Problem Solving

So many things are listed as (MUTTRICK) Metric measurements today I thought this conversion chart would be helpful to those of us who are not familiar with or who do not use Metrics. http://www.lenntech.com/unit-conversion-calculator/temperature.htm This url is for temperature but other conversion calculators are on the right side, just click on the one you prefer. JUST REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE DECIMAL TO 4 PLACES AT THE LITTLE DROP DOWN MENU.

I developed a problem with one of my toenails contracting nail fungus and the ads on TV push a pill that has nasty side effects. I read this in the DR. Gott Column of the local newspaper and originally laughed at it, but I finally tried it and it worked. Just smear the toenail with Vicks VapoRub. I have no idea if it will work on everyone, but its better than overpriced pills you ingest that have nasty side effects.

Posted similar prior to the BIG CRASH... Bought some steel at the scrap yard a week or so back, thought I was on my way to a GREAT start on my post vise stand... What I have is a piece of 3/4 plate about 24 X 36 with a 4'' SQ tube welded to the center, welded to the 4SQ and plate are 4 gussets (1/4 plate). When I got it cut to approximately the right height, I stood it on the concrete floor and determined that the plate is warped from all of the weld, it rocks like mad! Any ideas on how to ''get it back''? I don't think that my small (110v) wire feed will pour enough heat into that plate to pull it back. It's obviously too big to place in my forge/furnace... Su…

I just posted on http://www.metalworking.com/ 4 pictures of a foot operated vise owned by Richard Heinicke in Mich. He is trying to get some info about it. If anyone can help he can be contacted at ranvilh.com (his site) or post here :roll: The pictures are listed below. Edit: photos added

Hi every one again. A while a go I asked about apprenticship in australa, and talked to the swedish goverment about different ways about it. Today I got an letter frome the swedish school minister. He wrote that if I can find a smithing school thats is for at least 6 months, I can get some money from a fond for "( hope I put it right) culture saving work"?? and the rest of the money from the swedish goverment. So now is my big questions: Does any one know if there is any sort of smithing shool that is at least 6 monuts long in australian? or any one how lives in australian, how might be abel to put togeter a 6 monuts long course? Swe_Karl (never let the dream…

hi, first of al i want to say thansk you every one ho told me about the 2.3.1 thin on the T-shirt. no to anouther problem. i send a pm to a gay frome Oz, ( Oz= Australia ) and asked him if he knew anny more in Oz. after this 2year in shool, i

Hey folks, I am considering starting a small home-based business in Blacksmithing. I have forged a few small items that have been noticed by a person running a consignment shop locally. I still need to get all of the "business" formality in order, like business name, seller's certificate, etc., and I have been told by the person at the consignment shop that I need to get Product Liability Insurance for my forgings. Anyone have any suggestions for a good and affordable company to contact? Thanks in advance

This Christmas a guy I work with ( and have somewhat infected with the metal disease ) recieved a 220 V, Pit Bull brand Mig welder. His parents bought it for him, and since it has been sitting in the showroom long enough for the operators manual to disapear, they got a "good deal" on it. He went to WalMart and bought a spool of flux core wire,(about .03 size he thinks ) and brought it over to my house to play one Saturday. I do my welding with an old AC stick machine, but had played with a mig some in a couple welding classes, and was remembering how easy they were to use and get a very smooth bead. I couldn't get a decent bead to save my life ! I tried every wire s…

I have a customer who is wanting me to make two feathers for her from iron. I get the basic idea. I have looked at countless feathers to see how they appear. However I cannot seem to come up with a reasonable way to make the trip in iron. I know if I take a tremendous amount of time to do this, I can make it happen and make it look correct. However that will be self defeating and cost prohibitive. I may try to do it the hard way anyway just to say, "There, I did it!" So I guess I am looking for a trick or two, an idea, or just outright having someone say, "DO THIS! MORON!!!" I guess what has me going the most is putting the center stem in the piece and make it look…

Hi every one. some peopole i have talked to in this site. says it

I was picking some scraps up at a neighbors awhile back and found this. It's a chunk of iron 2 ft long and approx. 4 inches wide, with one end being round for about 7 inches of it's length. It looks like a pin was through the other end. It weighs upwards 50lbs. Where I picked it up lived 4 older gentlemen on a small farm that kept both cattle and horses. All 4 worked in either contruction around heavy machinery or worked for the town works dept. also around heavy equipment. And I should add that we are located close to the ocean where there's a good fishing industry and also a forest industry. notice the pin on the left side

My wife and I are looking for ways to get me into a larger shop, and she hit upon the idea of moving the animals out of our heavy corrugated galvinized pole barn, I am concerned about noise? It is a good sized barn ~30 x ~60and the roof is pretty high. The lowest point is probably ~15' with the peak about ~24' My question is... I am not particularly worried about the noise level for me, though that is a bother and if I want to teach out of my shop I will have to do something..., but I wear hearing protection in the shop all the time just as a mater of course. BUT my immediate concern is about running the power hammer and the compressor, with bare metal walls, espec…

.After having my post in "Ironworks as toys" response deleted. If I recall, I said no bad words, made no flames to anyone, and (trust me) I've HEARD worse said in church. It was a simple and clean adult conversation that didnt warrant getting locked. Count me out of this site for any future dealings. Glenn you can delete my account Bob :)

hello again just got a funny question.. does anny one know if it

I have a Champion Forge blower which needs takened apart and repaired any one have diagrams or any information... Also working on a couple of Champion Post drills ... Any data out thier web sites or such... Thanks :?:

Hello, Does anyone have any experience with plastic steel in a sliding application? There's this power hammer i am considering, big, old, slow, low-pressure air cylinders, that has a rot hole in the cylinder wall about an inch across, down low in the stroke. It was fixed with plastic steel, probably the titanium stuff. Any idea if it's likely to hold or would you expect it to just turn to goo or shave away? THanks JRF

This is for anyone who does TIG work. I'm posting it on a couple of boards so apologize in advance if you see it twice. I have a 10 year old or so Miller Synchrowave 250 AC/DC welder, which has stick and TIG capability. There is a switch on the panel that allows three choices: Hi-frequency start, hi-freq continuous or off (scratch start). Scratch start gives an excellent arc and welds perfectly but there are occasions where I need the start-only feature. When I first got the machine, it started fine but I got a little arc wandering. However, the start feature has now stopped working completely so I am forced to use scratch-start. Does anyone know whether this is …

Have been asked to refurbish a rather large bell to a restored condition Allthough the bell itself is not damaged the supports and clangers were broken or missing, which brings me to the problem Have made the hanging mechanism but the clanger and ringing [ lever or wheel ] is missing. It is a number 34 bell that was on the local high school 50 some years ago they decided to remove the copula to make the building look more modern / well they just threw the bell off of the 3 story building which pretty much broke everything to pieces , its amazing that the bell was not broken or cracked. The county has recently recieved a grant to restore the building to its original …

A friend of mine has a job to do... not due any time remotely soon, thank goodness. The piece is, if memory serves (I will correct later if need be), a large piece of 304 stainless. It needs to have a 1" square hole bored in it, 10" deep, not blind, parallel and true to +/- 0.0001". Yes, one ten-thousandth. Precision shaper is what I was thinking... or pre-drilling to 15/16" and pressing a multi-stage carbide broach through. I'm looking for out-of-the-box solutions to this, because frankly, I'm pretty well stumped. (For the curious, it's for some sort of laser interferometer.) Things which I've thought of and discarded: Cutting the part apart and machining the hole, th…

Sometimes you loose heat when localizing the end of something by sticking in to far or taking the time to do it carefully. Here is how I solve the problem: I keep a wide shallow empty can handy and put just enough water in it to get the depth of cooling I want, then out of the forge, into the can till it touches bottom and then out and perform what ever procedure I have in mind for it. Its amazingly quick and precise and simple.

Drilling a hole straight thru a sprocket hub, or something similar can be a real problem sometimes. It has to be almost exactly in the middle so the bolt or pin or whatever will go thru even if its turned half over. Some things are even hard to set up in a vertical milling machine and get centered, its just time consuming and nerve whracking. These stub shafts were shorts laying around the shop and were set up in the mill and drilled exactly in the center, then rotated a little and the next size hole was drilled and so on. They are kept by the drill press on a nail on the hairpin for easy access. Its much easier to drill those kind of holes with a drill press a…

A mechanic friend of mine had a pry bar with the tip broken off and I said I would forge a new one on to it for him. I forged a new tip on to it and now I guess you would call it normalized. Should I harden or temper the tip or leave it the way it is?

How do you go about demagantizing a sewing needle that was placed on a magnet and then became magnatized?

Hey folks... I'll be spending some time at a friend's lathe soon. I'm hoping to turn and piece together a couple of wooden mallets. I plan on turning a flat "notch" into the head on either side of where the handle fits in. The purpose would be to add a metal band to prevent splitting. How should I go about fitting a tight forged band around the head? I plan to cut some barstock to fit, and bevel the ends just like I am forging a collar for regular ironwork. I need tips on getting it tightly fitted to the hammer without it burning loose. Any thoughts?

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