skunkriv

David-Sure glad you posted those pictures. I have that exact same gearbox. Picked it up at auction one time for future use on a tumbler or something. Since I already have a tumbler the only thing it has powered to date is a spit for a hog roast one time. With pulleys had it down to 2 rpm. What is the coupling you have between the gearbox and the shaft? Look like a "lovejoy" coupling but what did you use for the "spider". Is the shaft driven by the gearbox knurled? I assume so but it is hard to tell in the pic. Really nice unit you have built. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Very nice. Welcome to ifi.

LOL Dale good one! Gonna be hangin this pic in the shop.

My worst burns have all come from the sun and one from concrete but I have had parts of me steaming or smoking in the shop too. At a demo one time I heard Walt Scadden tell all that "monkey tools are always hot". He's right! lol

Happy B'day Dale...Cheers :D

If you hook chains around a couple of the table legs and flip it over with a chain hoist, tractor etc the magnetic force will instantly disappear. Unfortunately as soon as the table is set upright again the magnetism returns. Strangely enough this magnetic phenomenon occurs even in tables that are 100% wood or plastic.

Sam-If you are like most of the blacksmiths I know (especially me) your vise and stand will just keep getting heavier over the years (that is, when you are standing on it ). Looks like it would be easy to make it where you could bolt/unbolt from the leg of your forge. First pic we have seen of your forge in awhile. Looks like you are getting it broken in!

Pault-Tough question to answer. I would about always give $1 for it. There's days I would go $8 or $10 and if I really needed just that size there's days I would go $20 or more. Some days I would rather have a cheeseburger. Really no good answer.

Followed me home from ebay Meco Weldmaster torch with 5 welding tips, a rosebud and a cutting head. Looks like he had done some silver soldering or brazing with one tip and lit the cutting torch once to make sure it worked. BRAND NEW condition. I have been looking for one of these off and on for a couple years after I had bought a used one from a friend. These torches are no longer made but sure bring good $$ on ebay. I have bid on quite a few and gotten beaten out. Cutting tips are still available from other manufacturers and I recently got what is probably a lifetime supply of various size tips for oxy/propane (ebay). Have wanted a torch to match my existing one so one can be set up on propane and one on acetylene with all parts interchangeable. BONUS-Meco Cutmaster in excellent condition. BIG cutting torch with lock-on lever and uses the same tips. This is my new "outside" torch. Bonus-2 lbs of Harris StaySilv15 silver solder. Near as I can figure from a site where this can be purchased on the web is that this is worth about $140 $2.55/stick Total including shipping $73 Snuck this in over Thanksgiving weekend. You snooze you lose!

You don't need smaller dies to make this hammer forge better. Try putting less of the piece you are forging onto the die. Try forging some 1/2" square. Put just 3/8" to 1/2" of it on the die and forge down to 3/8". Then feed another 3/8" or so onto the die and forge that next section down etc etc. This technique is used even on large forging hammers. Clifton Ralph calls it "feeding the baby". By decreasing the area of what you put on the die you decrease the volume of material being forged which in turn offers less resistance to the power available. VARP When forging in steps like this you need a good radius on the edge of your dies so you don't get a cold shut when forging down the shoulder of the previous step. In your pics it looks like you already have a nice radius on the edge of your dies.

Mirror welding is welding on the far side of something where it is impossible to see....unless you are looking in a mirror. Hold the mirror in one hand and the stinger in the other, sometimes one arm over the pipe and one under. Nothing to it :D

Really nice tables you have there imagedude. Slap a couple stamps on one and send it to me please :D

TenHammers you must be reading my mind because I hadn't chimed in on table mass yet. That was Dodge. I weld anywhere I need to. These table threads overlap at my place Get the thickest you can afford and biggest you can for the size of your shop. Keep an eye out for something better, it will come along. My smallest welding "table" is an 8" square piece of 3/8" cold rolled with a bar welded under it to clamp in my 8" vise. Have built many, many things on that "table". My biggest table is 4 1/2' X 6' X 3/4". It lives outside in front of the shop. Have to move it in the winter so I can plow snow....did this yesterday, 4" of snow today! This is the table I will weld things to when necessary. Quickie built jigs etc. It is open edged all the way around for clamping to. I am careful not to beat on it too hard around the edges. 3/4" plate will bend. 1/2" plate actually bends fairly easy on edges or corners. 3/8" is plenty good for a start and 1/4" is way better than nothing. Like I said, be on the lookout for your next table or the next top for yours. I am looking for a 1" or 1 1/4" top for this one. Inside the shop there is a 5/8" topped table with leg vise next to the forge. There is another two wheeled/one legged table with an 8" vise that has a 2' X 2' X 2" top. Table weighs over 600# plus whatever junk is on the shelf. I don't weld things to that one as it is dead flat and it's staying that way. That is my "precision" table. I also have a cast iron table that is 28" X 48" X 28" (built the above vise table to match the height on this one)that is smack dab in the middle of the shop and is where most of the welding gets done. The top on that one is 2 1/8" thick and it weighs over 2200#. It doesn't move when you lean on it Edited to add this: I have built a good many things using a piece of 8" X 8" I-beam as a "table". If you find a piece that has no twist in it latch onto it. With enough clamps you can build about anything on a straight piece of I-beam. Built a whole trailer on one one time.

Particle board top-very interesting. I see his point.

Have a friend that used to mirror weld in pipe tunnels while all but standing on his head. Have the highest regard for anyone that can do that. I need both hands on the stinger or else something to lean on :D

Hot rolled can vary in actual size. Cold rolled is held to much closer tolerances.

Welcome to ifi. I plan on going to Sedalia next year too.

Don A-sounds like you are using 7014 not 7018. A good rod to learn on (I did). Has its limitations.

No offense here. My stick welder is in an old electrical vault box and it, along with my big layout table live outside in front of the shop. Guess that makes me a driveway welder I use 6011 on most of my stuff. Good penetration. works well on poor fitups, rusty, dirty, greasy, painted stock. If I need a prettier weld with less spatter I will use 6013 (with sometimes a root pass(es) of 6011). Don't use much 7018. Don't want to go to the trouble of keeping it dry or cooking it in the oven when I need some. Before the advent of low hydrogen rods most welds of dissimilar/hi alloy/tool steels were done with stainless rod. I use stainless for welding some tooling, making up hammer dies with 5160, 4140 etc. Works for me. Is expensive but is great to weld with, flows like buttah Usually leave my old Forney on DC- The mig welder gets to live inside the shop. ER70S-6 with "Stargon" gas. 90%AR, 8%CO2, and 2%O2.

Rome, thank you for posting. Glad to see your interest here. The things I have been reading lately and the people I have been hearing from in the midwest point to a real passion on the part of the board to seek input from the membership and make changes necessary to strenghten ABANA.

The holdfast I sometimes use on my anvil (I usually use a weighted chain) is made from a lug wrench with the socket end cut off. If it will fit in your pritchel hole, just forge the end, bend it up and use it. Didn't heat treat at all. Leave the screwdriver end on, it's real handy for prying open forks or slits or tweaking baskets and it is always right there at the anvil.

Very nice welder19. Frosty is right, nice to have a forge table at least big enough to dump a full bag or a couple buckets of coal on. You have that plus! Plenty of room to lay your fire tools (mine don't even have hooks or eyes for hanging, they always lay ready in or on top of the coal) and room to lay tongs as they cool (a good habit is to never put hot tongs back in the rack, they should be laid off to the side or put on the floor). Plenty of room to have the pieces you are ready to forge handy and to lay the things you have just forged to cool. If this forge was mine I would be cutting a piece out there at the right end to allow long pieces to be heated in the middle for twisting, bending etc. You could weld one of the pieces you cut off the legs underneath the cutout to reinforce it. The 3/8" plate would likely never bend in use but might if you pick it up to move it. A really nice forge!