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I Forge Iron

DO I Need to Rebuild My Forge Blower????


Trip

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Hey yall,

I noticed the other day that my forge blower was a little stiff when I tried to turn it, so I filled it to the proper level with gear oil. But today i found that most of the oil was on the floor!!!!!! There isn't any kind of name on the bower it's self, but there is a name on the stand, It reads "TIGER", and I can't find any kind of info on it.

Here is a link to a video I made this morning showing where it is leaking oil, and the whole blower it's self. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NL3b2MX-VM

Thanks,
Trip

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Most blowers are NOT made to be totally immersed in oil and so do not have seals along the axle bearings. Notice the cup on top of the gear box? A squirt of oil in that before using the blower and maybe one at lunchtime if you are using it a lot should do fine.

Note that most gear oils are too heavy and will make the blower hard to turn. A light machine oil is better.

So when you say you filled it to a proper level was it the correct level or just what you guessed was the correct level? (some blowers have an actual "fill to this level" mark on their gear cases.)

Much of blacksmithing equipment uses a flow through oil system and if things are not leaking oil they are not working right!

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I wouldn't be surprised if it has leather seals or packings. How much leaked out, the oil stains do not look big enough to account for the entire contents of the case (a pint or so?) The packings may swell back up if you keep adding oil so it will leak less over time.

Phil

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If you want to can take off the gear housing and scrape out any old gasket that may be in there. When I took mine apart it looked like it had an old leather gasket. I went to the shoe store and bought a leather shoe lace and soaked the leather in ATF fluid to help soften it before I installed it in the housing. This seemed to help set the gasket and I haven't had issues with leakage.

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Both of my Canedy Otto blowers have a petcock on the lower part (when facing the crank the location is around 4 oclock). This cock when opened, allows oil to drain when the proper level is found. Close the cock for normal operation. This Tiger blower has the look of a Canedy Otto. You MAY get a fire in the blast pipe back from the tuyere if you get a draft over the firepot (blower handle at rest, no airflow out). Tom Stovall says this is hydrogen sulfide gas. Regardless, if you have oil in that blast pipe from a leak( which I Have had) you may get flames out the air intake hole on the blower (which may or may not make you drop your coffee). No big deal if you are not close to other combustables. Just crank the blower and the flames go out. The backfire MAY however blow the blast tube off the blower housing. I will note that this ain't a quilting class.

Champions will indeed bleed out the fan (output) shaft.

If there is a drain plug on the bottom of the blower, I might just remove it. Allow the crankcase to drain well. I would do this without moving the crank handle. Replace the plug. Get a roll of paper towels and clean up the former leak areas well. Look for an oil level hole (or plug). Actually my blowers have " fill to the petcock" in the casting. If none exists on this blower, I might just get a shot glass ( or Formula 44 measure ) and fill it. I'd dump 2 of these in the blower ( my choice of oils being 30 wt non detergent oil and seafoam mixture). This is a splash (for lack of a better word) lubricating system.

I have re-gasketed more than one blower gearbox and fan housing. I just used gasket paper on the gearboxes and the blower housings. I HAVE used window glazing compound on the fan housings to seal the area to make sure the effort I take to crank the handle goes out the place where the tubing connects to the tuyere.

Thomas has the best idea. Per-session lubrication may be the answer. Good luck. I would never acquire a new blower and just start cranking the handle. IF the handle moves, I would see if lubrication is inside. If not I would add some. These are OLD gears and should be treated with respect. If I leave camp at an event I sometimes remove the crank handle. I really don't care if you cranked the blower for your Grandpa. Nobody should touch the blower or equipment without asking.

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