NeatGuy

Today I built a ceramic chip forge and thought that people might like to hear of the results. Now this forge is by no means a forge that I would use for day to day operations as it was assembled, mostly, as a proof of concept. A piece of 8x8x4 hss with a tapered bottom, a 160 cfm blower and a nozzel with a 1/16 in orffice. I filled this with broken ceramic stud welding ferules. The forge heats up quickly although I found it difficult to judge wether the mixture was correct. This turned out to be a bust. The ferules melted into a large glassy lump not unlike clinkers which form in coal forges. Unlike coal forges these clinkers block the fuel/air supply and cause rather unexpected backfires. On to plan two ... new ferrules. For some reason we have an abundate supply of 1/4 ferrule which we have never used. So we refilled the forge with new ferrules and restarted the forge. This was also a bust but it took much longer for the medium to fail. Not to be one to give up so easily I tried rocks ... on the behest of one of my co-workers. These lasted even longer but in the end they also melted. Upon inspection I found that not all of the rocks melted. I believe that the mica melted out of the granite to form the blob. Tomorrow I will try basalt since it is relatively homogenious in nature I feel it may actually hold up to the heat. My initial of this type of forge is: it "feels" sort of like a coal forge but with convienice of gas. Stock is heated very locally and supprisingly quickly. I think that it warrents more investigation. pictures to come brad

I have to repair the die cavity for my 50lb LG and was looking for the angle of the die cavity in relation to the face of the ram guide. Hopefuly that makes sense. brad

I us the mag drill because I have on and it is handy. Yes a mag drill is fairly expensive, but my drill press is junk. I think if the drill press had a low enough speed and a good motor it could turn an annular cutter no problem. I wonder if a post drill would work ? brad

I thought I would share a method I use to make tenons. I use a mag drill and this jig to hold my stock. It will hold round and square stock up to 1 1/4 . Tenon takes about 40 seconds to make. Close up of cutter and stock. And the stock with the tenon. The tenon is not concentric because I failed to make the centre of the stock accurately. brad

I have not used the software that you are asking about but A person that I have worked for uses it. It is a big step up for him but it appears to be simplistic, clunky and awakward to use, it also does not seem very versitile. That said, I have not actually used it. If there is a demo available perhaps it is a solution that would work for you. I use Solidworks which is a very very powerful 3D modeling program and can be applied to just about any problem. Autodesk Inventor is a more cost effective modeling program which is also very powerful. As for Autocad I would sugjest that it has stood the test of time because it is a stable, well supported general purpose vector drawing program and would not discount it. Many of Autodesks very powerful software packages such as Architectual Desktop are based on Autocad. An inspired software developer could write an ironwork suite based on Autocad. brad

The ferrule is a ceramic ring the is put around the base of a stud before it is welded to a plate.http://www.bikudo.com/photo_stock/992883.jpg After the weld is completed the ferrule is broken off hence they are all over the floor. I have tried to melt one with an oxy fuel torch and the stand up to a full on torch flame quite well. flux does not seem to eat them and the are easy to replace. I put them on the floor of the forge but I would imagine they would make good aggergate for refractory cement. brad

I have been using the broken ferrules from stud welding machines. I just crush them up with a hammer and pile them up in the bottom of the forge like sand. They seem to stand up well to flux, they are easily changed, and are free. They are made a high temperature ceramic; they are not easy to melt with an oxy fuel torch. Any structural steel fab shop will have lots. brad

Thanks ... would you happen to know the tonage rating ??? brad

I use Solidworks a solid modeling program. There is a die design addin that comes with Solidworks office,although I have not used it I would assume that it be as versitle and usable as the rest of Solidworks. Solidworks is also FULLY parametric meaning that any part can be defined in multiple configurations driven by and Excel spread sheet. Part dimesions and geometry can also be driven by other parts. Solidworks is very intuative and easy to learn but it is not cheap. brad

The guy who currently owns it uses it to squish beer cans. The machine has too much of a stroke and does not run fast enough to planish effectively. I was thinking of removing the lower table and having a sleeve with a square hole inserted into it kind of like the lower tool holder of a Pullmax nibbler. Not sure how much I would be willing to pay though ... so many tools and so little money forces me to make hard decision. brad

Any ideas what this machine is used for ??? It operates like a punch press, single stroke, but if you hold your foot down it cycle continously. There is a large screw that adjusts the hight of the lower table. The machine is very nicely made. I feel compelled to find a use for it as a blacksmithing tool. brad

Found this cone at the scrap yard. It appears to be heat treated. cone3 - Blacksmith Photo Gallery brad

This is not quite my idea of a power hammer but it is nicely made and an interesting tool. brad

If you live in a rural area it could be a fence post driving hammer head typically used on farms. brad

This is an ideal job for my nibbler since it is so easy to make the dies... but one could also use a hydraulic press or a break press too. brad

Thats ok ... I thought I was going nuts. how did you find this patent to begin with ??? I have been searching the USPTO for some time to find Nazel patents. Search options are limited beyond 1976. brad

Frosty: Beggining at line 50: In the operation of the mechanism, when the downward movement of piston 6 forces air through passage 5 beneath the piston or ram head 18, the air above the ram head escaping through passage 4, the ram 16 rises freely until the stem 11 on the stationary cylinder 9 enters the corrisponding recess 19 in the bottom of the ram. Nazel may have made a hydraulic power hammer, but this patent is for a ram cushioning mechanism in a air hammer. brad

I read the text of patent at the uspto and I believe that the term fluid is used loosely to describe anything that would flow. In the case of the aforementioned power hammer I would suggest air. brad

I belive they use them to set the kerf of the blade and to true or flatten blades. I will post an end view picture of the anvil so that the relief on the edges are more obvious. I also intend to clean the surface rust off and build a stand. It is intersting to note that some of the other anvils had pins on the ends to be mounted in trunions. I believe that they have square edges on one side and beveled edges on the other. brad

I finally picked up one of my sawyers anvils. I also took several pictures of the other anvils and a sawyers hammer. 865lb anvil Sawyers hammer brad If you post you photo to the gallery, then click on that photo to bring it up for viewing, then click on and copy the linked thumbnail, you can just paste that long linked thumbnail into your forum text where you want the thumbnail image to appear. When you click on the image in the forum it will then take you to the gallery and display your photo. The same linked thunbnail URL can be posted on other sites and have the viewer taken to the IForgeIron Gallery to view your photo.