tlreif

Score! We were straightening up a corner of the shop that hasnt been touched in the 13 years that I have worked there and sitting on a shelf that was buried was several acme threaded rods from various machines. I picked out the largest one which was 1.250 and it had a heavy steel nut with it. Asked the boss about it and he said it had come from some old lathe. the best part is he said I could just have it. So i guess I know how im going to fix the vice!

Man pat! That is one beutiful shop! I wish I had a place like that. I would love to see more pictures of it. As for me in my shop. I heat with kerosene until the gas forge takes over and I also heat a plate to warm the anvil. I keep the garage door down with about a 2 inch crack and I have a small exhaust fan for ventilation.

Thanks John. After reading my reply, I hope you didn't take offense. That was not my intention. I could see where it came off slightly smarty pants. Believe me I am not that way.

Go to blacksmith depot. They carry ocp tongs. Theses are a great tong. Grant who posts on here regularly makes them. Good price great product can't go wrong.

Dont worry about it John. I demonstrated this for our club, and even with it in person, I had to explain it several times for quite a few members before the light came on! I didnt allow that it was that complicated.LOL! considering the brain that the idea came from!

Thanks for the information Maddog! It looks like a nice job! I will most likely go that route in repairing mine. Do you happen to know the tread pitch? Like was it 4 turns per inch or 5? Thanks again!

Not sure about the devil and the blacksmith. The dog has spent many a hour riding in the truck and going to our daughters softball games. We were crushed when our daughter played division 1 college softball. They wouldn't let her in the stadium. So she couldn't bark when our daughter hit a home run! But you are right. Dogs are definitely mans best friend!

And one more thing. Just in case you wanted to see what things looked like complete, here are some photos. I know its nothing too special but I was pretty proud of the job. Too bad I didnt make any money! But I really didnt do it for the money.......ok well maybe a little!

Frosty, Thanks. Yes the dog normally wont have anything to do with being in the shop but, that was on a saturday. You see she follows the wife around all week and then on the weekend she follows me because I buy her a cheeseburger! And Maddog, Im sorry to say that that is the normal state of order in my shop! The reason is 2 fold. #1 Although my wife loves what i do out in the shop, she expects me to keep it out in the shop. And #2 I work in a place that there is such filth and waller ( for example: machining chips all over the place xxx xxxx xxx xxxx everywhere in mean everywhere! and just complete lack of organization.) that I just cant let it get bad here.

Here are some more detailed photos of it.

Ok so I had this large railing job last winter and the customer had seen that I had done a reverse twist on something else that I made and liked it. Knowing there would be many of these to do I decided to make a tool to help speed things up. Now I know you can suspend the piece and stick a wrench in the middle and get the same thing, but if you are like I am it takes a while to straighten them back up. Hopefully you can follow this link and watch the video. Im sure i'm not the only one to do this ,but it was kind of fun. Let me know what you think.

Matt, you can cast the flares in the refractory. It's been don't and works just fine. It's just a little easier to make a flare out of steel. Good point though.

The burner flares always serve a purpose. They are there to stabilize the flame so you can run at many different pressures. I make a flare out of 316L stainless steel. They seem to last for a good while. I make sure my flares are at least 1 inch into the insulation. This seems to help make them last. You just need to make sure that you carry out the angle of the flare through out the insulation. I hope this helps you out. Good luck. Ps. I can make you a couple of my flares if need be.

Yes sorry I did mean Iron city. Pictures would be great. thanks for your input.

You are right. This is as good of a time to learn. Our machine shop consists of 2 guys that run cnc mills and a cnc lathe. but our needs for the company don't require thread cutting. They use taps and dies for everything. The young man that runs the cnc lathe is still learning but is willing to give it a try. But I would like to do it on the manual lathe. just because. The condition of the screw is not much better. I would say 30 per cent of the thread width left in the middle where most of the work has been performed. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Well I have a Steel City post vice that Im sure is much older than myseft. It finally called it quits this last weekend. The threads were very worn when I got it for 25 bucks about 6 years ago. The nut finally said enough and stripped what was left of the material. Oh well I have a back up vice but it is a 4 inch and I would like to have the 6 inch back up. So my queston to the fine people of the forum is have you fixed one before and what did you do? I have looked at acme rods and nuts and am not opposed to that. I also work at a machine shop but I personally dont have the experience of thread cutting. And neither do our machinists. But im sure we could figure someting out. If i did that what material would be recomended? I hate to retire the old gal it is otherwise in great shape. Thanks for your responces!

Robert, Im sorry you feel that way. I was only keeping it real! I wish you the best and hope you can have some succsess. tlreif

Robert, I have read most all of your posts. You have been given the best advice that I can imagine. It seems that maybe you havnt quite understood the advise or something has gotten lost in the translation. You now have a very generous offer on the table to take a little road trip to build a forge that will do the job for you. May i suggest you swallow that lump in your throat called pride and take the man up on his offer. We all want to do things for ourselves but sometimes we need a little guidence. I dont know your personal skill set but if you have had this much trouble getting a forge going with all the information available, imagine your frustration trying to get your first forge weld. Dont give up just get some help.

In conversing on another thread it was pointed out that refractory board was not rated for high enough temerature. My question is how hot is hot enough,(Technically 2300 degrees is forge welding heat. and I have seen it done colder than that) and what happens to the refractory if the rated temps are exeeded? Do we have a nuclear meltdown that goes to China or what? Seriously though, what does happen? I know the refractory board i use in my forges has seen 2500 degrees and I have not seen any difference in it.

You Must be going to get it really hot! I use it in my forges and have never had any issues with it. As for the expense 120 bucks for a 2 foot by 4 foot piece is not bad in my book. considering that will build a lot of forge. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Are you asking about this because you already have these materials? Because if it was me, I would use the refractory board. It is rigid enough to stand up to your design. In fact I would use 2 layers for better insulation factor. Just a thought.