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I Forge Iron

josef

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    http://www.elegantironworks.com

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    Knoxville, TN

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  1. Thanks. I have not seen the thing, so I don't know if it is a roller or shrinker. I don't know what he wants for it. I said I'd ask about wheelwrights.
  2. I have a friend who has a tire bender that he would like to get into the hands of a wheelwright. He asked me if I knew any wheelwrights in the area. I said I'd ask around.
  3. 1/4 x 1/2 is what the customer wants. It is stronger than you might think over short distances. Also the door it will go onto is only 1" thick and old wood.
  4. I've discovered that ball detents are readily available and reasonably priced. The bolt I need to make for a customer calls for using rectangular 1/4" x 1/2" stock. Thanks everyone for the ideas. Joe
  5. Yeah, springs, balls, or some other kind of friction. I'm looking for something that requires no thought from the user.
  6. So has anybody made cane bolts for locking a door in place? What I'm curious about is how to hold the cane in either the up or down position. If the bolt is on the upper part of the door so that the cane is pushed up to lock, should there be something other than friction to hold it in place? In some cases I think you can hook the handle over something, but what about when that's not allowed either by desire or design?
  7. I've looked at used Bridgeports a lot in the last while. It's very frustrating because they are either more expensive than these mill drills or they are far away from me in Knoxville, TN. I'm currently looking at the Precision Matthews PM-932 mill drill. I got some bad reports about Bolton, but at least one good reference about PM-932 on another forum. I'm trying not to be in a hurry though. Still looking.
  8. Thanks for the feedback, folks. While I would love to have a used bridgeport, I'm not sure I've got the room for it. My needs are fairly simple. I have an itty bitty Grizzly mill drill that I have been using for milling out parts for pedal steel guitars and also for milling out peg boxes, and nut and bridge slots for dulcimers that my wife builds. I've enjoyed using the little mill drill but have at times wanted something larger. Also, I getting ready to build some things that will require either hiring a machine shop to do or do them myself and thought maybe this would be a good time to upgrade. A lot of times I would like to be able to fashion special fixturing for ironwork projects and a mill would help out a lot. I'd like to be able to mill out special dies for my power hammer, and I know that a mill drill won't be as fast or powerful as a bridgy but I'm usually not in a huge hurry either. I want to stay simple. I don't want or need DRO or power feed. One nice thing about the Bolton is that the head will rotate 90 degrees so that I can drill a hole in the end of a long shaft and then thread it. I like the idea of a gear head cause I can change speeds easily. The Bolton seems like an okay compromise, just unsure of their reliability.
  9. I am considering buying a Bolton ZX45 mill drill. Has anyone used one of these? This is a gear head mill drill which I think might be pretty good. Opinions on 2hp mill drills?
  10. I've found something that I really really like and it is nowhere near the cost of Autocad or Solidworks. It's called Rhino3D for around $1000. You can download a full working copy and try it for 90 days. Attached is a table I did from scratch building my own scrolls. What I like is that I can work in familiar front, side, top orthographic views and see the result in 3D. It is a complicated program simply because it has so many features, but the tutorials are good.
  11. I'm trying to find the best 3D cad software for ornamental ironwork. I have tried the free version of SketchUp and it doesn't do it for me. Has anyone had experience with any programs like TurboCad or others?
  12. A long time ago now, I once asked Francis what the definition of a master smith was. He laughed and said "someone who can make two of something exactly the same". Levels of difficulty are funny things. I'm working on reproducing an 18th century fork which is very pretty with no moving parts, but it is technically challenging because of two small scrolls welded inside a heart shape in the middle of the handle. What I wrote about levels earlier was just one kind of instance. Didn't mean to imply that there aren't others. Perhaps movies like Lord of the Rings will interest people in ornamental ironwork.
  13. I talk about different levels of difficulty. One is made from a single piece. Level two is made from more than one. Level 3 is moving parts. Hinges are interesting and sometimes challenging. I've had a fail amount of hinge work recently which is nice. I think it's a shame that hinges get hidden most of the time.
  14. Thanks, Michael, I especially appreciated the vise insert for getting that bend done easily. Joe
  15. Hi Frank, thanks for your comments. You have it pretty much correct. Where I am having difficulty is visualizing how the eye turns on the leaf that mounts to the back of the chest and I'm just trying to avoid trial and error. I think I've got it figured out so back to the shop and try it. I've also got an email into the local historical society to see if they have a chest in their collection that I can study. All I have to work from so far is one broken leaf, the one that mounted on the lid.
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