Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Borntoolate

Members
  • Posts

    661
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Borntoolate

  1. Just google "drop forge". Then click videos as well and poke around for about 3 minutes and you will.
  2. I did not read the whole thread so hopefully this is not a repeat. From a purely engineering stand point a forged item has generally superior mechanical properties (Strength, no casting defects, weldability and others...). So this is looking at the "forging" aspect as opposed to "blacksmithing". Blacksmithing IS forging metal. But forging goes way beyond blacksmithing. If you want to open up the argument or discussion to include "forging" in general then I think you also have a great many modern day forging applications and positive aspects to consider. Forging as opposed to blacksmithing is an extremely common worldwide process that is done 24/7. I am not a metallurgist but I have known several of them and have interacted with them on technical issues at work frequently. Thus I am not going to attempt to say anything outside of my area of expertise. I would suggest doing some research on: Properties of Forged steel vs Castings. Weldability of the same... That research will probably lead you to other areas if that is what you are after. Have you ever heard that tools like wrenches were Drop Forged?
  3. Nice. I think I spent as much time looking at the Guitar as I did the conglomeration of treasures piled above it!
  4. A major pro for me is that I can rather quickly make many things that I need quite readily. Especially things that are a bit non-standard. I am in the process of making a swing set for my grand daughter. There are some hardware pieces that I can easily go and purchase. They are a bit pricey. Or I can just make them. I will choose to take some of my scrap metal and/or re-purpose some hardware that would otherwise be wasted. Most likely I will only need to modify some metal that I have laying about. Naturally I will make sure that the metal is structurally sound enough to be used safely on the swing set. As a Mechanical Engineer I assure you I have the qualifications to make this assessment. So blacksmithing is practical, economical, conservational (might not actually be a word), and personally rewarding. What's not to like! The rewarding part is when you are able to put a bit of yourself into a project that makes it both unique and functional and that will be used and enjoyed by others for years to come. Finally, this craft requires a bit of physical activity which is more exercise than just writing checks or slotting your card.
  5. I sorted through all of my boxes, jars, tiny bags, multi drawered "organizers", shelves full of... etc etc etc of "stuff" and re-organized it all and got rid of a bunch of junk. My shop will be bigger now and less cluttered! There was no blacksmithing... Now am not talking "EVERYTHING"... this was focused on mostly small items, fasteners, electrical and plumbing pieces etc.... All that little stuff that accumulates. All that stuff we save for when we will want it later... One thing I made big change on. I have been having a lot of nails in my fastener drawer for quite some time. I find I rarely nail much of anything anymore. At least not by hand that is. At my current rate of nail useage vs nail supply I will need to live to be about 1000 years old. I did not get rid of my all too numerous nail collection but it has been relegated away from prime storage areas in the shop. That is what I did today. It was a good day!
  6. I love that! A wooden handled bottle opener. Knife makers have another weapon to handle now. But grinding out a bottle opener might be a challenge! On the flip side no quench and temper issues...
  7. You can buy long handled needle nose or long handled vice grips to use as early tongs. 12-16" long. BTW looks great for a first hook and your critical analysis of your own work sounded right on. Have fun and just keep doing.
  8. It's hard to see but the hook is about 20 degrees or so rotated from the business end. It allows a natural hand hold that puts the fire end at a nice angle or more straight up and down. For me that differentiates a lefty from a righty.
  9. My pokers are maybe a bit more on the long side . more for outside fires. Meant to be able to poke pull and push while standing with little bending. I think I may have screwed up this post. More meant to be functional than aesthetic.. This is my first one that has turned into several requests for others due to function. The forge weld on the business end makes this a challenge for me still.
  10. well getting back to it... still... Slowly. This is originally very distressed metal from a piece of grating that I banged and pried apart producing numerous 1" wide by about 3/16" thick strips with crisscrossed weldments. Then went through the 2016 flood. It functions. And you can hang it off your belt if you wanted to. I always thought bartenders would pay money for such if made just right.
  11. I think one thing to consider is that overheating and managing that is no time for having a "manly" ego. We flooded in August of 2016 in southern Louisiana. There was a lot of work just after that getting things back and cleaning up etc. I was a bit stressed and it was xxxxxxx hot. Between the two of those things I found myself getting overheated more than the other Man friends around helping me. It hurt just a little to say it but at one point I just told them that I am not doing well to continue. I need a rest. They understood and supported. Don't let ego ruin yourself for the long haul. LIFE IS TOO LONG TO GO THROUGH IT WITH PERMANENT AND AVOIDABLE DAMAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  12. Does everyone know what a cold shut is? I suspect some do not. In my business a cold shut is basically a piece of metal that has been folded over by hammering in this case. It is folded over below welding temperature so it will look like a crack. The metal is not fused together. And unless you actually fix this by removal or forge welding then this crack will extend through your work as you hammer and elongate or form within the piece that has the cold shut. It basically adds a crack like defect into your piece that propagates as you hammer and will make your creation structurally compromised. And a bit ugly... Hiker correct me if I am wrong in my explanation or anyone else.
  13. With all these bottle openers I felt it was worth a bit of a safety message. I have made a few that work just fine most of the time to remove caps from bottles. But if you make the opening just a little too big you can actually open the bottle by tearing the top of the bottle cap / glass and all off. This would make a not so attentive bottle opener user susceptible to drinking from a glass shard bottle top. Kinda ruins the party ehh? And considering what is in the bottle that most of us are referencing one could see how the state of mind and/or physical control one might progress to that it could at some point actually promote this potential. Put more succinctly - one who is drinking alcohol might tend to do this and not notice it until it was too late! So take care when testing your openers for this potential. Does anyone have a dimension they stick too or some sort of go/no go test they use to avoid this???
  14. THAT will probably work. This fan has become very stubborn. There is just no good or obvious way to hold the shaft without some sort of potentially distructive modification or special tools, nuts etc... More than once I was heading towards "You are coming off even if you break!" mentality. But so far I have avoided it. I'll need to get a bigger socket than what I have.
  15. sounds like air flow may be greatly reduced from the 400. I'll know next week. thanks
  16. A buddy of mine is giving me a champ no 40. I have two champ 400s. One I am trying to rebuild as a back up. I am trying to research if the the 40 is older or newer than the 400. I suspect older. But can anyone tell me the difference? potential age?, parts interchangeable?, flow capacity? Here is a pic. I have done several searches but have not founf anything on when things were built and how the two compare. He said it blew well and was pretty quiet. mostly a whoosh/purr of air and not gravely sounding.
  17. Mine is plastic it doesn't rust. IT is from a previous pool DE filter. BUt don't see why any plastic tub would not work. Just don't poke it with hot metal. This is relatively thick maybe 1/4" or so maybe more. Has to hold pool pump pressure. So thicker than a plastic trash bin and pretty sturdy. Drifts usually live in the flange holes for easy access and quench cooling.
  18. Stay safe. Life is TOO long to go threw it without all your parts. Regret is something we all want to avoid like the plague. It goes with life is TOO long since regret stays with you forever. Just like missing body parts stay missing forever though progress is being made in some areas of this.
  19. The problem is I have no nuts let to mess with. Yeah yeah sounds like a personal problem..?? All that is left is the fan and it doesn't want to budge. And there is no nut to put a socket on. BUt I'll get it. I'll rig up the impact to be able to turn the fan at the spokes I guess. Or something. I am not in a huge hurry.... yet. Just some final tool rigging. And no I don't wanna use the screwdriver approach. I keep reading that can really mess you up. The nut I am pointing to is off (pic above). That fan is not threaded tight since there is nothing to thread tight against. You would think it would be just loose... It is just somehow seized enough to make me nervous. BUt I am going to go with patience on this one since I still have that pesky day job that ties up much of my time. Thanks for all the help. I'll let you know when I get er done.
  20. I am down to only the fan left. No nuts or races on the opposing side. And based on Frozens pic above and my pic below it there is another bearing and nuts and races behind the bearing cap which is between the Fan and the bearing (seen in my pic). That cap has two flats that make me think it is screwed in. You can see one of those flats between the fan spokes just above my finger. So either the fan has to come off or the cap has to come off. If the fan comes off then perhaps the shaft slides out the back. If the cap comes off then the shaft and fan and bearing can come out the fan side. Perhaps this cap is not threaded in but rather a snug fit like a hub cap? I dunno. But this is being a bear. Keep in mind that this is old an no telling when it was last taken apart. No doubt you already figured that. BUt that it also went through the fabulous 500 year flood of 2016 in Louisiana and it held it's breath under water for about three days. IT has been sitting rather neglected since then in my tractor shed. It is dry in there but hot. Which gear? The worm or the brass one. I read that holding the brass one is a no no. Good idea. Thanks
  21. Mine is a sort of a rusty redish color. Has a roughish rusty finish to it as well. I think it is painted with a light surface rust tolerant rust. I am not sure how that was done though... I do think this coating can be applied over existing rust though....
  22. Ok, I will stay in this time period for the time being. But time will tell. Puns intended or at least attempted. I have been overseas in some third world countries and yes it is nice to get back to "civilization" so to speak.
  23. Yup. impact did it. But grr. NOw I am down to no good way of holding the shaft to turn the fan to get it off. Gonna have to make a tool to fit the slot in the shaft and jam up on the nut on the opposite side so as not to screw up the threads. Then maybe another tool to hit several fan blades to turn it. THough I think my handled bending fork might do the trick. Though maybe a heavy folded towel on channel locks on the shaft might work. Seems to me these things are not made to come apart very easily without some special tooling or a bit of luck. I saw that it is not a great idea to try to jam up the gearing and use that to hold it. The fan shaft will come out of the blower end about 1/2". THis seems wrong to me in that I would have thought the bearings would have been snugged up on both ends.... This might be a bad sign....???
  24. I bought some different penetrating fluid and lubed it all up and let it sit. I got my MAP gas little torch and heated up the nut on the fan side. The second time it broke loose. Except what broke loose was the race/nut opposite the side of the fan with the two flats. Left side of the pic above. Now I am down to the pic attached. I am fearful that I will break the fan blade assembly if I do anything drastic and have no good way to hold the shaft to break the nut loose that I am pointing to. Below the fan it looks like another bearing cover cap. And once again no easy was to get hold of it. If I could then I could pull the whole shaft out and things would become easy. Other than keep applying penetrating oil and waiting and tinkering I'm not sure what to do but that. If I break the fan it's game over seems to me. And I am in no big hurry other than my main workshop work bench is covered with tools and blower parts.\ BTW I looked real good at the blower and found no model number on it. It is a champ from Lancaster and has similar Pat and Pending numbers on the top cover as my other one.
×
×
  • Create New...