teenylittlemetalguy

Yep, I caught that. It's a great idea. Going to use it on the next one!

Thank you BartW! After using it a while I like it even more. Think I am going to keep adding little features to it as I can.

Flinging or flying both sounds like fun. Can we light it on fire first? 8-)

That would be amazing. Thanks for the kind words Frosty, it's been a fairly productive spring/ summer so far! I will post on the hold down soon. So glad it's working out well for you! Thanks Charles, lovely to hear from you on it. I was thinking of the flange as well till it struck me I could make it slide out if the way on the rail top.

I think it's going to be ok. It welded easy enough, no cracking anywhere. I used 7018 rod. I had a drop left over and found that I had to water quench it to get it hard, so I think the heat effected zone won't be terribly hard.

Lol, yep! Anticipating potential abusers I etched a warning in the clamp jaw to not strike it. But honestly it could take a little. I could just imagine someone with a sledge hammer and a bone to pick with me for making it wrong...

Thank you! Yeah, it could use more meat on that top jaw. My plan for Version 2 is to use a big 3/4 semi truck leaf spring when I find one. I also think I will beef up the bottom pivot pin to take the additional abuse and be more like a post vise.

thanks guys, very kind of you all!

Epic! good for you!

Thank you Irondragon! I am mainly just happy I don't have to lift my main anvil into the car for meetings anymore.

I like portable tools to save weight for going to our local meeting. This is a fairly common RR anvil mounted on end, but I have a couple changes. I added a clamp to hold tools since no hardy hole is available and a built in ruler/center punch. The clamp is built like a post vice so accidental strikes don't cause major issues, someday I would like to upgrade it to a heavy arm and use it as a little post vise, but for now it is handy for clamping and twisting. The screw is 7/8" welded to a collar that slides down the anvil to a stop. the tightening nut/handles are short so as to not interfere with something hanging out of the jaws, but I have a short pipe handy that slips over the handles for extra torque if needed. If you remove the pins on the bottom the whole clamp slides up and out of the way if you need. I currently have a hot cut and a plate top with a small pritchel hole for it. Guillotine coming soon. The ruler is etched in to the anvil itself on the bottom of the flange, it is about the most useful tool I have ever made. there is a small hardened and sharpened bolt on the 0" line. place material over punch, measure and one hammer hit will give you a punch mark for layouts. Center punch to anvil edge is 4" even, so not difficult to get longer measurements . I do wish I made a line for 0" though not a deal breaker. I added a swivel handle, water cup and wheels on the back. Tong rack/handles on the sides as well.

That should do the trick. I only mention it because there are lots of burners out there that are not easy to adjust the balance so he could be needing to adjust his burner. I use a Frosty T which is set and forget (love it!). So often people build them and once it is running they think they are done but they have a crummy mix for welding.

No sweat, I don't want to be that argument guy either. Life is to short. My words weren't correct. By fuel I mean combined air and gas. If your mix is way to high in air and low in gas you can still put so much of that bad mix into a forge that flames will come out the door. It is not a reliable indicator that you have a rich enough mix to weld. I have failed to weld many times with flames shooting out the door and metal thinking about melting in the forge all because there was just a little too much air. a small adjustment to the mix and I welded just fine (and at lower temps).

If you are dumping too much fuel into a forge it will have to get out to burn. It doesn't matter what the mix is, too much fuel is too much.

I see lots of good advice here, but think it would be worthwhile to contemplate the gas/air mix. Welding in propane gets a bad wrap because so many burners out there run and heat just fine, but the mix is still off for welding. A little too much oxygen and bam!- no weld, or crummy weld and the smith thinks it is their fault. Try putting a small handful of charcoal in the forge to soak up excess oxygen next time you weld and see if it helps.