Borntoolate

Ok I have not tried the heat.   Saw that on youtube.    Looks like the round bit with the two flats on it is shown upper left.   part of the bearing assembly.   And looks like either/all stuff comes loose just need to be able to hold it tight without breaking stuff.    Yeah, I was thinking the same in regard to right handed threads.   NO point since it works either way.    I find I use mine with an overhand push but some might like to pull it over the top I guess...   The pic helps.   Thanks Frozen!

As for the model is does not say 400 on it.   The SN is #6662.   BUt it's still pretty dirty and maybe it will reveal itself once I progress a bit further.    OTherwise is looks quite similar to my other Champ 400.   And so far this shaft pic matches everything I have been able to get to so far.    

All good points especially on the conditions years ago.   Living in the South I have become quite partial to air conditioning.    It;s kinda in like with Food, Water, Air Conditioning and so on...   It's in the 90s today and I expect that to be the norm through August and usually part of September. 

I kinda like the BTL handle.   I might keep it.   I can probably make many meanings from it.  Thanks for the replies and I hope to be a bit more active here.   I am not yet retired so that is in the future.   And we have a huge turnaround in June/July so that won't be optimum for the short term.   

BUt my shop is all back together, new and improved.   33'x33' by 16' high at the corners metal building and 10' overhang all along the back which we slabbed in fully over Christmas.   All wired for sound with satellite radio and zero commercials.    

Hello friends.  This forum has always been awesome.   I think Glenn and perhaps other moderators are still around that keep this place sane and not full of trash talk.    In 2016 we flooded and that made a big set back in many things.    Forging being one of them.   And folks, please no sympathy on that.  Life is what it is and we move forward.   And we are doing just that.

Just wanted to say hello again to folks that may remember me (or not, it doesn't matter) and hello to others that don't recall me and perhaps goodbye to others who may have "moved on" in whatever form that may have occurred.  

Borntoolate - Could have been a blacksmith 200 years ago but instead, born too late.    Ended up in the petrochemical industry as an engineer.  Pay is good.  Stress in high.   Retirement is good!

I am trying to disassemble another Champion blower to rebuild it.  I did this many years ago but recall little from that effort other than be careful.   The one I have has never been that great sounding, a bit gravely...,  but it keeps blowing like a champ.   Just concerned that someday if will just seize up.    I bought another some years back and unfortunately it went swimming for several days underwater in the 2016 flood in South Louisiana.    Fortunately it was overloaded with a lot of grease and other non water solubles.   but let me get to the point.

I have it disassembled to the point where the nut on the far side of the fan is off.   Under that there is a washer that has a notch that slides into a groove on the shaft.  That is out.   What I see appears to be another nut that just has two flats on it that is fairly deep into the worm gear assembly.  OR maybe this is part of the shaft?    I don't really have a tool to put on that so that I can loosen the nut on the fan blade/blower side in order to get the nut off the fan blade.    I have searched the net and found several does and don't and some things I am just concerned with.   I don't want to damage the fan since it looks to be in excellent condition.    I don't want to break the spokes of the fan either.    I have lubed and penetrate oiled everything.    Does anyone have a sure fire way to break the fan blade nut loose without damaging anything?   Is the two flat nut a nut or just part of the shaft?

Lastly I believe that this nut is NOT reverse threaded.    If that is incorrect then that would be pretty important to know.   Any help?

I was more active on this forum some years back but the flood and other priorities have taken precedence.   Working to get back to some of this....    Made some pot holder hooks this evening and looking to move forward....      

I wear a long welders glove on my non hammer hand in order to hold tools close to hot metal.   I have never gotten hot stuff in it.   These gloves go up close to the elbow.

When you have a flood and clean up puts you in a "Get rid of anything that doesn't have a near immediate use!'   After that you go back to accumulating.

Yeah me too!  What is it???

 

Even if all you have are 5 minutes you can grow your skills, sweeping the floor and putting things away requires thought, organization and sequencing to make the most. Sometimes just standing and thinking of why you can never find the right tool at THAT moment can really help. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, this brings to mind that you don't necessarily have to actually do anything.   If you have very little time then perhaps it could be used to mentally work through the sequence, tong useage, handling and so forth to quickly make optimum use of the fire once you make it.    If you have a good hot fire and a hunk of hot metal but don't really have a plan of what you are going to do with it then not much happens, it get's cold, and has to be heated up again.   And if still no plan then same result.   For me if I don't have a perfect plan then the perfect time to focus on it is while building the fire.   I actually find that very therapeutic.   Make the fire.   Zone out on the plan.   Prep the tools.   Mentally walk through the steps.  No big rush but when it's time be ready.     Execute...

Sorry Meadowgrove was the original pster

 

May have been somewhat of an exaggeration, but If I quit after thirty minutes, I feel like I have just started. That was my point.

agreed,   BUt I have done that just for the the shop / forge therapy...

C-1,   I would say that if your time window to do work on a hot useful fire is small then you need to focus on learning how to get to a hot useful fire quickly.   I have always thought that that is something that does not get enough attention on this site.    Maybe there is a thread on that But I don't recall seeing it.       But the flood has put me out of pocket for the most part for over a year.

15 minutes... Don't bother.   Mostly.

30 Minutes...  Don't bother unless you are just trying to put that final touch on something or if you are just interested in some sort of forge, fire therapy.   Though if you are good at the fire and quick at the forge and hammer/anvil you can accomplish something.

For me it takes a good 8-10 minutes minimum to get a a decent fire started and have it progress to what I would call a mature and hot plus well rounded fire that actually can heat well and quickly.    And that would only be if I shut my coal forge down with a good amount of coke.   And 8-10 minutes is actually pretty fast.  Though I forge more for fun and therapy than productivity.     

Please note that I am a novice but I have also started my forge several times after work and did little it because of time and other issues.   I have shut it down all too often shortly after it became a mature fire.    That may also set me up for the next one...????

I flooded in the great 2016 flood in Southern Louisiana and have only recently got back to it and only in a small way.

my reaction the same.  Like a knife.....

39 minutes ago, Lou L said:

I think a double barrel bottle opener is a neat challenge...i could call it the "double action".

or the de-CAP-itater!   I like the naming idea.   My mind wonders on that.    Cap-slinger.     I guess I am thinking sword names like Lord of the Rings...  But I realize you were sticking with the gun reference.

In a six pack there would be relatively standard spacing.   A double action opener could do 2 on one side, then 2 just opposite, then the 2 on the end.   but who would drink all of that???

On 5/5/2017 at 10:21 PM, JHCC said:

 The upper one in the top photo looks more like a hammer…. 

I think you might be able to find a spot you could wedge a cap in at and then open it.    Maybe it's a puzzle bottle opener....

On 7/11/2017 at 3:43 PM, Lou L said:

Last night I scanned the inter webs for pictures of bottle openers with n eye for my own design and came up with the idea to make a bottle opener that acts like pulling a trigger.  Made a prototype this afternoon.  There are some geometry issues but I went by feel mostly with just the bottle cap width as a working dimension.  Here's what I came up with.

 

I like it.   IT's a single shooter though.   That's probably best....   I guess most bottle openers are.    But that does bring up an interesting challenge!    How bout for parties having a 6 pack bottle opener!       Maybe we should start with a double barrel instead.

I like the simplicity of the rebar bottle opener!   

this just doesn't seem very practical...   

22 hours ago, SReynolds said:

May I ask? Why did you mention you want your heat above the metal in your list?

A new Brian Technique? 

I don't think it was a new technigue but rather a basic.   it was really just about having the metal totally surrounded by heat both top and bottom.   I was at times laying the metal on top of the heat but not necessarily immersing the metal in heat all around.  Or not getting enough fuel hot enough all around.   

The golden flame was something Brian mentioned and I think it means that you have good conditions for high heat without too much O2 but enough to make things heat fast.    The golden flame was noticeable.

22 hours ago, SReynolds said:

May I ask? Why did you mention you want your heat above the metal in your list?

A new Brian Technique? 

also, I am very frugal.   So I was cranking on the blower in a minimalist way rather than an effective way.   It used to to take too long to get things hot.   He was more telling me to make it very hot very fast rather than be frugal which wastes time and is frankly annoying.

On 12/11/2011 at 7:35 PM, Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver said:

Tell ya what I've learned being around Brian; he has done so much with so little for so long, that he can now do anything with nothing!

was reading a newer bit about scrolling and was trying to find the Brian Brazeal Scrolling and Collaring thread that was so awesome.   It appears it is too old and all the wonderful pics in sequence seem to no longer be available.   This is a huge loss since it was so excellent.   Then I cam across my favorite quote from IFI and here it is.  

Glenn is there any way to retrieve the pics from the thread I mentioned that Brian started?   I also had a decent follow up to that where me and Andrea made several scrolled and collared trivets all with simple tooling and a good number of pics that Brian showed me.

I still like the above quote.   And if I am not mistaken the gentleman who made it passed some time back and was also a well respected member of the community.   I never met him personally.  Perhaps he was a bit of a curmudgeon as well?   Which is fine with me!!

8 hours ago, Tubalcain2 said:

my smithing friend/mentor who I bought most of my equipment from swears that if you leave your hammer on the face of your anvil overnight  the devil gets into it and everything you make the next day will come out wrong. 

uh ohh!!!!!!!!!

does anyone bother using brine these days?

stand it up.   Put Christmas lights on it.

What does the lettering at the left say?

what about PAM in a spray can?

On Shorpy.com there are a lot of old pics that appear to be in ~HD quality.  You would need to hunt through them but I bet there would be some of interest mentioned above as well as just plain interesting.

if you visit IFI everyday!

I like the curves.   You could make a hand and then put a bowl in it as well.