RR Anvil

[Hillbillysmith]

I am going to be making an anvil out of a piece of RR track in school. I chose to put this post here because I am in school for welding and going to weld it up. I have to make a box for another class in my lab first, but I will get on the anvil in a couple of days. I will try and keep you informed with pictures along the way, but my cell phone just recently died on me. I'll try and use a friend's phone. until I get another....

What I plan to do: use a piece of RR plate for the heel because of the square hole. I will bevel this plate on both sides, weld it to the back of the rail with a E6010 3-bead root pass on both sides. Then, I am going to fill in the grooves with E7018. And finally, I am going to run a hardfacing rod over the top of the E7018 on the "face" of the rail. I also am going to use E7018 to build up the horn because I go the rail all chopped up with an O/A torch and I have to fix it.

[acoop101]

if you can scrounge a couple of pieces of steel that would fit in the webbing of the rail this will help make the anvil stiffer making it some what better as an anvil.

[Farmer Phil]

Go Hillybillysmith, go! I'm looking forward to following this thread.

I've found some loose rail along an abandoned track on the other end of the island. The thing is all the rails are full length and heavy as the dickens. I'm thinking of making a ninja run early one Sunday morning with my little OA cutting torch and see if I can hack off a piece. I'm kind of new to the cutting torch and not sure I'll be able to pull it off. The thickest I've cut so far is 1" mild steel. Sometimes I've done just fine while other times I've struggled a good deal with only half penetration and lots of molten metal blow back. Anyone got any pointers?

[evfreek]

Hi Hillbillysmith. Some touch-up with a stick welder really helps out that RR track for use as an anvil. I have found that those track plates do not really have useful holes, since they are kind of the wrong size and are in the wrong places. I tried to cut a 1" hole in one, but it was a Pyhrric victory. Too difficult for the gain. Much better to go for Mike-HR's portable hardy hole design (given in the BP's). You are handy with a welder, and that is a great application. The main weakness of a RR track anvil is that the edges are not very useful. There is too little support by the relatively thin web. There are two ways to work around this problem. One was given above by acoop101. Bolster the sides or weld two rails together side by side. Another is to use the vertical rail idea. This really improves the edge rigidity, since the foot or web is used as the edge, and it is supported all the way down to the ground.

There is some guy who shows up at blacksmithing conferences who pieces anvils together with junk steel and an arc welder. It does work. If you don't use the edge of the anvil, I guess that it does not matter that much.

[habu68]

If you are welding up an anvil out of track, you might want to look at the unusual anvil we found a few months back on E-bay. It was 3 anvils/swage blocks welded together. A really slick design and would also increase the mass of the anvil.

3 Horned Anvil - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

[Glenn]

Farmer
BP0334 Adjustable Anvil Stand

[Farmer Phil]

Hmmm, good ideas. Maybe some sort of synthesis of Habu68's tri-anvil and Evfreek's side-by-side.

I'm kind of new to welding (use a cheap Chicago Electric 220V AC/DC arc welder, but upgrading to a Lincoln 225 AC/DC). I've only worked with 6010, 6011, 6013 and 7018. Have pretty much settled on 6011 and 7018. What rod is the hard-facing rod?

[BORZ]

Originally Posted by Farmer Phil

Go Hillybillysmith, go! I'm looking forward to following this thread.

I've found some loose rail along an abandoned track on the other end of the island. The thing is all the rails are full length and heavy as the dickens. I'm thinking of making a ninja run early one Sunday morning with my little OA cutting torch and see if I can hack off a piece. I'm kind of new to the cutting torch and not sure I'll be able to pull it off. The thickest I've cut so far is 1" mild steel. Sometimes I've done just fine while other times I've struggled a good deal with only half penetration and lots of molten metal blow back. Anyone got any pointers?

It might be,your torch is too small for the thickness off the material.I dont know the tipe,the nozzle might be changeable( 1, 2, 3),with increasing acet. pressure.First maybe try warm up the material,driving along the flame the way to cut,and give a little more oxigen by cutting.

[Covforge]

A trick an old welder freind taught us. Leave the acet. pressure where it normaly is, Turn your oxy. up to about 80 and with a clean tip it will work. Once you start the cut the extra pressure will keep the heat going down the cut. Take it slow.
Travis

[Covforge]

I forgot to tell. Don't forget to turn it back down. It's a huge waste on normal cutting.
Travis