horseshoe182

I use "Marking out INK" not paint, like ApprenticeMan said. Drys in a couple of minutes. It is in a small preasure pack( can ) and works good.

I understand you are a white man with black hands. Thats how it started with Michael Jackson, but in reverse, he went from black to white. Are you related to Michael Jackson Now the Jackson six.

Hello and welcome eddiebrug At work we use Pferd brand grinding and cutting, sizes are for cutting, 5" dia. 1mm thick, 9" dia. 1.9mm thick. They work good. I don,t buy 'em so I don,t care about the cost. Wouldn,t waste my time with a 4" grinder (I call them welding grinders cos thats about all there good for) Cheers Michael

Yes, good point Thomas, I will make myself a real flash twin horn, side shelf, jobbing block, special holes everywhere, all bells and whistles later, but for now I want to made a commerical unit to sell. I have never seen a twin horn in OZ. before, so I don,t know how well it would sell, so I,ll stick with a known pattern. Some might think "twin horn fabricated anvil, heavens forbid" (and maybe not) I,ll try and keep it simple. These are some prices we pay in OZ, so I have to complete with these sorts of prices Australian Anvil O,dwyer 88lbs = from $614usd = $767aud NC Cavarly 112lbs = from $864usd = $1078aud @ .80cent in the dollar. I will try to source scrap only and my overheads are very low. And I can,t help myself as I,ve always got projects on the boil. I will give it a go and see how it goes. I will probably sell it on ebay. Am looking forwards to seeing those pic,s of your anvil Dave, can we see progress pic,s Cheers Michael

If that anvil could talk?

I should have been more specific, I am going to have it cut out of steel plate. After seeing Dodges work (great job) and another homemade anvil, I thought of what a good idea. Resently I purchased a shoeing anvil from the USA and imported it to OZ, not cheap. At least with this manufacturing method I can pick what ever metal and style for the billet. I will use 4" plate and it will be similar to Dodges, but problerly a finer waist. And longer horn etc. I want to get the preportions how I want them. If all else fails I will do as Charlotte said, use dividers on pictures and scale to my size. I have an Inventer drawing program, so I will be able to see the finsihed product in 3D before I have started fabrication. Thanks for all help Michael

I,m going to make an anvil, however, I can,t find any plans on the net. I perfer to make the traditional English style anvil, but any plans or info, I would be greatfull. Cheers, Michael

I don,t know about cost as a mate milled up a small anvil for me for free. I,ve found that a 9inch angle grinder, brand new grinding wheel, a straight edge and some skill, works good. I find that if you cross thatch the grinding pattern, it does a great job of leveling high spots. (A good example of cross thatching is the pattern you see in a cylinder bore just after it has been honed.)

Well I,m one of those guys that has trouble throwwing stuff away, and I would try to fix it. Cut off old face- send to machine shop and mill it up- get new face- findout a weld procuedure- weld on new face- check for straightness- mill or surface grind if needed- dress the horn. and there, a reconditioned anvil, I don,t know if it would work ok, but I recokon it will. I guess we have that mentanity in Australia because we don,t get the chioce of anvils that USA gets, and some are imported, a 70lb Nc will cost from about $600AU and up, and thats a bit of money.

Why not find the manufacturer and ask him what he thinks. If the anvil has some sort of steel face, maybe it can be replaced just like when it was made, it must have been weld on, find out the welding proceder and do the same?

G,dat John, maybe you should lay off the drink mate, on second thorough is, maybe you should have a drink in the morning. But seriously, I will try to support between my elbow to my chest/back, all depends on the job, I will take any support going. Support and comfort always aids to a better quality weld. But sometimes there is just none at all, and I,m standing there, feet wide apart doing overhead. Even breathing in this position will affect my weld contour, it,s not easy. I don,t hold the rod, as it gets bloody hot!

That is a simplistic veiw on size to amps. Will you weld 1/8 @ 125amps vertical up? What type of rod or you talking about?

Well what can I say, but, thats a big question, where do I start? My advise is, if your serious, go and do a short coarse at your local Tafe/poly tec ( we have tafe in Aus.) lets call it night school. In my book there,s nothing like hands on learning, you will get a feel for all the different rods and the teacher will teacher you how to weld and give you guidance for where you are going wrong. Another good thing is that you can ask the teacher stacks of questions. Good luck with it.

I agree with arftist, sounds spot on.

Thanks Matt, its interesting to see the enormous size and how its done at that time, I love watching this old stuff.

Good on you Woody for posting on an important and mistaken beleafs. I agree 100% on your veiw. I have witnessed gal. poisoning to a couple of guys, and I can tell you that they spewed there guts up, somehow I don,t think drinking milk is going to stop the posion going through there body. Positive Pressure Masks are good, just make shore your supplied air is clean, make shore to that you know this and don,t leave your health and safety in someones elses hands. As a general rule, I will steer clear of gal welding jobs, they are s@#t, and if I must do one, will only do it in a well ventilated area etc. Yes I,m a safety guy, and been around to long to not cut corners.

Keep us posted.

Yeah use the copper, i,ve used it many times and it works just great, like Jack said flattened copper tube/pipe will do. As for your welding job, I would mig it if you can, as its so easy ,quick, puts less heat into the job and is also low hydrogen too. If using a stick welder, I would go with a 2.4mm low hydrogen rod, at about 65 to 75amps. Weld big tacks at begginning and end of weld. Start weld and don,t stay to long in the middle of your small weave, so concentraet weld pool on the sides of the weld, so to speak. You could also do the opposite of a weave, run the weld along the sides of the joint annd it will eventually close up. One rule I have with filling gaps is, when you think you will get a hole, because it,s getting to hot, STOP, and let it cool down by itself, don,t quench it, and then go again. It,s not an easy job you have.

I will always remmeber the time many, many years ago, Dueing my Farrier training, the teacher and a couple of us youngtesters were out at somebodies place shoeing some horses, we were hot shoeing an I was on the forge, it was a hand windner type, so I,m crankin this handle on this tiny forge, and I wasn,t paying attention to the shoes in the forge, next thing you know the teacher (old Ray) says "what the xxxx are you doing", I turn and look, as the shoes were melting and sparks coming off them, knowing Ray they would have been handmade shoes, oops. So even a small forge can melt steel. Just load it with coal and blast it with heaps of air, if you can,t melt steel doing that you may have a problem with something else.

I,ve never seen this stuff in Oz. My understanding of this product is that it starts the gas automaticly and has a polit light. If your not into high production, honestly , whats the point for a back yard guy. How hard is it to light a torch? and how long does it take, 5, 10 seconds, how much gas will you save with this device? Are you lighting up dozens of times pre/hour. IME it,s a waste of money, and just something else to maintain. Keep it simple my friend.

I can just see it now, philip in china, is welding in this shed, it,s getting dark, and as Phillip is welding the small towns lights are dimming on and off ,ha,ha. But Seriosly, think I,d go with desisl powered until.

Hello Jack, I,m a boilermaker to, from Sydney. I,m new in here to, there are some top trades guys here. Anyway, welcome and I,ll see you around. Mick

Can the local machine shop cut the thread for you, as they would cut threads all the time and are set up for this sort of work.

In my experience cheap mig welders are a waste of time and money, I,m talkin about the back yard handyman stuff, were every thing is plastic and cheap and nasty. And poor setting serlectons. Do yourself a faverour and buy a secoundhand good brand name until, if you are restricted by cash. Where you will always have access to spare parts and can keep things rollin along. I brought and old brand name welder, with more amps than I need, that way I,m not loading up an old machine, and runs like a gem. Mick