Jacques

Nog een, ek dink nie ons het iemand in Grahamstad nie.

Nice to meet you, pictures are compulsory of course. :D

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Simplicity is sometimes more difficult than ornate stuff. I really like this.

Simplicity is sometimes more difficult than ornate stuff. I really like this.

The way the Sharks are playing I can see why you would prefer a baseball game.  :P

(But sorry, I know even less about baseball than rugby)

My brother also send me a link to Up North last week and also would like one.

Making something like that in 6mm steel is going to be a mission, but I am considering making it from 2mm thick stainless.

I'll have to do a CAD drawing to figure out the sections, cut it out with plasma and then use the Trumpf with the doming tool to form each section and then welding it up.

All this is absolutely theoretical, I just do not have time at present.

Good luck on the project, we would like to see pictures.

That is fabulous.

I tried it a while ago and was very impressed with the results. I'm now busy getting stuff together to make a more permanent setup.

I voted for Hardie.

But then I have the same problem with Vise / Vice.

A random bit of information I once picked up that all motorcycle leathers are made from horse leather.

And if anybody gets a chance : Walsall Leather Museum

I bought this at an auction last year, and haven't gotten around to repairing it. The motor mount is broken, but it has an adjustable speed gearbox.

One thing that is very wrong with it: the door is very small, and I must cut open one whole side and make a decent door so that it is easy to get the stuff out. Price paid was less than scrap value, and I got with it 8 bags full of commercial ceramic media.

But I do not at present do much steelwork, so I use the concrete mixer for the occasional batch.

Thanks.

Very good. Love the leg detail and it will look even more fabulous once the wood has aged a bit.

The only pottery technique that I am aware of that will (probably) work in a forge type experiment is Raku, and that finish is rather rough.

If you want to make nice smooth looking stuff electric is the way to go.

I've played a bit with Rubber pad forming / Guerin process (google both)  under a hydraulic press, and it worked quite well.

I've seen similar sized forming stakes in an aircraft workshop. Some of them were quite probably made as needed for certain jobs.

As for the size, even if it is for sheet metal, it is an anvil and bigger is better.

I saw these two powerhammers at a dealer today, and thought the front one is a interesting design. Very heavy and well made, both of them seems complete, but is not running at present, standing outside, covered in rust.

I was invited to make an offer, but unless I have a nice surprise somewhere my budget isnt up to it.

I made a rotating clinker breaker for my forge, and I don't really use it. A basic grate should work fine.

The gun people cleans brass cartridges in tumblers, maybe that will help.

http://rocktumbler.com/questions/brass-cartridge-case/

Nice, I've also got a treadle lathe standing in the back of the workshop. It has been cleaned and painted but I haven't got a tailstock.

I've decided to convert mine into a kitchen counter for my house, keeping all the working pieces intact and modifying the head into a foot powered mixer.

It will be a conversation piece if nothing else. :D

It is a tool, and it is made to be used.

And if it is used to make things that make money, then it should be as efficient as possible.

And it should be upgraded and replaced as necessary.

Around here we mostly bash thick pieces of hot metal.

For sheetmetal work you can go talk to these guys:

www.metalmeet.com

There is quite of few Australians on there.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas/page4.html

It looks much better than some of my first welding projects, and much more ambitious.

And the classic beginner mistake, doing it for material cost only. You must add enough money to at least buy a pizza and a coke.

(And in the last few days it has been hot enough here to get sunburn in the shade.)

A frame I made for a window in a door (is there a fancy word for that?)

There was damage to the original wooden parts and the glass was broken and I had to repair the door. The flat bar was embossed on the fly press with a little tool I made and the holes for the bolts were punched. The inner frame was fabricated  to fit the recess.

Total time for the frame was 8 hours, excluding painting. 

It was a rush job this morning, I had to remove the door, repair it, repaint, and fit the frame. After the pictures were taken I also fitted the glass. And it had to be finished before dark. 

The bolts is just temporary, I will make something more blacksmithy to replace them.

Comments and critique welcome, I have to make 4 more later.

It makes things possible that is difficult otherwise, especially with production runs.

Ours is a combination of an 15 year old CNC engraving machine that we added the plasma cutter on, the software isn't really right for the job, so it take a while to set up every time. And we already had the compressed air that were good enough.

The size is about 800 x 600, which is much too small, I would recommend nothing smaller than 1200 x 1200.

Don't bother too much about the physical system, as long as you can get spares easily and help is a phone call away there shouldn't be a problem.

Make sure you get decent software, that is where all the magic is. It is easier to work with good software and a bad machine than to work with bad software and a good machine.