arftist

Twentyxthirty is a good size for a one man shop. Electic cable can be buried under ground. Should be much cheaper than building a new even small building. Wood floor is good for part of shop. Easy on legs and feet. Cement board layed on top of wood in forge area will protect floor and last for a while. If you do choose to install a concrete slab, there are many options for waterproofing, many mentioned already. Google hydroid concrete additive before you make any decisions. My first post vice was mounted to an eight foot long pipe, 5' in the ground, 3' above. I set the pipe in about a yard of 'crete, welded a step for the post vice to set on, and a bracket for a large machinist vice next to and lower than the post vice. While I was messing with the concrete, I also filled the pipe to the top, for extra rigidity. Works well, and if I ever want to move it, I will cut it off at ground level and weld the whole unit to a mounting plate.

Jayco, try this, grab onto the selecter nob with your hand, pull it toward you, hard, then swicth positions. I had one and this procedure worked.

11echo, If you aneal that sucker rod, you will probably find that it machines very well, with just hss tool bits. One way to aneal is to place your stock in your forge when you are done for the day. get it hot then shut the forge off and retreive the stock the next morning. No wasted gas or effort this way. I also sometimes aneal the same way in a woodstove.

Get two ECO fittings. Use good primer on the pipe and fittings, and glue tgether. replace the plastic plugs with metal plugs for added strenght.

Acanthus leaves are very difficult to make by hand, because of compound curves. Enrique has a documentary on his website, Art Metal.Com, wich does a great job iluminating this difficult task

Bill, I still have not located the schematic for your hammer (not had time yet) but what jumps out at me from the catalog is that these valves are available with a pilot pressure differential. The model # doesn't tell whether your's has this or not, it seems to be "need to know", in other words, to have ordered the correct valve, you need to know this. Since pressure differentials are often ajustable, and your last valve required ajustment, my best guess so far is that the technician adjusted the pressure diferential. I will look into this more later. Since it seems that technician is no longer available, you may need to contact the manufacturer or rep for info.

Bill, Downloaded Air Mites catalog, sorry, I can't identify your valve from the info you've given. I can see two possible problems, but don't know what to tell you w/out model #.

Dave Gingery designed a centrifical blower simple enough to be built with hand tools, even out of wood. It should be easy to scale down. Plans were available from Linsay.

When you say decent size, what do you mean ? my 35 kg mechanical hammer runs very,very well on 2hp.

Bill, I am sure it can be figured out, with some more information. Valve manufacturor, model #, schematic of air plumbing, assume it is a shop made hammer, is it possible you transposed any two hoses in reconecting the valve? Are you sure it is the exact same valve, or a closely related,simular looking valve? could the problem be in your footpetal?

These day there are ac versions of most rods ( 7018, 308-16,etc) and 6011 runs great on ac and is a good all purpose easy to use rod, But If possible, with the dc machine, a tig torch can be hooked up for scratch start tig. Good for most tig exept Al. Look for a torch with a gas valve in the handle. The extra money for the dc machine will be paid back in cheaper rod cost.

I use co2 in owner tanks that I get from junkyards or the dump. Cheaper than leasing a tank, I keep three on hand, for mig. For tig I mostly use argon, but helium provides more heat for welding Al.

Newbiesmith, sorry I didn't see this earlier. I have had several of these welders and they do have fans. I highly recommend that you repair the fan, copper core or not it will burn out.

Bravo the shop built pulley. Very creative.

I read somewhere that there are 300 fulltimers. Don't remember where.

I use a 3/8 black iron tee, with two valves on my johnson #122 gas forge. The 122 requires 1gal/hr for the first 1/2 hr to warm up and then 1/2 gal/hr for forging.(info from Johnson) Having these two valves allows me to change an empty tank while the forge is running.

Thanks Thomas for the info on "mild steel". I had to check with my suppliers on this, and sure enough they did not know, nor could they determine the carbon content of A-36. That is a little scary if you think about it too much. In spite of this new to me information, here is how I often use a hardy cutter: Forging multiples of same piece, as many irons in the fire as needed, after last heat, cut part way through, quench, bust finished piece off, bar goes back in forge, repeat.

This is the make or break question of business. I gave a price to a lady, that was actualy low, because I wanted the job for my portfolio (beatiful antigue house w/granite steps. Her response was that the last price she had gotten was $20/ ft and $12 per post. I could not even core one hole in the granite for the other guys price. I charge at least $100/ft plus materials for a cut and weld rail. Forge work, machine work, etc. add to the price. Expensive materials such as bronze or stainless also raise the per foot part of the price, because they require more time or care or both. Elaborate hand forged s.s. or bronze railings go from hundreds into the thousands/ft. Even at high prices you can lose money. One job I did years ago, 5'@$500', would have had to be $1200/ft if billed by the hour. Looks great in the portfolio though. One technique that helps is, I give a price for the rail, and charge hourly for installation. This gives me a little leeway if I mess up the price.

I now insert a clause at the bottom of proposals, This price expires in x number of days due to the ever increasing cost of steel. Been averaging 5% a month for the last year. I still ocasionaly give a price off the top of my head that I end up eating. The price of steel was about the same for most of my career, and simple railings I price by the foot. Including other increased costs, that fixed price should be at least twice what it used to be.

Another way to do this job in a hossfeld is by bump bending, that is make a slight bend, move piece, bend again, etc. I often bend stock this way if it is too big for my roller. A blacksmiths tire bender would be perfect for this also. A handy hardy tool is a piece of plate about 6" long, with a piece of round bar welded to each end, paralell to each other. Ptu your metal on top, hot or cold, and hammer in between, for curving.

I keep a metal "ash can" with a lid, 2/3 full of ash, for anealing or for cooling cast iron after welding it.

Yes Glenn I do realize this. A few points though, if you don't mind. After being being hammered most of the way through on a hardy cutter, with a hammer, the steel is no where near critical temp, and does not get that hard. Second point, at .2% carbon, mild steel doesn't get very hard anyway. Third point, Most of the stock that comes out of the forge goes back in again anyway, where it is normalized or anealed depending on what happens to it next. Forth, if I am drilling a piece of steel and it doesn't go right, I usualy know pretty fast. Fifth, I do most of my cutting by other means. I do keep track of spring, tool or other hard steel and aneal them before machining anyway. Finaly, try it sometime, it is much faster and easier.

Sorry about being so cryptic. With the internet, the world has become a small place. I need a pacemaker, but if I get it, I can never do electric welding again. Either way my life will be over. If my customers knew, I don't think I'd be getting deposit checks anymore. I have been trying to switch to just art since I found out, but to be efficent, jigs need to be welded, tools built,etc. I know there are a lot of possible solutions, and I have been searching,researching etc. Thank you for your reply.

Hello all. full time smith, millwright, welder,machinist, 30 years, served aprenticeships here and there, was there for a long time. Trained under a well known artist-blacksmith who was a student of Fransis W. Here to learn and share. Anon for good personal reasons, maybe someday,take it or leave it. Will submit pictures if requested. "there is a concept that is a bar to all knowlegde, that concept is a closed mind." Arf p.s. I love this site, addicting is an understatement, thankyou whoever is responsible. Frosty, did you get your shop built yet? Too bad about E and the list.

Actualy, a factory hossfeld #2 bender comes with two main bending pins; 1" dia. main body, stepped down at each end for a length of 1", in the following diameters, 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" and 7/8". When I built my hossfeld, wich is an exact copy, I also made an extra main pin, wich is 1" dia. and about 4" longer than the stock pin with no steps. This is the one I use the most. As a side note, I bend my hinges over the edge of the anvil, like a tight scroll, when it gets to a certain point, put a hard pin in there and finnish it using a special bottom swage and top tool. Someday, I will make the tooling to bend 1/4x 2 hinge eye in my hossfeld.