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I Forge Iron

Damastang

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Posts posted by Damastang

  1. Lol what a joke, sadly EVERY anvil here in AU is priced that way. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of anvils, i've seen heaps, they are just about everywhere on farms, workshops .ect people are just asking WAY too much or would rather store their pot plants on them or keep them just to say "i have an anvil" because they are made of gold.

     

     

  2. Cheers frosty, I may be going a bit overboard with the borax :D. I leave my mating surfaces at a grinding wheel (angle grinder) finish with the grind lines running across the width of the billet. I would have thought the rough grind lines would help the billet to weld? When you say flux cold, what do you use? Sounds like a good idea.

  3. Easiest way to test for leaks is with compressed air and soapy water. Fill the tank with air and spray soapy water on your welds with a spray bottle. Any holes will bubble and carry on and will very easily be spotted. DO NOT however overfill the tank as it will explode! It doesn't take much. When I did mine I had the air gun in the return port with a rag around it and a rag in the suction port so the air was able to escape and not build up too much pressure.  

  4. G'day

    Finally have my press up and running, it worked out better than I could have imagined. One thing that I am having trouble getting my head around though is setting welds in the press. Without the quick sharp blows of the hammer to blast it all out, wouldn't the flux and other crap be caught between the layers and prevent a weld? I made up a quick billet yesturday and tried setting the initial weld under the flatter die on my press. The heat and everything was correct and I gave it a light squeeze then straight back in the fire then a heavier squeeze. Upon letting the billet cool I could see several spots that weren't welded as they were cooling at different rates. I heated, re-fluxed then heated to welding heat and took it to the anvil and with a few good taps with my 4lb and a shower of sparks, the billet welded beautifully as it always has done on the anvil. Maybe it's because I use a coke (no green coal) forge rather than gas? Or is there something I am doing wrong? My press is 25 tons with a ram speed of 2.5" per second. I was thinking the press would be far superior for setting welds?

    Cheers

  5. I've been sprayed a couple of times, luckily not at high pressure. My tradesman got me good one day. We were laying under a banana bagging machine removing the slue rams and unknown to me at the time to get them out the rams needed to be retracted and their oil emptied. I loosened the fitting and removed the hose letting the oil drop into a drip tray directly under the cylinder but no, my tradesman gave the rod a good hard push spraying me with the entire contents of the cylinder hahaha. Was a good laugh at the time but man being covered in hydraulic oil for the rest of the day in 38 degree c heat 90% humidity is not fun. The oil stops you from sweating and no matter how much you try to wipe it off with rags and such it's still there.

  6. I am about to finish a 14 gallon tank. My suction is as close to the bottom as my suction strainer will allow (100 mm dia) with a 15 mm or so gap beneath it. It's also in the centre to allow as much oil to surround it as possible. My return is going to be as far away as possible from my suction but not right at the top, maybe 150 mm or so below the top so that it cannot catch air even if the tank is not completely full. I don't have baffles in mine as being 14 gallons in a 12 GPM system, I doubt the oil is going to heat up and if the return is well under the surface of the oil there is no way it can aerate.

    However take what I say with a grain of salt I am by no means experienced haha. This is my first time building a press.

  7. Thanks. Yeah the main problem I am facing is the control bank. They are either all 3/4" or all 1/2" ports, not a combination of both like the northern tool ones. If I bought a control bank with 3/4" ports would it be worth reducing the high pressure ports down to 1/2"? Why is 1/2" used? Does 3/4" take more fluid to fill and therefore more fluid to build up pressure which equals a slower ram speed? Or am I looking at it wrong?

     

    Also can a detent control valve really be used for forging press? From what I have been reading the detent feature automatically retracts the ram it's full stroke as soon as the lever is moved into the "up" position? How does this work and is there a way bypass it and use it like a normal spring centered valve without detent?

     

    Cheers

    Ryan

  8. Well i am progressing along pretty well with this I think, but I have a few more questions.

    In Batson's book he says to use 1/2" high pressure lines and 3/4" low pressure and suction for a 16 GPM or less system. It really makes my life a lot easier if 3/4" hoses can be used all round, would this work for the high pressure side of things? The ram has 1 1/16" ports on it so I have plenty of room to play with adapters. Not sure what effect a bigger high pressure line would have on the system.

     

    Also I still can't decide whether to mount the ram up top and push down or mount it underneath and push up. I have no real height restrictions but don't wan't the thing tipping over. What are the pro's and con's of each? Seems a lot of knife makers have the ram pushing down, makes sense to me.

  9. Now that's fast Badger! haha, maybe a little too quick for me. One thing I have noticed watching presses with the 2 stage pumps is that some of them pause once they have made contact with the material before engaging the low gears. This sucks a lot of heat away yet some of them hardly look like they are slowing down at all. Not sure if it has to do with the pump or something else.

  10. Well one would think after using a hand hammer to draw billets over the horn for hours on end in the hot tropical heat that I would have the patients to pull a lever and watch the press do it for me ;). By using the press I am looking to reduce the amount of coke used per billet and the amount of material lost to scale. Those 2 things were my biggest issues.

  11. Thanks Ric

     

    What do you think about a 5 HP 2850 RPM motor running a 16 GPM Hi/Lo pump (12.7 GPM at 2850 RPM)? Going by my calculations this will make 24.5 tonnes at 2500 PSI with a 5" bore cylinder and a travel speed of about 2 1/2" per second unloaded. If you have a sec can you check those calculations?

     

    Very similar to the system you listed, I can get the 2850 RPM motor at a good price, our options are pretty limited here in Australia. We also run on 50 HZ power instead of the 60 HZ you guys have over in the US so no matter what anything over 3000 RPM is out of the question unless 3 phase is used which is unavailable to me. Also what affect does torque have on all of this? the 2850 RPM motor should have more torque, 1800 RPM even more? My thoughts are that the motor will hold it's revs a little better under load?

     

    Cheers

  12. Thanks guys, and Ric, not sure what the aim of this statement was "Are you prone to fits of anger and rage when you don't get your way immediately?" I have been researching for pretty much a year now, bought Batson's book at the very start and have been talking to heaps of people who work with hydraulics. Just trying to get a few people's opinions. And yes i will fabricate it myself and yes I am handy with that sort of thing. Welding and fabrication is my occupation.

     

    Well our hydraulic guru at work said a while back the first thing you need to establish is what tonnage and what speed you need, then build off that hence why i asked those questions. I can buy a 3hp motor, 5hp motor or 7hp motor, it doesn't matter. One way is going to be cheaper of more expensive than the other. Are you happy with the speed of your 24 tonne press Ric? At this stage that's pretty much what I am going for.

     

    I have considered a rolling mill but i do plan on doing some creative stuff as well as using it for punching holes and other general uses.

     

    Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming. I am reading and learning.

  13. Thought i would start a new thread, could not find anything in the search.

     

    Whats everyone's opinions on optimum tonnage and ram speed for a forging press? Primarily for damascus billets, nothing seriously heavy. I am getting a little confused with the variety of presses out there. Some say 25 tonne is not enough some 35 tonne is what you need for damascus yet some say 16 tonne is enough. Some say 3+ inches per second of travel is idea while others say 1-2? Who has a press out there and whats its specs?

     

    Kinda regards

  14. This is what i have worked out.

     

    If i buy a 16gpm pump (12.88 GPM @ 2900 RPM) which will require 4.65 hp so a 5 hp motor to make 24.5 tonnes with a 5" bore cylinder and a ram speed of 2.52 inches per second.
    If i buy a 22gpm Pump (17.79 GPM @ 2900 RPM) which will require 6.42 hp so a 7 hp motor to make 24.5 tonnes with a 5" bore cylinder and a ram speed of 3.48 inches per second.
     
    Is 2.52 inches per second going to be fast enough or will i need 3.48?
  15. Yeah sounds like a plan. Does anyone know what formula to use to work out actual GPM based the rated flow of the pump and the motor speed and ultimately what my ram speed will be with any given pump turned at 2900 RPM? Also what's the maximum pressure I should be aiming for? Some people go 3000 PSI others go with 2500 PSI? keeping in mind that relief valve will be set a little lower than these pressures for safety reasons.

  16. I am really stuck with this. It seems you can't get a 3600 RPM motor on single phase power in AU. We have 240v AC 50hz, no idea why. 3 phase is out of the equation. How important is RPM? Could i use pulleys or a gearbox to increase the RPM of a slow 5hp motor? The ABS book doesn't go into much detail in that area, probably not a problem in the US as most motors seem to be 3600 RPM. Please if anyone knows anyone in AU who might be able to help me that would be greatly, greatly and greatly appreciated.


    Ok, finally starting to make sense of this now. Australia has 50hz power and you can't have a single pole motor (duh lol). Therefore in theory the motor would rotate twice the frequency of the supply so 50 hz = 50 cycles per second = 100 revolutions per second = 6000RPM but add in another pole and its 3000RPM.

    I can get a 4hp @ 2900RPM, 5hp @ 2900 RPM or a 7.hp @ 2900 RPM motor on single phase power, what are you thoughts? I am yet to run it through the hydraulic calculations to see what sort of flow rate i will get with certain size pumps.

    Hey, at least once this is solved it will serve as a resource for anyone else building a press.

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