edennis

I'm looking for info on this lathe: It's advertised as a "Rockwell hand turret lathe". I'm wondering if these are considered decent machines and what a price point might be for a used one? Thanks for any leads on information. -Eric one more picture:

Any possibility these are going to be republished? I'm guessing no, but figured I'd throw it out there.

I fellow is selling a 25 LG for $2500. He says it's in working condition but needs a little TLC. Here is what he says about it: "In terms of what it need right away: A better clutch spring, the current spring is worn out and when you take your foot off the treadle the hammer keeps running a bit. The long term things it could use is a new pitman arm conversion, and to have the pulley sent to little giant for a rebuild service, it is not really necessary, but it would run a little smoother if that was done. I don't have any other dies, but these are in really good condition. New dies and many replacement parts are available for these hammers from little giant. the sowblock dovetail has had some repairs done that appear to be holding up fine, I am told they were finished 2.5 years ago, and that new Babbitt bearings were also poured at that time. Overall the hammer has good potential, and is currently running, just a little quirky." Trying to decide if I should jump on it. I don't know a ton about what some of these fixes might involve/cost. Thoughts? Thank!

Yeah, I know- but good for other stuff

Does anyone have advice on if $300 is a fair price for a "Famco 4" arbor press as seen here? Thanks advance!

Thanks for the reply. I believe a different blower model has the mechanical speed control, while mine is strictly electronic. If you scroll down on the specs page for the blower is shows different models having different types of speed control. I'm pretty sure the sig-gen is compatible since someone over on the bladesmithforum has used these exact pieces together- but you never know. It feels like the wiring is incorrect to me, but I can't think of any other configuration to put them in. I'm scared to try hooking the blue/red wires to the AC input as I don't want to fry the blower (hoping I already havn't!). Maybe the sig-gen is busted... but I'm out of ideas at this point.

It's running on it's own 120V AC line- but it has a DC control panel that accepts 0-10vdc for speed control. This is the input that is acting up.

Well, with the blue (low supposedly) connected to "OV" and red (high supposedly) connected to "0-10V" the blower actually does slow down from 10V down to about just under 7V. After that it just turns off... bad blower electronics? bad signal generator? I'm baffled.

woops, the previous post is supposed to read" I tried hooking up the blower and I'm having trouble. I'm wondering if the blower's electronics are shot. The only way I can get the blower to run is in the first configuration. However, it only runs at full blast and the sig-gen dial does nothing until I turn it way down and then the blower cuts out and wont go on again until the power plug is turned on and off again. With the blue wire on "OV" and the red on "0-10v" the motor just starts to run and then cuts out.

I would rather figure it out on my own- but in this case I really know very little about this stuff and a push in the right direction can be really helpful for me to even know where to start looking.first configuration. However, it only runs at full blast and the sig-gen dial does nothing until I turn it way down and then the blower cuts out and wont go on again until the power plug is turned on and off again. With the blue wire on "OV" andthered on "0-10v" the motor just starts to run and then cuts out. Something doesn't seem right. Thoughts?

I've also found that I know the clay is good when it hurts to work. I like the term bellows thrall, hah. I have read the rockbridge bloomery stuff- Lee is the person who taught me this stuff.

Oh, very cool! Awesome that you were able to get it to work with hand dug clay. That's a future step for me. Right now I'm using clay of a known composition.

oh, very cool. I didn't know Pennsic has bloomery smelts. What do you mean by "small one"? The blower was smaller in size then I expected when I received it. However, I believe the specs are up to par for a bloomery smelt. We'll see soon I guess.

bloomery

SLowly answering all my own questions. Just found an old laptop charger and stripped the wires to give power to the generator: worked like c charm. Found out from the company which wires are what based on color. Now I just to give the blower power.

Yes, I figured out immediately after asking that i do indeed need to hook up the AC-input for the blower separate from the generator. limonite

Hello, I just purchased a used windjammer blower and an electronic signal generator to use for smelting, but I need help- I know very little about wiring electronics. Link removed I understand the signal generator needs it own power supply, but I'm confused about what is needs to work and how to hook up that power supply to the device. Would something like this work? Likewise, I don't know which of the blower wires should connect to what on the signal generator. Will the blower get all of its power through the signal generator? Here is the diagram for the blower. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So I just received the original (broken) hydraulic in the mail from the guy I bought the bandsaw from. He said it came with the machine not functioning and he just took it off and used the saw manually. i don't know enough about hydraulics to immediately know what is wrong. There is a single needle valve in the line. The piston easily moved up and down no matter if the needle valve was closed or open. I opened up one port in the cylinder to see how much fluid was inside and some, maybe a couple teaspoons of fluid came out. A small amount of fluid could be seen at the base of the piston as it was raised. I assume one of the following problems is the issue: -The cylinder is leaking and no longer had enough fluid to create pressure. -There is some sort of interior gasket that is allowing fluid between the two chambers (i don't know enough about the inside to know if this is likely) -The needle valve is broken and letting fluid pass easily without resistance. I have all the dimensions of the cylinder in case anyone is interested. Also, how much fluid is SUPPOSED to be inside the cylinder? And how does one go about refilling? Does it need to be forced in or can the fluid enter passively with a funnel? Thanks! Eric

Hmmm, i like it! So many ideas.

Cool, that's superhelpful. I think it's becoming more clear in my mind how this works. Thanks you

Ah! That makes sense. Cool. Well, I should receive the old cylinder soon and if I can't fix that one I at least will have the dimensions for buying a new one. What sort of needle valve is needed to work with the hydraulic (against, forgive my ignorance when it comes to this kind of stuff)? Can you buy ones that both have a micro-adjustment and an on/off lever?

Jeremy, I don't quite follow- where would the sliding weight be on the machine. Is it assuming a working cylinder already in place? Also, the guy I bought it from is going to send me the old cylinder that doesn't work. Maybe I can figure out what's wrong with it?

Thanks for the comments and advice. And thanks for searching the internet for me! swedefiddle- can you go into more detail about how to make one? Where would one get the piston? I don't know all the lingo, but am always up for learning by trying it myself. It would be appreciated. I also found this site which seems to have parts specifically by brand: https://www.surpluscenter.com/Brands/Grizzly/ Thanks, Eric

I just bought a used grizzly G9742 horizontal bandsaw. This one: http://www.grizzly.com/products/G9742/parts The problem is, it no longer has the hydraulic cylinder that allows the saw to automatically lower. Buying a new one from Grizzly apparently is almost $200.00!!! Does anyone know of a place to buy cheaper parts that will fit this machine? It would be MUCH appreciated. Best, Eric

Hmmm, food for thought. Thanks for the reply. Eric