monstermetal

Pretty cool pictures! I would recomend using smaller diameter copper tube for your coil, fewer turns spread farther apart at a higher amperage setting... Also your losing the effect of both the top and bottom coils because your leads back to the machine do not make a full loop. I realize your just testing and playing but a better fitting coil will make a huge diffrence in the efficency of the power transfer too... you could probably heat a larger part faster in that coil than you can the small material...

That thing will not hold up to use as a "forge" Its designed to heat up a single item one time such as a stuck bolt... It will not have the duty cycle to do any actual "work" with it.... I think you would be better off with a propane burner than that thing if the intent is to do blacksmith type work...

I would guess that a lot of the guys who have been active on this site in the last year probably dont even know who I am, I have been on here so infrequently that I am just out of the groups loop... Anyway I was poking around today and thought I would give those of you who do know me an update... Its been 11 months since I lost my son Andrew and my life went sideways. Emotionally I have come a long way but mentally I still have a lot of healing to do. I have slacked off at my shop to the point where I have to do something and have decided to get out of the bit sharpening and most likely downsize to a smaller building, quite possibly my home shop (which means no big hammer or three phase power) The bit thing was not a bad gig but its not enough to live on with the overhead of the big shop and it took up enough of my time that I really couldn’t focus on the things I actually enjoy. It’s a big leap to walk away from a steady cash flow in this economy but ultimately I think my mental health is more important than my financial health. Besides that if I do make the move to my home shop it means cutting overhead by about $3500 a month, it also means I wont be able to do much of the big work that I have done in the past… Fortunately if I do decide to make the major downsize I have a place I can put my larger equipment that I really don’t want to part with, The 4B, big hydraulic press and some of my bigger fab equipment can go to live with my dad until I figure out what life holds. If I sell the equipment that I am using for the bit operation I might choose to stay in the big shop another year to see how it goes (a 25 grand cash infusion will go quite a long way to making that a simpler endeavor) Really I am not tied to anything right now other than I know the industrial bit gig is sucking the enthusiasm out of me and I finder it harder and harder to justify doing it.. I probably should have walked away from it when Andrew died but at this point wudda shudda coulda is meaningless… Ive neglected a lot of my cliental in the last year just because my heart hasn’t been in the shop and I find it very hard to start and stop projects to work them in around the bits so I hope walking away from the bit deal is the right thing… I know it is long term but short term it could be quite painful the flip side is I am ready to deal with it because I am mentally done with it.. I am probably going to sell some stuff regardless of what I do.. I’ll post some stuff later today most likely here… Most of it is not mission critical stuff for me but rather stuff that I have been saving or just not using enough. Anyway I know that’s not a lot of information but it is what it is…

Well my two hammers are Nay-Zels and they will stay that way... They sit next to my swage blocks and cross peen hammers. You can call them anything you want and your still welcome in my shop..

There is no such thing as a table that's too thick, only a wallet that's too thin...

I stand corrected, I always thought Beche was a French manufacture... Not sure where I got that impression :wacko:

Well really it is a french hammer... It was patterned after the Beche, thats what the B stands for.... So I am all for sticking with the french NayZel

Not to hijack the thread..... Ok thats excatly what I mean to do. :P .. How do you like your comonsense hammer? I sold one to a guy a while back and it seems that without pitman adjustment it would be hard to use tooling with?

Looks like a reasonably nice hammer... has the big anvil which is odd for a older machine (it also looks like it has a newer short guide ring on it... I would expect a blacksmith to pay $6500 or there abouts for a machine like this... Maybe some company who has one failing who needs it for some operation would pay this kind of money.... But my bet is that in a year or two it will be on eBay and sell for 25% of there asking price...

Yep agreed, I have a couple big vises, they are cool to look at but no fun at all to use...

It is a good looking vise.... I bet it brings $800-$900?

the 25KW is available in both 220V and 380V ( Mine is a 380V and it runs fine at 440 but it wont run on 480V you would have to use a transformer) Capacity is a big subject and its hard to define. I heat 3" round excavator breaker points in mine but I would say that is a ways out of optimum... It takes a bit to get them good and hot, it has a much easier time with a 2.5"... How close the coil fits and how well its made play a big part

Thats cool John... The market needs a 200lb utility hammer...

Those shoes are pretty hard to come by and if they know what they have they will probably want good money for it... They bring $150-$400 on ebay depending on size and condition.... Ive been looking for a cheap one for 5 years with no luck yet

Wow.. Thats really all I have to say... And I have a few vises to put on eBay

That bike was built by a friend of mine Joe Magliato or "Big Iron Joe" has he is known his website is http://http://bigironart.com and email is bigironjoe@aol.com Shoot him a email and ask him about it... (Ive seen the bike in person, really is pretty cool)

Tom is still around but you cant buy one of his machines new currently What I was told is he has a govenment contract via his company RECIPRODYNE and is not building any hammers to be sold...

Well what a cute little guy... hope it ends up in the museum :-)

Id say that was a great score, looks like a perfect blacksmiths tumbler

I did... But my guess is it would be seen as marketing which is prohibited.... I would venture that post was removed if you cant find it...

Not yet, we still have some time to spend getting it buttoned up... there will be more pictures to come though...

We had some pro photos done and I think they look really good... Lots of fun was had for sure... Moved lots of big metal... http://www.monicafrisell.com/blog/2012/2/28/some-stills-from-the-first-hammer-in-with-the-guild-of-conte.html

220v single phase will get you enough power for the 15KW unit which will do most common blacksmithing operations I assume if you plan to build from scratch you can tailor that to suit.... Iron Quake I will now be handling the sale of the Induction Forges with Grants passing PM me If I can answer any questions for you

Grant sent all of the machines out tweeked for use as a forge, It took some time to get the manufacture to make adjustments and Grant to solve some of the issues with using the machines as they came. Grants methods are what resulted in the success of the machines he offered and the reason why he has such a good track record. I was lucky enough to be in on the machine set up and that information is more or less a trade secret.... Grant has over 300 machines in operation and the results speak of his methods...

I don't have a full set of details yet but I plan on being the support for all existing machines