youngdylan

You Xxxxxxxx I keep casually looking for something of that size "just in case" but I guess I should really get out of my dolls house workshop first. Not too sure how common they are this side of the pond. I've got two manual flypresses, a 6 deep throat and a 5 "bar press". Theres something about screwpresses that fascinate me. I've got the 2 flypresses, a 15T and a 30T electrohydraulic press but I could still find a use for friction screw. I want one. I want one I want one (said to the sound of stamping feet)

Might be worth getting a test piece done first if you ever get any gates with sheet galvanised. Better to learn then than the hard way. My experience could have been disasterous. Fortunately the bow in both leaves was the same and the custmer just assumed it was part of the design. It might not be an issue with thicker sheet but it's worth checking out. As I've heard many times zinc is zinc. It may be worth sussing out hot zinc spraying. They bead blast the gates and then spray finely atomised molten zinc onto the works. i guess this is spray transfer. It's a much finer finish than hot dipped galvanising and theres none of the issues of paint not sticking to it as with fresh galv. Disadvantages are it doesn't get into every nook and crevice like hot galv, which also gets into the inside of box section. Over on this side of the pond our weather kinda means rustproofing is a must with outside work.

I second, third and fourth that.

Would it still work if the "fullers" on the left section could be roated through 90o It might be a relatively easier shape to make using an angle grinder and dynabrade belt sander.

Point taken, I really love the simplicity of the original but the rod/tup connection defintely is a weak point. The off centre guide is another weeak point. In early day It had the plate on the back of the tup shear of from the tup. The new gude, or the bigBLURGGH style, is a definite improvement The cylinder pulling instead of pushing (so better balanced/ more controllable) is also a definite plus. I only came across the design a few days ago so am still am getting a measure of it.

Ditto Besides being good with the big stuff he's very creative/ ingenious and very helpful to boot. Truth be told I haven't met an English smith who isn't helpful, I'm sure they exist. You know all about "helpful master blacksmiths" dont you Larry It's beeb a while since I trawled round his site, I think it's a bit out date. Shame really because he did some amazing heavy duty yet delicate gates about 4/5 years ago, wonderfully inspiring they are. There was an artical in the BABA mag a few years ago. They're definitely not the sort of gate you make if getting rich is excessively important.

yeah, i'm with you on that because of the scale of the opening and the stone architecture but they pay my wages. What I don't liike is that it's two gates in one. Hey, I'm in touch with my femine side and can do delicate too http://www.verdigrismetals.co.uk/sculpture/forged%20copper%20iris%20water%20feature.htm

Home brewed H frame electrohydraulic press with H13 punch/drift. It seems to me that Tonnage is important but the speed of the pump is just as important. It's only a 15Tonne ram but its backed up by a power pack running an 8hp motor. That thing MOVES, even under pressure. I kinda think it's important not let the work around the punch cool down too much as a high tonnage low speed ram would do. When I've got my mojo going I can punch and drift those slots out in one heat. Alignment is a whole different issue The flypress and tooling is just to straighten out the bar cos it's inevitably all wibbley wobbley after punching. A lot of what I learned about big boy/girl punching came from a conversation with a wonderfully talented English "smith": Alan Evans. To describe him as a "blacksmith" is an insult because he's so much more than that. Any guys and gals into the aesthetics of big boy/girl punchingshould check out his site .....no copying now http://www.alanrobertevans.co.uk/page2.htm

I was going to give you three guess's but I'm far too grown up for that! It sorta of clamps the jaws together when you stand on the treadle. Means you've both hand free when grinding small stuff and you don't have to keep putting the grinder down to get the stuff out of the vise when doing a large batch of widgets. I did think of rigging an air clamp up on the bench but the trouble is when you're doing a big run of work it's easy to "zone out" and end up getting "out of synch". It would only be a matter of time before I clamped up a finger or two.

Beth Definitely not my opinion, these were the customers and they pay my wages!!! I must admit to being bored of doing organic or curvilinear flowing work(hence the yawn). I've done a lot of that in the past and used to like it. Last time I checked I was still a boy Customers can be a bit like sheep in that they "don't know what they want but they'll know it when they see it" .Boy do I hate hearing that. It had got to the stage were I was simply repeating or modifying previous work in my portfolio. Trying to break out of that rut as much as I can these days.

It might be worth seeing if you can do something with a mag drill, those slots are very useful

This is a situation I get into all too often. The lady of the house want's one style, the "master" of the house wants something different, I want to go as left field as possible, architects always seem to have another worldly take but I generally respect/ value their input. I'm not all together happy with the design but I guess the punching may interest someone. The slots are to fit 75 x 10 (3"x 3/8"), they're punched through 30 x 60 edge on (1 1/4" x 2 1/2"). I wanted to carry the lower uprights all the way into the top section and do some clever profiling/ forging on them. Mrs customer insisted on organic "stuff" (yawn) but Mr customer wanted something chunky that he felt was "masculine" ...... did I hear somebody say compromised design? From memory the gate was about 5.5m long, weighs 3/4 Tonne and was built in a workshop 6m x 6m (20"x20")

Kinda curious about the blind rivets?

Nice work there Danger. Pushing at the bounds .... literally Did you get them hot dipped galvanise or zinc sprayed? If galv'd, did you have any issues with distortion, I did some gates that had 1/8 sheet as part of the design and the amount of warping (mainly dishing) due to heat from the zinc bath was unbelievable. Can't remember if it was hot rolled or colled rolled sheet I used (might have made a difference?) but it's made me wary of using sheet. Yeah, I'd be interested to hear feedback re the gilders paste, some of the metallics are very effective.

You don't need a photo to do that

I make that 4.2 x 105 grains ... on the nail.

Yeah seen it, want more, with plenty of STOCK too Tried it but can't seem to change, maybe you get more "priveledges" being older and everything

Yeah it does jump right out at you Tom Waits anyone?

Yeah too short for flex but if he used rubber bushes ?????? The type that are used in and around truck suspensions

Yeah that kinda solved the issue for me I guess, I do the heavy lifting with my Anyang and use the Kinyon and KA75ish for speciality dies or with real small radius fullers (20mm) that you just don't pound with. That said, I probably spend more time on the Kinyon than the Anyang, I tend to use a lot of speciality dies rather than spring swages/fullers and its real easy to knock them up for the Kinyon. I can see that "slop" in the connections would be fatal, there'd be a constant hammering action due to clearances. I was kinda wondering about some some sort flexible but "no slop" coupling. I like Grant's idea of using a "spring spring thingy" as per the KA75, but around the rod connection, might have an experiment if I ever have the time. I haven't done much cold work recently and haven't had a breakage in a while .... are these facts connected? I tend to do cold work on the Kinyon because it's inconvenient but not the end of the world if the rod breaks. If I used the Anyang and the frame cracked I guess I'd be a little more p***ed. Grant, I notice on some of your you tube videos you demonstate the hammers by banging the dies together with nothing between them, are they hammers bullet proof enough for this not to be an issue?

Nice one David. I'm always a fan of gates that aren't just a frame round the outside and some "infill" on the inside. I'm never too keen about people banging on being a "blacksmith" either. Its all about using the appropriate technique for your design, be that laser cutting, spinning, turning, CNC maching,forging .....whatever. If you're at the creative end of the spectrum it's all about the appropriate technique that looks right, not purist dogma.

Just seen some picture of your workshop. Think I might have to start taking you seriously! The "complete metalsmith" springs to mind. Did I miss the powerhammer or does the screw press do for that.

John Do you have any experience of rods snapping at the tup to rod connection. As said I, do beast my hammer, often with cold work and I guess it's the shock waves combined with the stress risers around the machining of the thread that does for it. Do you have any opinion on using some sort of "isolation" coupling at the tup/rod connection, or does your proprietary cylinder mount address this issue?

oh I'd say round about 1pound 15ounces 15drams and 26grains real good advert for the "convenience" of the imperial system that there grain; 1/7000th of a pounds. WTF!