Mikey98118

POPULO 8V Rechargeable Cordless Rotary Tool The price was low, but everything about the order packaging, and deliver time, was first class. I found this product to have surprisingly high quality, for what it is; it has as much power as the average 160-watt 120volt rotary tool. How well the controls will hold up over time, is still an open question; it has a 2.0Ah battery, four LED Lights, and five speed adjustments. The 124-piece accessories kit is fair quality. This tool comes in its own plastic case. For a battery powered rotary tool, it is a pleasant surprise; $29.80 through Amazon.com.

Drilling and threading brass gas tubes Most brass tubes and pipe fittings that you buy, and turn into burner parts, are half-hard brass; this can be drilled and threaded more easily than stainless-steel alloys; however, it can be tricky to tap threads into, or run a die down; it tends to gum up tool edges on dies and taps. Half-hard brass is inclined to compress during threading; this is a form of work hardening. Tapping fluid should be employed during threading; it can be purchased in amounts smaller than a pint). Even cooking oil is better than dry threading. Internal thread: Always tap the internal thread for whatever part you employ as a gas orifice first. Run the external thread second. Tubing sizes may be a little small inside; in that case use the recommended drill size to enlarge it before running internal thread with a tap. If the tube is a few thousandths oversize, that is okay. Many novices lack a drill press, and see no use for one; they will be tempted to drill and thread by hand. However, a cheap drill press vice is only about ten dollars, and by placing your parts in the vice before you try hand drilling or threading, you will stay parallel with the tube or fitting's hole, far more easily (keeping tube in the vice will also help you to correctly start a die down its exterior). Start threading with your tap as axially true as possible, and only turn the tap until you can feel resistance suddenly increase (the “quarter- turn and reverse tool to break burr” rule of thumb is not adequate for half-hard brass; instead, you must back off the tap as soon as you feel a sudden increase in resistance to movement. It does not matter how little progress you make before breaking the burr away from the thread end, and starting another twist; have the patience to follow this advice. You are going to be using small (and therefore easily broken) taps in ¼” and in six-millimeter gas tubes. Also back off the tap every full turn forward, and run it back over the thread you just made to clear burrs, and smooth up the new thread; otherwise, after a few extra twists, so much pressure might be needed to do this, that small taps will break off in the hole, as you attempt to back them out. Be liberal with your tapping oil. Dealing with a broken tap is no fun. Should you break a tap off in the tube, gently beat back and forth on its protruding point, to loosen it; then, try to back it out of the hole with pliers; if that does not work, cut away that section of tube, and try again with a new tap. You should have no need to use a drill bit in 4mm inside diameter tubing, and even a plug tap will suffice for the purpose, unless your tubing isn’t actually 4mm inside diameter for smaller gas tubes, or 3/16” inside diameter on larger gas tubes; that is not very likely, but these are imported parts; which means you are probably going to be dealing with an ignorant drop- ship seller (meaning they “don’t know and don’t care” about actual sizes). External thread: If the tube is a few thousandths small on the outside, that is okay. If the tube is the slightest amount oversize, your die will have far more work to do; spin the tube in a drill motor, and sand that extra diameter down to size; especially when running coarse thread, like 5/16-18. The coarser the thread the harder it is to run. But the coarser the thread the less of it that needs to make contact. 75 percent contact may be needed in a fine thread, while fifty percent may work just as well in a coarse thread. Even the same outside diameter as the die can be hard to work with. If the first half-inch of thread is a slog, consider deliberately sanding the rest of the tube’s length a few thousandths of an inch undersized. Full contact in the first half-inch (at the tube’s end) helps to secure a gas tight joint, but it is not needed, or even desirable on the rest of the gas tube. So why work hard? Use the same care when threading with dies as with taps. Dies usually have their description written on the opposite side that is meant to face the work. Be careful to mount the die facing correctly, and grind a bevel on the tube’s end, so that it will get started correctly; this helps the die to start threading at true right angles; if you start the die threading close enough to perpendicular to the tube, it will finish truing itself up, within a twist or two.

'Bargain' regulators and needle valves always look like a good idea, when someone is buying all the supplies needed to build that first forge; they never are, when they have to be replaced...or lived with

But the main point isn't who did what and why. The main point is... Hey people; just don't go there!!!

I doubt that there is a lawyer stupid enough to set up an opportunity to get stuck trying to justify the inclusion of a device that severely interferes with pressure adjustment in a device that is supposed to adjust pressure. Lawyers probably dislike being made to look like clowns anymore than the rest of us More likely, this is just another back door trick from insurance companies, with nobody prepared to try justifying it?

Flow limiters: Round two More than twenty years ago the federal government mandated that overflow protection devices be in incorporated in all propane cylinders. Bureaucrats in some states took advantage of the change to include flow limiters in smaller propane cylinders that were likely to be used with barbecue grills and camp stoves; this caused a lot of headaches for the rest of us. Recently I was shopping for stainless steel braided propane hose, and noticed that many offers included 0-30 regulators for ridiculously low prices. Hose and regulators for the same amount that just regulators used to cost?!? So, I started reading customer evaluations of these ‘bargains’ only to find the same complaints cropping up continuously; they were the very same symptoms that people started getting with some five-gallon propane cylinders, after flow limiters started being quietly inserted in them, in some states, twenty odd years ago. So, I googled “flow limiters in propane regulators”; here’s what popped up: “What is the Flow Limiting Device? The flow limiting device is a safety feature built into the Propane regulator that detects a change in pressure, limiting the amount of propane that is delivered to a BBQ’s valve assembly, causing unstable performance.”

That sounds like the practical solution.

I would think that one of the zirconia tile formulas might help, if backed up with a layer of insulating cast refractory. Of course, that is a far more costly commitment than I would want to invest in an experiment. It is amusing to find our usual points of viewpoints reversed. You are looking for superb performance from radiant energy, while I stopped at just good enough How did this happen? Because I only look at forges for general use these days. If you are focusing radiant output for a narrow use (items of a particular size range), well and good. But if I then want to stuff anything in there that is small enough to pass in and out, with the additional help of a latching door, that ruins the whole idea. So, it turns out that your view is consistent. I must agree that the the least general equipment can be made to produce the best performance.

Actually, that idea sounds like it has lots of potential.

Back in 2002 I had a thought swirling around my noggin for a new burner design. For about six months, I would lay down and be very still until it departed. Then, I suddenly needed a new design, and had to give in to it. Out came tube burners, and the rest is ancient history. So, plunge in at the deep in, 'cause the water's fine Ceramic versus refractory (as I see it): By definition, all ceramics are refractory. The distinction is in sales terms, only. Clay pots, etc. are considered as ceramic, becuase, while they are finished through high heat, they are no longer able to withstand that same heat; what is labeled "refractory" is. So, a fired clay burner body would be considered ceramic; it can withstand slower and lower temperature increases, but is less costly and a better medium for slip casting than a typical cast refractory, which shall be needed for flame retention nozzles. Nevertheless the two materials should have similar enough ratios of expansion to avoid major joining headaches (if I'm right about all this). And if I'm not? Then, grab the ball and run with it

So, twenty-three years into burner construction, I have come to some tentative conclusions on homemade burners: Shop-built linear burners of the eighties (and earlier) simply were not well thought out by people who were anxious to find something to heat the forges they wanted to market. It seems likely that they just viewed the flames from the commercial venturi burners of the time as “top of the line,” and then produced what they considered as “good enough.” If our expectations are too limited to begin with, our idea of “good enough” is likely to be pathetic; sure enough, that is what gas forges were for quite a few years. Jet-ejector style burners induced a lot more air than linear burners, so the switch to home-built jet-ejectors brought instant relief from the problem of weak linear performance. However, the problem was never burner type, but very poor construction choices, due to low expectations. Unfortunately, we “tossed out the baby with the bath water.” Linear burners still have the greatest potential for gas/air mixture flow manipulation; that is the foundation of superb flame management, which in term is the only path to greater heat for less cash. In summary, a good output begins with a well-controlled input. Where might the future path of home-built burners lie? Back again to classic wasp-waist venturi burners, but with a couple of twists: First, such a new generation of linear burners must keep a stricter idea of what constitutes an acceptable flame; that only begins with complete combustion in single flame envelopes. Finally, the perfect must bow to the practical. What is practical in home-built burners is primarily limited to method (ex. tooling); not by building effort. I predict that the next big improvement well be completely ceramic wasp-waist burner bodies, with refractory flame retention nozzles. Thoughts?

If you use a silver braze alloy with as high a melting range as you can find, along with black flux (which is rated for stainless-steel), this will provide a high temperature bond that requires less care to keep a rivet nut in place, while brazing the ends of the mounting plate’s three ribs onto a funnel, with easy flow silver brazing wire and a lower temperature rated flux. Water-soaked rags, or blocking putty (ex. Wetrag) around the nut, but kept away from the second area being joined, is another way to help protect existing silver brazed joints. Anti-flux can be placed around a joined area that is too close to the new joint for blocking putty to be used effectively; by resisting fluid flow out of the area of an existing joint, it will help you to protect it, while brazing the second joint, if you waste no time. Lamp rod couplings, or re-threaded 1/8" x 1/8" brass pipe couplings can be silver brazed onto steel mounting plates, but their lack of an external lip will reduce the joint’s contact area too much for silver soldering to create a strong connection.

I'm an old man these days (77) The old west was during my granddad's time. I remember seeing photos of ordinary people from those days, looking like they were all trying to scare Jesse James, and confident that they could get the job done. I grew up working in ornamental iron shops, with lots of guys from my grandfathers generation, still around; they were all hard cases. So, when I consider how things used to be done, its through the lens of that experience. I can testify that "the right way" of doing everything in a shop was considered far more solid than a library of book knowledge; including by most bosses. The biggest problem with "progress" is the sloppy discarding of old methods, when new ways offer bigger profits. Once the old guys die off, so does most of what they knew

There is little that is more discouraging than searching for the right size fender washer, with close to the right size center hole, to repurpose into a mounting plate for your linear burner's gas tube, and only see photos of 1/8" thick washers, which will take loads of work to cut and grind three air openings into. But, take heart; those photos seldom show the much thinner washer you will actually receive. I almost passed by such an advertisement, before noticing that the written description called for a 0.049" part thickness; that's much easier to deal with. The washers arrived today, and are appropriate for this use.

Over forty years back, I was in a wood carving class, that had to make our own hook knives as one of the assignments. We were to get the blades as close to finished as possible, and then send them out for heat treating in the college's fully automated electric heat treating oven. Most of the blades came back just fine, but a few were worthless. That was my first clue that the best industrial processes, may not be so hot. Thank you for a mirror view of one of my own prejudices. It was the short comings of heat treating in 'the best possible' conditions that has given me pause for use of any "lessor" method; there was nothing lacking in that lesson, but there was everything wrong with my conclusions

Well put. However, I have noticed that the "rule of thumb" concerning the length of a burner's mixing tube depends on the burner design

Gas assemblies for MIG contact tips 5/16”x 3/16” brass tube can be internally threaded for MIG contact tips; their 3/16” inside diameter can be threaded for the most common thread found in MIG contact tips (1/4-27). The exterior will accept 5/16-18 dies to create external thread for 5-18 rivet nuts for use on mounting plates). However, 5/16” diameter is also only 0.0025” larger diameter than 8 millimeter, allowing it to be externally threaded to match 8M rivet nuts. This heavy wall tubing can also be used to create gas tubes that are screwed directly into ¼” thick aluminum mounting plates, and then locked in position with a flange nut. If you chose a nylon inserted locknut for this, it will stay in the correct position, without need for brazing, soldering, or gluing it on the gas tube, after the correct distance between the gas orifice and mixing tube opening is found, during tuning. Hose barb sizes for 5/16” tube: Barbed hose coupling sizes match the outer diameter of the narrowest portion of the barb; this leaves no room for threads of those same diameter. Therefore, 5/16” barbed couplings can be threaded to match up with 5/16” tube, only through their thickest sections. 3/8” size barbed couplings can be silver brazed, or silver soldered, but will call for 3/8” fuel hose. If the barb is screwed onto the gas tube, the threaded joint must be sealed with thread locker, to prevent gas leaks. Lamp thread parts: For people who cannot afford “doing things the right way,” or aren’t able to find all the parts and tools, for externally threading 5/16” x 3/16” brass tubing, the gas tube can be chucked into a drill motor, and power sanded to a few thousandths on an inch smaller diameter; then, pushed into lamp thread parts (externally threaded tubing with matching washers and nuts) from your hardware store’s lamp section (usually located in the electronics area). Smaller gas tubea can be trapped in place by silver brazing, soldering, gluing, or even wrapped in electrical tape; it is the lamp thread that must move back and forth for proper tuning, while the trapped gas tube moves with it. Lamp thread tubes have external 1/8-27 IPS thread (AKA IP thread), and internal diameters of 0.285” that will accommodate a 6mm or 1/4” O.D. gas tube with external wrapping of electrical tap, or a 5/16” x 3/16” tube (0.3125” O.D.) after some power sanding while it spins in a 3/8” drill motor. Lamp part nuts are not a good choice for silver brazing, to hold their position on lamp tube. However, one nut can be screwed up against the end of the Lamp rod coupling (or rethreaded 1/8" x 1/8" brass pipe coupling), which the lamp tube is screwed into, and maintain the proper distance between the end of the gas orifice, and the opening of the mixing tube. A second nut can then be tightened hard against it, locking both nuts in position on the lamp tube, allowing you to unscrew the gas tube, to remove and clean the gas orifice, and then return it to the same position, afterward. You do not need to perfectly match up the outside diameter of whatever you use for a gas tube with the inside diameter of the threaded lamp tube. Loose fits are just fine so long as you center the gas tube in place, and prevent movement between the lamp part (threaded tube) and the gas tube. Even electrical tape can be used to provide an interference fit between the gas tube and lamp part. Cut mounting plates with closely matching center holes to the outside diameter of 1/8” brass pipe couplings as mountings for the burner’s gas assemblies. A 1/8" x 1/8" brass pipe coupling has female (internal) 1/8-27 NPS (tapered pipe) thread. A 1/8-27 IPS tap creates parallel thread of the same kind that is used on lamp parts; this tap can be easily run through the tapered threads in a brass couple, to create a practical fitting for use with threaded lamp tubes; to be silver brazed, or silver soldered onto a mounting plate. Lamp rod couplings already have the right thread, so you do not need to purchase a tap; otherwise, they can be installed in the same manner as a pipe coupling, once one end is filed or sanded down to the same diameter as the rest of the tube. Lamp thread couplings can be purchased in inexpensive kits, along with all the flat washers and lamp nuts you will need.

IMQUALI Rivet Nut Tool update Well it turns out that the only thing wrong with this tool was its new owner. I had the wrong mandrel in the tool. With the correct mandrel it worked just fine.

Write them up; that's write, dang it...

What, no questions? You're all sure what size and type of forge you want to build? Just a suggestion on where to grab a swell deal on a burner, and (and maybe a small forge to keep your garage cozy while you build your dream forge) you're all ready to rock; really?

Materials needed to make your rivet nut setting tool (revised): (A) A grade 12.9 steel socket head cap screw of the same thread size as the rivet nut, and at least long enough to accommodate every part, and still engage all the threads on the rivet nut. The reason to use a hardened steel cap screw, is that it is much stronger than even a stainless steel cap screw; extra strength is desirable when using small diameter thread as part of a setting tool. (B) A minimum of two brass flat washers, to sit next to the head of the bolt (and provide bearing surfaces). Some people even grease these washers. More washers will simply provide more slip. (C) Two flange nuts; one is screwed up tight against the bolt head; and a second flange nut drilled out to freely slide over the bolt’s thread (it is there to provide a bearing surface between the rivet nut and the bolt head, with its locking surface on the side facing the rivet head (you do not want the rivet nut to turn in the hole, while being partially crushed into shape). (D) A wrench for each of the two the flange nuts. Drill a hole in the mounting plate that is as close to the rivet nut’s outside diameter as feasible. A friction fit would be ideal. The more gap there is between the rivet nut and the hole the harder your job of riveting becomes. The less gap there is between the rivet nut’s body and the hole it gets pushed into the sooner it starts becoming trapped in place, and no longer able to turn under your tool. Screw the first flange nut tightly against the bolt head. Slide two or more flat washers onto the bolt, beside the first flange nut. Slide the drilled out flange nut onto the bolt, with its locking side facing the rivet nut. Screw this assembly unto the rivet nut, just finger tight. Push the rivet nut into the hole in the mounting plate. Put a wrench on each of the flange nuts. Tighten the nut next to the bolt head until the rivet nut is securely fastened onto the mounting plate, using the wrench on the drilled-out flange nut to keep it from turning. You can find several videos of this process on the Net, with minor variations in nut and flat washer choices. You are far better off to employ aluminum rivet nuts with a homemade rivet nut setting tool, because small rivets require equally small bolts. Even though small rivet nuts are easier to compress into shape, the problem grows as the bolt diameter shrinks. The smaller the bolt the more likely it is to break off while being stressed, by use as part of a hand tool. So, malleable aluminum is the obvious choice for small rivet nuts. The same factors are present in commercial rivet nut setting tools, and show up as broken mandrels. Why does this happen? Because properly tempering mandrels calls for good quality control, and that is usually absent with cheap tools. For larger rivet nuts (8mm or 5/16” and up) you should choose steel rivet nuts, because, in the larger sizes, many people complain of stripping the weak aluminum threads, while the larger mandrels on the commercial tools (and larger bolts on home-built tools) are less inclined to break. Note: Grade 12.9 bolts are easier to find than imported rivet nut tools with properly hardened mandrels; they are a lot cheaper too. Flange nuts: You will use two flange nuts as part of your homemade rivet tool. You will also use a flange nut to tighten the gas tube into axially true position on the gas assembly’s mounting plate. Alternatively, two flange nuts can be used to secure the gas tube on a mounting plate without use of a rivet nut, if need be. One flange nut is silver brazed, or silver soldered to the forward-facing side of the mounting plate. The second nut is used, snugged up against the plate, to tightly trap the gas tube in an axially true position.

For most of my life, homemade tools only made sense if something was needed that wasn't offered in the marketplace. American tools that were being invented in the forties, were so durable in fifties. Japanese tool designs improved far faster than quality declined through the sixities and seventies. Later, Chinese tools were so cheap that their flaws could be overlooked for quite a few years. I remember looking through a book on blacksmithing, from an author who built all of his own tools, and laid out how to duplicate them in detail. It was obvious that I could repurpose cheap imports for a fraction of the time and expense, since a worked steel already. But everything changes over time. Today, if you can't buy a quality tool, you are far better off to build your own from scratch, just like in the forties. Everything comes back around again on the merry-go-round of history.

Well, quality tools are way to likely to grow legs on job sites these days. When I left the failing shipyards and started working on the docks, I gave away nearly all my American manufactured tools to buddies who didn't, and replaced them with Harbor Freight specials. Why? the only thing worse than poor tools, are suddenly missing tools in the middle of your shift! It wasn't easy working with "the forty thieves" for fifteen years, but it beat returning to Boing Boing Aircraft Co.

Even tools that were once known for their quality are changing management these days, and one of the first casualties is quality control.

IMQUALI Rivet Nut Tool, 17" Rivet Nut Tool Set with 13 Metric & SAE Mandrels M4 M5 M6 M8 M10 M12, 8-32, 10-24, 1/4-20 * 2, 5/16-18, 3/8-16, 1/2-13, 130pcs Nuts, Durable Blow Molded Case, IMQ-900 ($46 through Amazon.com). This tool had pretty good reviews, so I thought that their mandrels must be hardened. Since I prefer to use stainless steel rivet nuts for all my small burners (to create show-pieces), it looked like a worthwhile tool. Alas the 5/16-18 rivets that came with the tool didn't want to screw down all the way onto the mandrel. So, I sent away for a die from one ad, and a tap from another. The tap came today, and sure enough the rivet nut's threads needed chasing. However, it still didn't screw all the way onto the mandrel, so I must wait for the die to arrive, to see if the problem can be cleared up. Even if that works, it means that all thirteen mandrels will probably require their own tap and die. At an average price of $14 a pair, that would come to an extra $182 to get a $46 tool fully functional!!! Still another reason to build your own tool. Fortunately, I am only care about three rivet nut sizes; even this will nearly double the tool's price