamlessly from forging, to welding, to turning, to milling, to paint spraying. I just see the workshop in its entirety and it’s completeness enables me undertake just about any project or repair. I often wish I did more work on the forge but I would be lost without the full range of equipment.

[sdalcher]

I started out with an associates degree in tool and die making at Southern Illinois University(CTC). I have since added a few more degrees and teach at Ball State University now in an unrelated field.

I always enjoyed working with my hands and have been building up my shop for the last decade. I nowhave am Atlas 10in lathe, Atlas 7in shaper, Jet vertical mill, stick welder, TIG welder and many more smaller machines that just make life easier (belt sanders, drill presses etc.)

I actually made one of my belt sanders in high school, poured the castings and the whole 9 yards. I still use it after 20 years of service.

Over the last year I have cobbled together a foundry furnace (propane) and am currently working on a Waste Vegetable Oil system. I thoroughly enjoy the challenges of a good project that require a multitude of skill sets.

Thanks
Steve

[tbrforge]

I am a blacksmith, with a smithy build specifically for the forge, however, in this day and age I need more tools to meet a wide base of customer demands. 13" South Bend lathe, Vertical Mill, TIG, MIG, bandsaw, abrasive cut off saw, hand made break, arbor press hydraulic press, autocad station. It takes all of these and wishfully more to make ends meet. I have done frame work on trucks, custom headers for motorcycles aluminum racing heads, gates, railings, statues, hardware, cast iron repairs. A I see it, a blacksmith of old didn't have the option to turn work away. I don't either.

[fat pete]

My pop is/was a toolmaker for 40 years, his brother a machinist for 44 yrs and I ran a planer mill with 4 /60 horsepower full indexing heads. It was one pwerful machine. We had to make all our own tools. It was very hard to work learn anything cause the gys who knew worke when it was piece rate so their tricks were secrets...I hated them...I ended up sellin geothermal heat pumps for 20 yrs. got sick got healed and started learning blacksmithin a couple of months ago. Dad is 83 and was talking the other day how 10 mins at the forge can save an hour at the bench. I try and keep it machineless just for simplicity. I do from time to time use belt sander, drill press and some sawing stock. I just like the smell, feel and results from steel and metal.

FP

[bear Hill]

I find the lathe and mill real handy in my shop. I was able to make all the parts for my Nazel rebuild. Making positives on a lathe for spring swages is a luxury, and running a mill table up into a spinning end mill on irregular shapes is the only way to put an accurate hole in something without sucking the tool into the work and breaking countless bits. Close tolerance machines certainly have their place on occassion.

Ralph