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I Forge Iron

territorialmillworks

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Posts posted by territorialmillworks

  1. Years ago, I was welding for a mine/quarry operation when the lead got a serious flash burn when tightening the lugs on a 3 phase contactor.  So the plant manager sent over a roust-about to help me out.  Now we always  yelled "watch-it"  whenever we struck an arc.  Yes, you can see where this is going.  After a few minutes I realized the guy's eyes were red and watering.  The take away...make sure the other guy knows what you mean by watch it and don't mess with 3 phase even if it cost $1800 to spool-up the mills again. Keep in mind that this was the same operation where they dropped dynamite off the powder truck and a Terex loader ran over the dynamite blowing out a brand new tire.  The solution was to place dynamite inside the tire and blow it outwards and claim the tire was defective. Oh and did I mention watching a loader go over the edge of the pit because the driver didn't set the brake?  Then there was the time they blew-up a silo 'by accident'. It took me weeks to weld that sucker up.

     

  2. While not complete, I've got my press operational.  It presses up which requires me to lift the work as it closes which seems awkward.  I'm thinking that it would be more comfortable  to rest the work on the lower die while the press closes downward.  To reverse the press would require some fabrication and 2 new hoses.  Any thoughts,suggestions are appreciated.

  3.  I'm not a knife guy but I caught a knife making competition on cable.   The first part involved 5 smiths making knives of a given length within a short period of time.One of the knives broke and another didn't have the prescribed number of serrations per inch.  The two winners advanced to the Katana stage where they roughed out swords as prescribed and then returned to their own shops to finish their swords for presentation and judging the next day. My 'viewer' rating was a 2.  With poor production values, it felt like a ripoff and i just don't see knife making as a competitive sport.

    Actually there were only 4 smithing not 5, and they went home for 5 days to make their sword not just one. and there is also has been an existing thread on this already, I will merge it.

  4. Sometimes you screw up and just have to share your stupidity with others.  I've been building a hydraulic press and today I finished fabricating the hydraulic tank.  Being the forward thinking type, I filled it with water to make sure that it didn't leak...several hours later and and I'm good.  Drained and dried, I filled it with hydraulic fluid only to discover several leaks. The viscosity of the hydraulic fluid is higher than water..... the molecular weight of the oil is greater than water. So what gives....cause inquiring minds want to know........Keith

     

  5. I've collected over 11 pounds of brass valves and shuttles from work with the intent of casting brass hammers. Nothing complicated, just cylinder in shape..probable turned on the lathe and then machine the eye.  I'm not really interested in going to the effort of using green sand and clay....  So the question is this:  Can I melt the brass and pour it into a  piece of pipe as a mold.  Having shown my total ignorance, let me know if I can pull this off...THX, Keith

     

    MODS...move as appropriate

  6. I've spent several hours of unproductive time concerning pros/cons of suction strainers, suction filters and return filters. Seems that knowledgeable people in this field have firmly held differences of opinions.  So what works in the real world of shop built forging presses used by blacksmiths.  Thanks for all advise...Keith 

  7. I've built a hyd press with a 4 X 16 cylinder and an 11 GPM 2-stage pump but I'm stalled looking for a 5 HP motor that won't require a bank loan.  I've got a 2 hp 3750 rpm motor and was wondering what the performance would be like until I come up with a bigger motor...  Thanks for any advice.  Kerith

  8. About to finish an 11 gallon hydraulic tank but want to confirm where to locate the suction and return lines and how to construct the internal baffles to avoid aeration.  The tank measures 24" long by 16 wide by 12" high.  Thanks in advance for the advice.  

    PS  Got lucky in that I leak tested the tank (with water) first....pin holes suck....LOL

  9. I use bolt-on dies for my new style Kinyon hammer and socket head cap bolts with grade 8 lock washers. It's been explained that these bolts will stretch more than grade 8s...Today I learned that these bolts use a "special high collar lock washer".  The best way to describe them as being vertical rather than flat.  Clearly these washer have more tension.  I'm thinking that this might help in other applications....

  10. The forge is bolted to the table.  The left side has an 8" piece of 1 1/2" square tubing welded to each leg.  Setting in each "pocket" is a piece of 1 1/4" tubing  which is welded to the frame of the roof.  An 1 1/4" piece of tubing is welded between these 2 pieces setting in the pockets.  A small bottle jack under this cross member  allows the roof to telescope enough to rearrange the bricks.  The genesis of this idea goes to Frosty from a post several years ago.

     

    You're right Thomas,....never could get that righty tighty thing clear in my arthritic brain.    What I should have said was that I originally placed the gas metering  tube between the blower and the butterfly valve.  The partially closed valve restricted air flow to the point where the air/gas mix backed up and escaped from the blower intake dampener.  Relocating the metering tube midway between the valve and the plenum eliminated the problem.

     

    Properly tuned ribbon burners provide a complete fuel combustion and eliminate any visible dragon breath.  

  11. This forge started out as a  N/A 3 burner 5"H X 11"W x 16"L" brick pile forge.   It worked well in that I could reconfigure the soft fire bricks for larger work like scrolls and bowls. I tried several different styles of burners but they ran rich trying to get the BTUs I needed.  This led to building another ribbon burner.

     

    The burner face is 5" X 8" with (20) 5/16" metering tubes made from steel brake lines and brazed into the baffle plate to insure no leakage.  

     

    The air flow is controlled by a butterfly valve which gives a more linear adjustment than a ball valve which gives a proportional adjustment. This makes tuning more accurate and a lot easier.

     

    The mixing tube for injecting the propane into the air supply was made from a brass nipple that was plugged and drilled  with (3) 1/16 inch holes.  The fitting was marked so that it could be oriented to face upstream when screwed into the 2 inch air supply pipe.

     

    It was at this point that I screwed up.  I had inserted the mixing tube down stream of the butterfly valve. The back pressure from the valve caused the gas to collect and exit from the intake baffle on the blower.  Simply put, the gas has to be injected  upstream of the valve yet still far enough away as to get a good mix before entering the burner plenum.  Glad I didn't have to learn that lesson the hard way.

     

    This burner will run on 1 to 2# PSI.  But I found that setting the regulator at 5# allows for more precise control using the needle valve.  The regulator, needle valve and butterfly valves have reference marks which helps when first lighting a cold forge. The forge takes about 5 minutes to warm up before fine tuning the gas/air mix.  

     

    Results:  20 perfectly neutral burner flames with absolutely no dragon's breath.  Forge welding without flux, quiet operation and a lot less gas.  The large flame front really helps when working on large pieces. 

     

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  12. My compressor uses a 7 hp, 3450 rpm, 240V single phase motor. It is intermittent use in that it doesn't run continuously for long periods of time.  I understand in principle that imbalance  of voltage causes higher amperage which causes higher heat.  So I've started checking the voltage to the shop while I source another motor.  FYI..The lines to the panel box are 10 feet long and the wire is oversized as well.  I don't have a lot of experience here.  What more can I do to protect these motors?   

  13. I've not been completely happy with the control on my hammer.   So I decided make some upgrades.  I started by replacing the small pilot valve with a large roller spring return spool valve with 1/4" ports,  a CV rating of 1.0 and 3/8" lines.  (Norgren #03 0602 22). Then I replaced all the 1/2" lines with 3/4", removed the check valve on the main control valve. and replaced the exhaust hose with 1".  Huge difference.  It hits harder, lots more open space between dies and I can get controlled single hits.  I'm guessing that the roller valve contributed  to the improved control and the I" exhaust hose allowed the removal of the check valve.  Now I've got to get busy making stuff !!  :rolleyes:

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