ironantlerforge

OK I know I said I would post more photos but I have been busy getting all of the bugs out. Things coming loose and stuff of that nature. I'll get some more pics up as soon as I'm sure it's working at 100%

Question, I was using glass beads to achieve a polished look but it does not seem to be working all that well. I'm thinking of using saw dust or small wood chips, the kind you use in hamster cages, and mixing that with some kind of inexpensive polishing compound for ferrous metals. Does anyone know of a good compound?

I should add...

The barrel is held down using gravity alone. That's another nice thing about using gears to bite the chain as apposed to a belt which has to loop both around the barrel and a pulley. With the chain you can just grab hold of the barrel, lift it off, and you don't have to worry about undoing any belts or things of that nature. That being said, big chain may be hard to stumble on and if your looking to buy one the belt is a much cheaper option. Of course with the belts you don't get the cool Mad Max look...

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay, I have been out for a while. I'll take some more pics for you to look at and post them sometime this week. Here are the answers to some of the questions. The pending photos will help explain more.

The barrel is a thick heavy grade plastic. It used to hold floor wax. I chose plastic because I thought it would be quieter and hold up better than the steel drums. That being said, with the chain it's pretty noisy.

The chain is held on using compression. I put on a 2" x 1/8" strip around the drum and then wrapped the chain around that. I then squeezed the heck out of it until the two ends of the chain came together. I then put 2 pop rivets into the strip just to keep it from sliding.

The media I'm using is very fine glass beads because I like the high luster finish. It's important to give the work a couple day soak in vinigar to remove all the oxide so that the media will have an easy go of polishing.

I have 3 fins inside made from the plastic concrete edgers that you can buy at Home Depot. I like them because they have reinforcing supports that run the whole length.

I don't think this was a question but I'm using an industrial sewing machine motor to power the tumbler. I got it off Ebay and chose it because it has 2 ways of achieving different speeds and came ready to work with an on/off switch, rubber mounts, bolts, and adjustable belt tensioner attached.

Now... "Leeeets get ready to tuuuuuble!!!"

I just put this tumbler together using a 55gal drum that I had. It works very well! The large #8 chain not only turns the barrel with ease but also vibrates the media inside in addition to tumbling it.

Here is an old adjustable wrench that I turned into a an adjustable bending fork by adding a couple pieces of 1" round to the back. I also extended the handle to about 20".

I definitely get the bull in the title but I'm not sure about the raging part... I guess if the tank is still full of gas and you put him too close to a flame he could get pretty raging

Just messing,

Fun piece!

IAF

All good ideas! Thanks!

I just dug this new toy up from a local scrap yard. It has been there for at least 25 years and probably a good deal more. It had several truck axles on top of it that I had to cut off. One of the axles was embedded in the middle of a full grown tree! If you look close you can see it in the first photo. It took 4 hours of pulling, cutting, and hoisting but I finally managed to get it out and the scrap yard guy gave it to me for $50. Not bad, if I can get it working. It weighs at least 230LB I would guesstimate and is in pretty good shape for being in a scrap yard for 25+ years.

Can anyone tell me about this new toy and what the best way would be to go about cleaning it up? I defiantly need to use a penetrating oil of some kind to get through the rust but I don't know which one would be best. I have heard some lofty clams from a product called Kroil but I don't know if it's any good. Getting all the parts moving again is going to be the biggest task and I'm not 100% sure how to tackle it.

Also, I have some questions about some of the parts that maybe someone who has one could answer. There is a bolt coming out of the front that I guess is to lock down the dies but I don't know. about 10" or so above that is another hole that I'm not sure what it's for. Any ideas? There is also an acorn looking thing on top of the press with a hole in it and I'm not sure what that is for. Also, how high should one of these be mounted, belly button height?

Questions, questions, thanks in advance!

floating lid, good idea!

Hey guys, I have a 55 gal drum full of vinigar that I use to remove rust and scale from steel. I have a lid on it but this drum has several holes in it so I can lay rod to hang projects into the bath. I'm wondering if I keep this vented drum outside, under a roof, if the vinigar will loose any of it's rust removing properties? I don't see why it would but I thought I would put it out there.

Thanks!

IAF

Thanks for the advise everyone. I need to talk to my local welding supply about rosebuds and see what they have. In the past they basically said that my current oxygen tanks are too small to properly operate a large rosebud. I was not ready at the time to go to bigger tanks but now might be the time. I have also heard of oxygen producing machines so you can produce your own and fill your own tanks but I'm sure that's probably too expensive. I'm going to check into that Chemtane2 fuel. I have never heard of that before. Can you use it on a propane forge?

I have seen Albert Paley use a massive rosebud to heat up material too big for the forge and I'm wondering if anyone knows where I can get something like that? I would love to find something to run off of propane and oxygen.
I basically need a way to heat up large pieces of sheet metal without the use of an enclosed box.

Thanks!

IAF

very good! Thanks guys.

While building my current forge I called the manufacture of the fiberboard and blanket that I'm using to ask about expansion when heated and the guy on the phone assured me that it does expand. He added that I would have to allow for that in my designing. Later I called a company that is using the same fiberboard/blanket on a regular basis to build furnaces and industrial kilns and they assured me that it shrinks when heated. Both people gave me numbers that they where reading off of some product information chart but obviously they where not reading from the same chart. :confused:

so, does it expand or contract? what's your experience?

I don't know of any for sale off hand but I'm sure there out there. That being said If you want to make a scrolling jig the easiest way is to find a scroll that you like, heat up some flat stock and bend it around the scroll. Basically your using the scroll as a jig to make a jig. Then take your flat stock scroll and weld it to a steel plate. Weld on the inside of the flat stock around the outside of the scroll. Next grab the center with a pair of pliers and pull up so that the center of the scroll is higher than the outside. Reinforce where needed and weld. There you go, done deal. you will need to make some way of fastening it down to a table or anvil or vise which is easy and you may need to attach something to hold your stock while you bend it around the jig but that's easy also.

Did that help in any way? I get the feeling that you where asking something else that I missed.

I thought of reinforcing the top but that's kind of a band aid approach sense the top should not be getting that hot anyway. If the refractory does not work then I may end up doing that but I'm hoping not to have to.
I'm planning on putting the refractory under the sheet metal but then again with the hardness of the refractory I may not need sheet metal at all. I would of course have a steel frame around it to help keep it together.

I will post some pics of the finished design once it's up and running smoothly. It's pretty kick ass now but I don't want to give any visual references until I know it's perfect. I'm on the 3rd re-design now.

I have a steel frame that will hold the refractory in place so I don't think that will be a problem. I'm thinking of putting steel rod in the middle when I pour the refractory, sort of like rebar in concrete, but I'm not sure if the expansion rate of the refractory is the same as the expansion of the steel. Does anyone know?

Does anyone know if refractory holds in heat better than fiberboard? I assume it does sense every kiln I have ever seen is made with it and they don't put out excessive heat.

I think I'll stick to the refractory because it will be easier to keep in place than a bunch of firebricks.

Hello All,

I'm in the process of building a large brick-pile forge and I'm running into some problems. The forge is big enough to put a 24" x 24" piece of sheet metal into it. It has 2" of fiberboard and 1" of fiber blanket in the top. It seems that the 4 large jets are putting too much heat into the forge because the top sheet metal on the forge is bowing up quite a bit. I am considering putting a 2" layer of 3000 degree refractory cement in the very top of the forge and then the 2" fiber board under that. I hoping that the heat that seeps through the fiberboard will get soaked up and dissipated in the refractory. Any thoughts?

I just solved the same problem in my shop. After checking the outlet to make sure that was OK I tied a piece of wire from the sander to some metal on the floor which did nothing. I then took the wire and held it in my hand while I was sanding and presto no more shocking. They sell Velcro bracelets with a wire attached to an alligator clip in places like Radio Shack for just this kind of thing.

Your in luck! I'm bald headed

But you're obviously younger than me and your forgework just had mine for lunch. AND you've probably got more hair, better teeth, and a nicer personality than me, too.

Stinks.

Has anyone ever used this stuff? I would like to protect some steel components that are going to be inside my new forge and I see that ITC 213 is for this purpose. It's pretty expensive at $75 a pint so I'm wondering if it really works. Does anyone have experience with this product?

Thanks!

the paint is a multi layered powder coating to hold up to outdoor use. I did not use any bearings. Instead I have the dragon perfectly balanced on one thin spike with a shielding of course to prevent it from falling over. It works very well.

Here is a pic of a Dragon Weather Vein I just made for a client of mine. It has a 4 foot wingspan and always turns to face into the wind.

Beautiful! Thanks for the link! You can also check out Flicker.com and put Blacksmith or something along those lines in the search box for a lot of good photos.

I have a 100lb Big Blue for sale. Damascus MD