steamingspud

Hallo folks! I'm curious what ideas are out there. I want to make Christmas gifts for the important people this year, and I have SOME ideas, but not all great ones. I was wondering what else you fellas do or even ideas for trinkets and gifts. i'm makin little pen knives for my rook-buddies, roses for the people I haven't already given roses, a tripod and cooking set for my friend doin a colonial reenactment group, and the big one is a grandfather-clock gun case for my paps. Hehe, and another discussion, what's a good smithed-gift for a lady friend? I figure this'll be a fun topic, Happy holidays, and merry Christmas! -P

Hiyah folks! Just got this brand-spanking (several decades old) bandsaw with all the nifty features: hydraulic lowering and oil cooled. Has a few problems with holding at its highest point, and the oil pump is crap, but this'll make life so much more exciting! Rah

If the experiment is successful... well I guess it's just to see if it works. I'm thinking in terms of statics, so bridge parts and crane beams. We have a bridge building team that does competitions that involve building the strongest bridge with the least amount of materials, built in the fastest time. If we could manufacture parts for the joints that were smaller than ones made from mill steel, every ounce counts.

Howdy again, We've been working with grain direction in materials science this week, the same used on turbine blades and aircraft parts to get the max strength. A few of us wanted to try testing what this process does and doesn't do for steel, and whether it can actually be done on a forge. Thing is, we've only gone into the chemical concepts on atomic bonding and grain patterns, so we're not subject matter experts... My question for you guys: Has anyone ever tried doing a heat treating to produce a 'parallel' grain structure? I realize it's one of those less-than-microscopic things that's only a tiny bit beneficial, but it'd be interesting to try. The experiment would use 3/8 inch bar stock about 6 inches long a piece, probably something like 1037 or what we have in the shop. We'd try several kinds of treatments on the forge, then test the shear and bending strength of each piece. This would include a control test. Problem is, I have no idea how to treat the steel correctly to get a single grain direction. The idea is to cool it from one side of the bar to the other, but it sounded like it needs to be slower than quenching. Maybe some of you have seen the process and can explain it? We'll probably try a few tests on an annealed piece, an piece annealed then quenched, and a piece quenched only, just for comparison. Any suggestions welcome, it's not academic either so don't worry bout that. I'll post results if I get any, haha Cheers. C/Purdy

Hahahaha....aha...ah.... ah man. So my paps insisted we let this brick thing dry for a few months, just to see what would happen. We ripped it apart today, and it was still gooey on the inside. A little softer, I could have put it back in the container and brought it back to the store. But the forge is working great

Mornin! I tried to make a touchmark out of a bolt head the other day, and it went... badly. I scraped out what I wanted with files, and tempered the face at an orange heat, thinking it would need it. The end result... well it ain't pretty. Who's made one? What did you use to carve it out? How do you get a sharp edge on the impression?

Hey all again, So I've been asking around, and noones heard of nanotubes. Not my paps as a welder, not my engineering professors or buddies, not machinists, just one fella. He insists that good tempered steel will have smaller carbon nanotubes or something. Well it doesn't seem like common knowledge, especially if the main resource for info on it is a wikipedia article. So, what the heck is it? I know they X-ray welds for certifications before they bearing test them and cut em. Are they looking for this mythical carbon nanotube? I figure if it's not a chapter in my 'strengths and materials' book for next semester, it can't be all that important... Just a friendly question Matt Essayons

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We picked up a "Mr. Heater" high pressure regulator and hose today. They work EXCELLENT and I didn't need any bushings; the assembly was 1/4" and it matched right up. Can't go wrong for 30 bucks... well, I could be incinerated, but at least I saved some money. I wish, but I lack faith. After 10 years, it's almost tradition...

Hallo again, This is my forge, as complete as I can get it with what I have. Obviously no burning pics yet, sorry. There's easily more than 100 hours into just the fabrication of this forge, and a lot more money than I had a budget for. Maybe it'll pay off.... hah. I have a regulator, but it's not adjustable, and it's rated at "1PSIG." It was a cheap alternative to a 30 dollar hose, but I'm not confident this is going to work. I realize I will have better results if I get a better hose with a better regulator, but will this work? I have a few things left; finding a place that sells firebrick, buying firebrick, painting the ITC-100 on the inside, mounting a propane bottle, and I'm welding shelves onto the front and back once I know what size brick I have. Those are Mike Porter's burners, an idling system, a terribly engineered forge cart (guilty as charged), plus the regulator.

Haha, caught me on Porter's book! It was good material, but he didn't leave room for innovation... a drawing with dimensions would have been much easier. I noticed our equipment doesn't use those couplers either, so I've heard they're out of style. Thanks, I should be firing it up either this week or the next, so I'll take you up on that tuning!

I found an excellent post on foggs forum A lot of good detailed pictures and I'm glad. I don't think I need half the things in the McDonald design, and what's cool is someone use three-phase. They used a variable frequency drive instead of the generator I'm trying to make. knots, I did join the forum and I've siphoned through the thread on the rotary converters. I've got some EE friends that will love to sink their teeth into this project. It's complicated, but not too bad. There's starting, running, and balance capacitors, all of which sized we've had kicking around. Bottles, which did you use, a slip joint or shear pin? And how often does it jam? I figure a dead man switch would be better for safety, but a shear pin seems pointless unless I can calculate the margins of the forces exerted. I think my gear box has its own precautions, but the way its built I'm under the impression that the posts it would be bolted on would rip out before the gears slipped.

Haha, so it is not dry after something like... two weeks now? I have no regrets, but the worst part is that the manufacturer did not have those heat ratings. When or if it dries within the next month... or year... I'll test it out and let you guys know how it burns. Probably not well... You win some, you lose some.

Knots, that did help, I confused some of the nomenclature on the rotary phase converter, so the redirection led me straight. Making a capacitor start doesn't seem too hard, I've done a few similar jobs on a belt grinder and a drill press. Otherwise I've seen a pretty cool rack and pinion pedal start that slides off once it starts. Either way. steve, I sifted through em before, and not to much avail. Using hydraulics would be cool, but that's next semester, haha.

Hello again, I'm almost finished with a two-burner forge, and I'm gonna check through some stuff before I fire it up next week. I've included pictures of the MIG tips I used on the burners I made. These were scrap from our old welding "never-use-again" pile, but they should suffice. The rear part of these is a threaded sleeve that was part of where the gasses mixed on what this came off of. While the assembly is gone, that last piece has a tapered hole in it the same size as the front nozzle. Saying it simple, the propane will end up going through one 0.035 hole, expands, then goes through another hole the same size. I'm not sure what this will do as an accelerator, but do you think this will make or break the burners? I figured I'd try it first, and if it doesn't work I'll drill out that part for a larger hole. Another kinda junky part of my burners, I used stainless steel threaded sleeves and ripped out the threads on the nozzle end. There's a slight taper, but it ain't pretty. Will having a not-so-perfect nozzle be drastic to forge performance? Thanks for the input guys. It's a totally different ballgame than a coal forge, I'll say that... Matt P. Essayons

Hiyah folks, I'm planning a rolling mill, in the style of those plans you'll see by that fella in Australia, Hugh McDonald. I have a little different setup though. I've got my hands on two 3-phase motors, one built into a gearbox. The plan is to use the other motor as a three-phase generator, somehow from the single phase, to run the mill. I have wired 3-phase projects in lab, but I'm in the dark on how to build a3-phase generator out of a motor. Have any of you seen or done this? Haha, either way I realize I'm on a smithing forum, so I'll move on to other questions. Have any of you built the McDonald mill? I've been looking for details about the foot-pedal and lever he uses, and I'm not keen on paying for plans unless I'm absolutely sure I'll use them (forgive me if I sound cheap, it's a school budget). If you have the plans, are they engineering drawings or a "how-to" book? I'm simply asking what the quality of the plans are, I guess. Thanks a lot fellas, I figure if anyone will know answers it'll be someone on here. Matt P. Essayons

I've been workin on a two burner forge, and I've never dealt with kiln shelving, so I used a tub of what's shown in the picture, made a mold of exactly what I want on the inside, and it's been curing in a mold for two days... It doesn't feel like it'll be a brick for something like a week at this rate. Did I use stuff that in the end isn't gonna work anyways? I figure someone's gonna say 'just go out and buy the brick,' which is fine. I'm just dealin with what's on the shelf. Location is Derry NH.