thingmaker3

Some decades ago, hoodlums near a friend of mine were unable to dent the concrete surrounding a newly replaced box. They consoled themselves by trying to blow it up instead. Lots of carbon scoring inside the box, but no real damage. Waste of good fireworks, if you ask me...

Thank you, Matt! That paper makes a LOT more sense than the hype I was trying to dig through!

Did some digging with Google. Gary Cola runs a CNC plate cutting business in Michigan. He's getting a great deal of press in the online tech news-sites. The media are making ridiculous claims. (What do you expect? They're the media, after all.) Gary Cola's personal claims are here: http://chapters.sme.org/069/technov07.pdf Feels a lot more like a sales-pitch than a break-through, but I'll reserve judgement until we here more from Dr. Suresh Babu and his team.

Article sez: "This flash-processed steel has ultimate tensile strength of 1694 MPa, which is at least 7% higher than published results on martensitic advanced high strength steel." I'm calling BS here. (Or maybe there's a typo in the article.) UT of 1694 MPa is just not very strong! There are many many steels which are stronger. This is really disappointing. I would think the ASM would fact-check (or edit, whichever is appropriate) more carefully.

This looks like a good time to remind folk to do internet searches on "fehu" versus "thaler." B)

I've always admired the designs that swing up & away when whacked. Gravity resets them. Probably more fun for the delinquents, too.

For a building, it might be best to first speak with the folk at the farm. You KNOW how Multnomah County & City of Portland are about permits. Better if the farm handles this part. Remember the Tryon Life Community Farm? MUCH more clout with City Hall re: alternative building techniques than can be had by an individual. I suspect the folk at Zenger might be able to have similar pull. Note also - Portland is more open than most places to cob structures for other-than-residential use. Dirt is dirt cheap.

More musing... the "clamping force" due to gravity will be six times as great for a 300# anvil as for a 50# anvil.

You left out the bit about precision machining test pieces to identical size prior to heating...

Ideally you should find out what kind of steel you have and treat it accordingly. If that is not an option, then you can experiment with what you have. See the article by Dave Smucker beginning on page 12: http://www.abana.org/resources/affiliateshare.old/files/ALEX_BEALER_BLACKSMITH_ASSOC/abealer_newsletter_Feb_06%20%28v%2011%29.pdf

If it is a poor method, then no. As previously noted, any mechanical energy moving the anvil or base around is wasted energy.

Sounds like a good candidate for repousse.

It's on the wrong side of Multnomah County for me, but you could talk me into one or two days a month...

How does one say "WOW!!" in Russian?

Okay, just for academics, giggles, and squirts... Steel does not compress prior to getting longer. The volume of a piece of steel stays constant. You can stretch it and simultaneously make it thinner. You can squish it and simultaneously make it fatter. But you can't move the atoms any closer together by physical force. Steel will indeed change shape permanently if enough stress is applied. Stress required to cause permanent deformation is inversely proportional to temperature. For most steels, there is a temperature point called the "transformation temperature" where the graph takes a sharp bend - the steel gets a lot easier to work all of a sudden. If you can find a copy (through inter-library loan or otherwise) of Metals Handbook 8th edition, volume 4 or volume 5 or Metals Handbook 9th edition, volume 14, do so. These will show you exactly how industry has used presses, open die hammers, or closed die hammers.

Challenge accepted. :D

Option One: First, hire a really good engineer or two and get a really good design. Then job out said design to an established fab shop. There are several seasoned professionals on this very website who might give you bids if you can supply dimensioned drawings. Option Two: Spend several years learning how to design and forge reliable parts. Then revisit this idea of yours.

I'm envious of your bandsaw! It certainly is light-years ahead of mine. I can hot-cut 3 pieces in the time it takes my saw to do 2. Is the bending done cold as well?

Can I hire you as a negotiator?

Or a properly designed hot cut, which is faster. The drop-in stop of yours is an excellent idea! Thanks for passing it on!

Got me a local source for spikes now. $1/lb in bulk FOB Portland. I'll be making photocopies of my receipts, just in case.

Anybody know where I can get some scrap from a Hyundai backhoe? It seems to be some pretty good tough steel.

:lol: You can make an extra fancy one by including a hod ornament.

Yes indeed. Sears marketed the Atlas for a good many years. I got my 10-F for $600. It was in quite poor shape. Took me a couple weekends to get it into usable condition. Came with no tooling whatsoever. I can't imagine charging less than $1000 for that excellent package of your father's, Riosom.

Those last three projects where the cracking is a problem... What's the material being worked on?