Problem Solving

First time I tried to light the Baby to cook the ITC. With regulator backed all the way off and forge valve closed, when I crack the tank, it pegs the gauge and shuts down flow. The tank is fine with my bigger gasser. So, what's the deal here?mike

Some time ago I was reading an article about andirons, as to what (on some) a half basket was for on the top of the upright. The baskets are about the size of a softball. Does anyone have any info on this? I cannot remember where I read about this and I since received a pare that were rescued from a job site dumpster. When people ask what they were for - I'd like to tell them the real use and not have to come up with some interesting fibs LOL. Thanks JK

Greetings all, new here , and as usual, i can't put it down. just looking so far, will share in time to come. was woundering why i can't see any blueprints from the 300 to 500 series. is this "norm" right now, or is it something else. thanks for all every one has shared.

Hi, i know this might be a bit of deja-vu, but i was thinking about the amount of steam being released into the sky and i was wondering about how to condense most of the steam so that wastage is reduced drastically and after seperating the oil , the water may be reused. The basic purpose is to stop draining the water table and feed the water back into the boiler. I did come up with a very rudimentary idea. " Use a 12ft. high cylindrical chamber and let the steam be fed from the bottom. Have a series of pipes running inside the chamber like a radiator and feed water in it using a pump. this water can be gotten out at the top and fed into a kinda reservoir by sprinkling …

I just cleaned the coating of off a bit of wire rope. The ends had an aluminum(I think) clip to hold the ends in a loop. I put the wire in a bucket and added about 0.5 gallon of muriatic acid(31.45%). Everything went fine for about 10-15 minutes. It bubbled and fizzed and such. I went to check on it after it was in for roughly 20 minutes, and the bucket was fizzing over with white suds that turned a greenish-yellow. I dumped a box of baking soda all over the stuff that overflowed and into the bucket itself. I took the wire out and rinsed everything really well. The little aluminum clips were almost completely dissolved and the remaining mud puddle from the rinse h…

I am in the process of building 2 new propane forges, 1 small body and 1 large body. These will replace my 1st old propane forge which is not very efficient or well made. The small body is going to be a single burner round body forge made from one of those party helium tanks using a ron reil style burner. The large body forge is made from one of those spare air tanks with 2 ron reil burners. I would like to use the new body fluid soluble non ceramic blanket. This new type of blanket is made as such if fibers become air born and you breath them in the moisture in your lungs dissolves the fibers so as not to possibly be come cancerous. It cost a little bit more but I think …

Hi Fellas, I DUN NEED TO PUST A PICER ON DIS UN! Its a request from Smith & Sledge. They need to see pictures of tavern puzzles, puzzles made of iron (steel) that have a trick to putting together: to be used in the cartoon strip. Thanks in advance Duck

I have to warn you all, I am long winded at times. Many moons ago I posted that my father in law was clearing his woods out and gave me all the metal I wanted to take. I managed to scrounge a little 75 lb anvil (the one that started my spiralling additiction) along with a little 40 lb post vice. We also pulled out the remains of an old manure spreader. I managed to get all the spokes from several rims, the rims and all of the axles. I still have most of the spokes, half of the axles, and all of the rims. I brought a short chunk of one of the rims in to our local chapter meeting to "show and tell" and see if anybody could identify the material. One guy did take t…

A while back, I picked up a champion 400 whirlwind blast firepot. I recently acquired an original clinker breaker/airtube assembly for same. Last night, I got my table set up, and I am preparing to cut my hole in it for mounting. Here's a pic: I have seen numerous firepots like this, and some people mount them flush and put a set of angle iron "stoppers" to keep the coal in where the end access "cuts" are. Some people mount them sitting on the "cuts" for access to the heart of the fire for long pieces. So, my question is: Which way should I mount this? Flush with stoppers under the top of the table or allow the "cuts" in the firepot to sit atop the table and use some…

This is a Real Deal, I just got mine. Digital Angle Finder - Lee Valley Tools

G'day all, Found a nice big chisel at a junk shop yesterday and my plans are to turn it into a hot cut hardie. The edge needs to be completely reworked so I'm going to have to anneal it. My plans are to rework the tool to 30 degree cutting angle. After reading the Hofi stuff about cutting a straight edge with such a beast I think it'll be the most versatile. My question, what temper should I draw once I harden it back up? Is is necessary to harden a hot cut hardie? This will be my first time at doing any tempering, btw.

I made my first rose this afternoon, and it turned out way better than expected. My only real issue with it is all the scale. I brushed each piece while still hot and think I knocked all the scale off before I put the petals on the stem, but more scale popped up during the heats for scrolling the petals for the finished rose bud. I don't have a sand blaster to get down inside, and the wire brush only does so much at this point. Is there something I missed during the making of the whole piece to avoid this scale? Is there a less time consuming/more thorough way of cleaning the hard to reach places? Thanks! Mickey

Use what you have. This kept running in my head as I tried to figure out a solution that will not break the bank. Well, from the old racing days in stock cars, I have a taper ball joint reamer( two actually one for Mopar Upper arms and larger for GM lower A frames). Very close to the taper I want- maybe close enough to what I need. And, ta,da- I am a crazy person with 2 well equipped ShopSmiths. Why is SS relevant? Well, 1 1/8th Horsepower, less than .001 runout on the quill-a 1/2" router collet that does not require a Morse or Jacobs taper to hold tooling so any incidental side loading won't cause a tragedy, WIDE RANGE OF SPEEDS, And I have a gallon of "TapMagic." I thin…

I need to have a swage block made. I want to take a block of O1 and I need a series of funnel shaped holes that will go all the way through. The tapered holes will be used in conjunction with male cone hardys I have. These will become sockets for traditional "socket chisels." I would like the block to handle at least two of one size and two of a smaller. Ideally I would have a swage that has 3 of each. Before it is hardened and drawn, I would want a hardy shank welded onto it. Any takers?? Thanks, JET

I have a problem: I live in the city and my usual hammering place is gone, it was a spot in the forest. It isn't gone per se but more people show up and the noise creates alot of attention I don't want. I am looking for ideas on a new place to hammer. I am up for ideas on soundproofing my garage (for cold working steel only so as not to burn down the house). I would rather hold off on hot working right now until I get someplace better.

I have a 3 Ton Steam operated free forging hammer. My problem is that the exhaust steam comes out mixed with condensate and cylinder oil and this outlet is connected to a tank in which they collect. I need to separate this mix as soon as possible. This total mixture is at very high temperatures as the steam coming out is saturated steam and we need to separate it out continuously to drain the water in the drainage. Obviously, oil mixed with water cannot be let out in the drainage. Any ideas how i am to go about it?

This is the tailgate on my old '88 Ford pickup. If you're familiar with this model of truck, you may already know that the tailgate latches for these were notorious for breaking prematurely. Needless to say, I hadn't had the truck very long when I pulled too hard and snapped the potmetal latch like it was glass. I intended to replace it with a regular latch, until I discovered they cost $40 (This was back when $40 meant something money wise) Anyway, I replaced the broken latch with these two curved handles made from 1/4 in. round. Pull on the left hook........it releases the right side... and vice-versa. It's a great conversation piece as well, when I go to the feed…

I need to make a flypress bolster plate. I can get 4x8 sheets of 3/16 for the same price as 4x4 of 3/8. I can cut 3/16 with ease on my plasma. (The plasma will severe 1/4 if I am careful and go real slow.) I figure I can get the 3/16 and cut two bolster plates and put a few welds around the edges. Will the layered 3/16 have the same strength as solid 3/8? I know battleships/tanks are multi layered steel.

A fine fellow sent me a big old Buffalo Model 300 crank blower (about 50 pounds worth of vintage real ferrous heft). Actually, it rotates smoothly and quietly and moves air with the most gentle crank effort. But, curious, and having seen so many reminders to carefully open these things in general, check bearings, seals and the like- Should I and how do I? I emphasize that the unit feels smooth and has no tight spots or the like, silent and just reliable feeling. It is drained, (for shipping) but does not show greasy wet areas on the outside at all- so I would basically conclude that it does not puke gearcase lube. I looked in lessons and the blueprints I could open. What …

Well my problem is like this ... i have a lot of stock that after texturing is bent in many directions ...some is square pipe other are flat bar ...round ...all kinds of steel ... are there any kinds of rollers or something to straight them up ? any ideas of how can i do them ?

I have a large brass piece I want to make mountable. Ok, its a large Marine Corps emblem about 5" x 5" but it has no way to mount it to anything, so I thought about silver soldering some threaded couplings to the back of it for mounting purposes. I think the couplers I have may be stainless steel due to the reaction I observed the last time I soldered one to a steel knife tang. My question is, 'will there be a problem with electrolysis by soldering ss or even, perhaps a zinc plated coupler to brass, or is it even a factor I need to worry about?' I should say that this emblem will be subjected to all kinds of weather conditions as it will be mounted to a motor vehicle.

I want to build myself a new forge. The one I currently have is much too small for my intened use (sword making). So my big question is which is better? Coal or propane. Also can a propane forge get hot enough to forge weld or is it hard to get those kinds of temprature? I am planning on going with propane because it is more readily avaliable to me then coal, and from what ive found good coal is pretty expensive. Thank you all for your help.

I just bought a Champion 400 Blower on ebay, but there is no lower oil seal, so it won't hold oil. Anyways, wanting to return this blower to service, I need to come up with some sort of oil seal and was wondering if anyone knows what was originally used in this type of blower. I have made a couple seals out of leather, but they did not work the best and was wondering if anyone had any ideas, probably gonna try cork next. Thanks

How strong can a rivet be? What are the riveting details of ways you use rivets?

Hi there, I have a small casting project I am doing for a friend. I am going to use the lost wax technique. I have done this years ago and my memory is a little fuzzy. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. I am going to make a crucible out of iron pipe by welding a bottom on it and making a lid and tools to lift and handle it for the pour. I can't remember if I need flux to clean the aluminum before the pour. I know I will need a ladle to clear off any slag that floats, but what about flux? And if I need it what should I use for flux? Of course I am going to preheat the mold as hot as I can make it, about 500 degrees in the oven. I think this should work. Any help …