-
Posts
796 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Profile Information
-
Gender
Male
-
Location
Ludlow, UK
Converted
-
Location
Ludlow, UK
-
Interests
Beer. motorcycles, blues.
Recent Profile Visitors
The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.
-
Don't try to use Mole grips as tongs; it's dangerous; they only grip along a line and allow the work to move, it is difficult to reposition the metal and they can fly open with no warning (often giving your fingers a jar as they do so.
-
New "DIY" Forging Hammer "The Black Widow" PICS!!
Sam Thompson replied to Tractorshaft's topic in Hand Hammers
Enjoy the strained muscles and blisters. -
Compared with the price of 6mm round bar (about £2.00 for 20 feet) that's expensive! John's examples use the original shape of the nails to decorative advantage, making a common rose out of the distinctive head seems counter productive, you could use anything for that.
-
Buying horseshoe nails is an expensive way of obtaining stock bar. Those are known as "Russian Roses" I believe; there's instructions in the blueprints.
-
Odd things and US Navy pencil
Sam Thompson replied to Sam Thompson's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Over here in the third world we prefer more specific terms. -
What steel bars should I order?
Sam Thompson replied to David Dix's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Has anyone ever done any research into the proportions of heat lost through radiation into the air, into the anvil and into the stock (or tongs)? -
Odd things and US Navy pencil
Sam Thompson replied to Sam Thompson's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
I think you may be right, I've got a similar tool for turning studs, I'll have a look tomorrow -
Odd things and US Navy pencil
Sam Thompson replied to Sam Thompson's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
I agree. they do look like knurls, but knurls have one central hole, the grooves are also at the same angle on all four so there could only be halves of four pairs. If they are meant to revolve. I can't imagine why there wouldn't be a central axle. The variation of the positioning of the holes that interests me; they all look slightly different. They were in the drawer with the dies which is why I thought they could be blanks when I first saw them but if I were making a die, I'd make the holes accurately and put a centre mark on them. -
What steel bars should I order?
Sam Thompson replied to David Dix's topic in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
I've always considered the off cuts as part of the profit, if you need to make a number of 3' long rails, then you can only get 6 from bar, leaving a lot of 2" lengths that can be used to make, for example, tentpegs. After a surprisingly short time you will have a selection of various sizes of bar and will only need to buy steel in for specific jobs. Spending £500 on stock to play with seems a bit ostentatious; in the UK most stockholders will deliver within a couple of days, even for smaller orders. -
I bought a load of engineering stuff yesterday (mostly BSF taps and dies, drills, files and wad punches; it was in a nice box. Included in it were these four items. They are about 1.25" dia, they look like tool steel and there are no markings. My first thought was "blank dies" but the holes are not accurately central and the edges are milled. Anyone got any ideas? The pencil was in the box, it is unused and has never been sharpened, if it is of any interest to anyone, I'll happily send it over.
-
...and be very careful about heating and cooling any piece that will be tapped, a lot of "new" ms bar will harden unpredictably if cooled too quickly, even by the heat running away into the unheated area of such large stock. Nice drawing though.
-
Have you thought about using angle section for the legs? It will give an appearance of weight to the design and be much easier to work; you could easily use 3" and rivet the braces and decorative elements to it. I would think long and hard before trying to forge (or even heat) anything above 1.5"square. If the client will give you the time, why not knock up a maquette of parts of your designs?
-
It was the retired engineer down the road that suggested making a tap! Thank-you everyone for your help and suggestions.
-
This would be OK on an outside thread, you could turn a short length near the headstock to the minor dia and start there; for an inside thread, the tool would need to start the cut blind, there are many opportunities for frightfulness. The thrust bearings on both Mandrel and lead screw are designed to work in the opposite direction and although with work this light, it's unlikely to make much difference, inaccuracies coud creep in.
-
I really don't fancy my chances of cutting an accurate 15" long thread thread on stock that size. Apart from the accuracy, with no powered reverse or thread dial, winding the tool back to the start by hand could become irksome! The "nuclear" option is to find a similar feed screw and nut from a scrap machine and modify it to fit mine. In the mean time, I'm going to try and make a tap out of ms and case harden it. The lathe won't care what the thread is but the micrometer will.