Avadon

Thanks tat2dgrizz and fe-wood. I should have probably gotten the legs a little closer to vertical. Like 20dgs vs 25dgs. But I held them up at 20dgs and for some reason that seemed kinda scary to me. Like it might be easy to easy for it to tip over. They probably could be at 20dgs or even 15 without any problem, especially if you've anchored it down.

Thanks Frosty, got most of your ideas on there, as well as a few others from people here on this forum.

Thanks. Yep those little pallet jacks are almost a must, even for a small shop. They make jacking and moving things so helpful. Best 250$ I spent at grizzly tool. :)

Looks like the rest of the pics didn't make it. You can see that initially I just jack it up using the lumber with the metal rails. Once in place I throw the jacks under. Then I take the pallet jack down and place it under the rear feet and throw the bar under the front foot. Then its good to travel. That is a micro pallete jack rated at 1000lb, so I take care with this 700lb item. Even though it's no where near as big as the 700lb band saw behind it, it is deceivingly heavy and if it tips dangerously or miscarried when it is moved, it could go over.

Here are a few other pics of the cross members and bracing. The roses engraved on the 3 fasteners and the jacking implement I made. I have a need to be able to move my anvil so I created some wood bracing with some metal rails that keep the anvil and stand balanced side to side. Once I get it lifted up I can place the two steel jacks I welded up underneath it. Then I can move my pallet jack fully underneath the feet. Once I got up there it's safe to move. If I make more for sale or for myself I will probably include some other jacking ports. The anvil locks into the stand so incredibly strong that for all intensive purposes it becomes one piece. It is deceptively heavy, trying to lift the anvil from the heel seems like a doable proposition because it's placed near your hands but no matter how much force you exert it does not budge a bit. Of course that disc that just slipped in your back will move lol.

FINALLY, RIGHT!! Here is a little info about the Stand I made for Nimba's Gladiator. Death Industries Anvil stand: Weight: 265lb (With anvil ~715lb) Thickness of bed: 2" Width: 10.75" Length: 20" Legs: 5" x 3" x .025" rectangular tubing Legs: 25dgs from vertical, 30dgs apart in front. Anvil stops: 1" Sq Rod with qty 4, 1/2X20NF Grade 8 Bolts. 3 Grade 5, 1/2x20NF bolts for filling hollow legs and cross members with sand for deadening ring. Parting Bolt: 1/2x20NF Grade 8 bolt underneath breaks anvil from calk/adhesive bond. Welds: Stand is pre-heated and multi-pass welds are used on every joint. Steel gussets brace cross-members. For info about the prying bolt and caulking questions see this thread http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f83/anvil-caulking-question-12493/ Gladiator Anvil Specifications: Tip to Tip Length: 39 inches / 99 cm. Height: 13 inches / 33 cm. Face Width: 7 inches / 17.8 cm. Base Width: 10 inches / 25.4 cm. Base Length: 15 inches / 38.1 cm. Hardie Hole: 1 inch / 2.54 cm. Pritchel Hole: 7/8 inch / 2.2 cm. Weight: 450 lbs. / 204 kgs.

Thanks Naked, yah I realized after posting.. woah that method is way too big. I'll have pics here within a few hours of the whole thing. Using my sisters digital, mine had a meltdown.

Here are the pics of what the bolt that prys the anvil from the bed looks like.

I have to 2nd this. For a few hundred dollars more you could have a brand new mint condish Anvil of superior quality or even scout around for something used that is better. A lot of guys have the Nimba Titan and all seem to swear by it. As Naked said, once your not just buying an ASO, your looking at this as investment to have over countless years. So I would hold onto your $400 and carefully watch and peruse adding to your money as you go. Then you'll make a great purchase.

That's what I should have probably done. It is just #265lb and to heavy and cumbersome for me to do by myself. So I would have had to use the hoist to jack it up and then try to push it over. More work then I wanted (rolls eyes) as drilling was prolly way more work. In hindsight, the next I try to drill under something like that I will drill a 1/8'th pilot hole first. Then go back with the 1/2". I'm sure that would make it considerably easier and even more accurate. That way your not relying on so much of the tip for the cutting action.

Could you even magnetize an anvil to any significant degree? And wouldn't the heat just immediately destroy any bond the hot steel has when contacting the anvil. I wouldn't think there would be any problem even if you placed magnets all over it.

Crazy.. so it's like blacksmiths turrets sorta. lol I was always under the impression you never want to hit the face of any anvil with a hardened steel and if you did that on a friends nice anvil they may just give you a good talking to.

why bother with trying to pour lead into the legs.. why not just use sand, shot, or even water?

I have a large speaker magnet now. Are cow magnets really strong? Is it better to have strong magnets or weak magnets. I guess the weak ones would absorb more of the shock? hmm i'm hazy on the physics here.

I did it.. I drilled the 2" plate, from underneath to make sure I knew I woudln't hit a leg or a steel gusset I made. Drilling from underneath meant pushing the drill up with my hands. Took about an hour with breaks. My forearms and biceps are sooooo sore lol.. but it was worth it. Now I can tap it and get on with the caulking businezz.

I've been engineering Frosty's idea here for the last day or two. I'm giong to use a 2.5" 1/2"x20NF "all thread" (No Shoulder) grade8 bolt. Probably has a 10,000lb rating or something. I've gotta think that bolt alone coming up from the bottom is going to break any surface tension especially when the anvil is hanging from my hoist and the 260# stand is free-hanging just above the ground. I would think the bolt and the weight of the stand would help bust that bond. Worst case I need to do a little scraping and digging or prying around the edges. Do you think I really need two bolts?

Great! Now you made me ---> <--- Green with jealousy. I would love a 450Amp machine. Yah know when I bought my welder I never thought i'd get into welding the big thick stuff. Turns out I love to weld the thick stuff. Must be due to being dropped on my head as a small child lol. Your right, with the pre-heating and welding passes my anvil stand in many places was hot enough to almost like a ciggie off of. In fact I took a video of me spitting on one of the cross members and it was so hot the spit just beaded on the surface like a scalding hot frying pan. I would think a lot of that heat would normalize a lot of the stresses. Of course as naked anvil said, were not building nuclear submarines here. I think a bit of my welding was overkill, but I didn't mind laying some extra beads. I definitely will bolt my beast down once I find out where I want it.

What kind of amperage max did you have on those welders? Mine is 200amp. I really wish I had something like 250 at a minimum, but 300+ would have been even better. Of course my miller dynasty has a host of other neat features that can get compromised when you go to some of the higher amp welders which don't have those features. Also price is a feature because these welders quickly go into the $5,000.00 + range.

Yah i'm gonna have pictures of this soon. I think you'll see that all the time and incessent picking of all your brains has paid off. Just have to get my anvil mounted and then i'll take pics :D

So that is why people will do like several hammer strokes and then lightly hammer/tap their anvil to deaden or upset the ring? I seriously had no idea they were doing that. I just thought they were resting their hand or something lol.

So you put something like caulk or sikaflex down, then the plastic bag over it and then place the anvil ontop. Do you raise the anvil and remove the bag after the caulking has dried in this method? Or do you just leave the bag and trim it up? Frosty's idea with the bolt could also be really good.. because I could see that any caulk/silicone/polyurethane between my anvil and the 2" plate stand could be difficult to break. Even with my chain hoist picking up the anvil it could be difficult to breakt he bond because the surfaces are so flush.

When I move in a year or two I believe i'll have to take the anvil off the steel anvil stand. Seems like a 450# anvil ontop of a stand is a recipe for disaster. In fact when I got my anvil I built a special palette with a sturdy wood frame to hold it in place. Do you all agree its best to transport anvil and stand seperately or am I being paranoid? Hence why I am looking for something that is more of a caulk and not some industrial adhesive that is going to be serious work to get the anvil out of.

Seems like a great learning process and a fascinating engineering and scientific challenge, but outside of that... why god, why? lol You could have a manufactured anvil shipped to the far side of the universe for what it will cost you to make your own of equivalent quality and weight. You can always get your anvil to come on a shipping container on a freighter and its not that expensive. My 450# anvil came 2300miles for only about $300.00 so unless you just have to build your own i'd check the shipping methods out fully before you give up. I totally agree with Thomas here. If your going to weld/fab/temper your own anvil why not make something extremely exotic. Something that can't be found or mates with a very specific purpose. Why not make an ornate bridge anvil or something akin, rather then just make something that looks like the commercial equivalent only costing much more to fabricate.

Oh yah Welcome to Alro's Homepage they got up to 12" thick plate. you just buy yourself a giant chunk of steel for cheap and be better off then most ASO's ^_^

You also might want to try Alro Steel‎ 707 Works Ave, Cadillac, MI‎ - (231) 775-9336‎ (not far from you) and see what they have in the way of large billets or thick pieces of plate. Just an option. A lot of steel yards love to get rid of cut-offs for cheap if you bring cash as most people generally don't need a small (under a few feet) of very thick steel.