Rainbows

So I have the oppurtunity to get a drill press for relatively cheap. However I also already own one and I'm not sure which is better for blacksmithing needs. I'm gonna have to use an Ask the audience lifeline for this. Maybe I just want to be able to blame a stranger on the internet incase it all goes wrong. Current drill is grade A taiwanesium. Its a cheap Nu Tool drill witha 1/4 HP motor and 13mm jacobs chuck. It isn't bad, espeacially considering it was £10 but when using it for long periods the motor gets warmer than I would like and I have to go off and do something else while it cools down and the other problem is the table tends to flex easily. The 520 and 900 RPMs suit most of my needs. I haven't used the image uploader in a while but I think I got an image of it at the bottom of the post. The drill on offer, for £20 + fuel and time to reach it, is a drill in a drill press holder. I usually consider such set ups only good for DIY carpentry however it is a Wolf drill with a morse taper socket, 1" capacity, 380 RPM and the motor amperage is 5.75A vs my 2.4A which through the power of P=IV I assume means over double the power of my drill press. Image also available for it. I have never heard anything but songs of praise for the Wolf brand apart from the fact that they would break your arm before they break themselves. So what do you guys think? I inherently distrust drill holder presses but this one seems like it might have a higher specification than my current set up. I never really use the top 3 speeds on my current drill but going straight down to 380 RPM might be a bit much. I don't think I have ever needed a 1" capacity but I suppose when you need it you need it so it might be good to have for the future. If anyone has expierence on using that particular Wolf drill I would be glad to hear how they found it worked out. Also I expect someone would say buy it and keep both but this is all for a hobby and space is the scarcest thing I have to use on this hobby (money being second and so far I think I have spent as much money on this hobby as some homeowners spend on a diy drill).

4 of 9 metres? Not sure they have that much. I was thinking more 1 metre sections but possibly multiple thereof. I've done some volunteer work at churnet valley railway and they have some sections of track lying aorund. Keep meaning to ask but never get around to it. I remember seeing a short railing where they had made the top horizontal section out of some track welded to vertical bars. Find your local heritage railway and give them a email. Since they are smaller organizations they are more likely to take the time to reply even if its only to tell you to go away.

Sadly its an auction by a person who only has a vague idea of what it is. I can see it is missing a little screw to hold the bottom die. Do you think it could mark hot iron? Just for shallow stamping in decorative patterns or the like. Might be faster and more uniform than punch and hammer. If not I do brass stuff occasionally.

Actually I might be able to get a sizeable amount of railway track. If that stuff has to take trains it should probably deal with this.

I think the last two presses I put in here ended up being a leatherworkers and the other a weird clamp so not much success so far. Seems beefier than the leatherworkers press and has a quicker screw than the clamp. Listed as a rivet screw press. Is that tool on it a rivet set or have I found another leatherworkers press?

But how high does a ball bearing bounce off it?

What in my life led me to be reading puns at 1:28 AM on an internet forum? They warned me blacksmithing was corrupting. To steer the thread back: would a I beam make a good post to mount the vice on? I'm thinking a bit of plate on the top to bolt on the vice and a bake drum to make a foot. If I get a long girder maybe make a slighlty buried foot.

Love that you even put in handling holes.

External threads lead to guns. I wonder what talking about the internal threads in a screw box would turn into?

As long as you look white enough :v Then again I suppose the person with the gun is statisticly speaking the one who probably just murdered someone. This really went off on a tangent didn't it?

You can get a gun if you need to shoot foxes and birds and other pests which is why you are more likely to be shot in the countryside than in glasgow.

Oh thats a nice idea, half of the guys at autojumbles tend to have a 500 ton crane in their garage though so they can pickup their steam engines

Autojumble season is coming, time to get my life savings.

There is another nearer to me, it is unremarkable but still has one £120 price tag because its an antique dealers (#vintage, #steampunk). I will keep that in mind next time in in Gloucestire, that said I don't think I planned to ever go there so don't put any little gift bows on anything in a hurry.

Shame I don't own a proper sized lathe. Seller said they would give me a £10 discount to make up for having to fix it (people who want is as a decoration still pay full) but even if it was free it is a fair old drive.

Found a vice on ebay relatively near and it appears to be good condition but the seller said the screw is stripped. There is still some visible thread but it does look somewhat small. Can a new screw be made? What sort of cost could I expect for such a job?

Reminds me of a Viceroy Sharpedge grinder. A woodworking plane blade or chisel etc is held against the face of the circle and rests on the bar as a toolrest. The thing is used as it currently stands. A viceroy replaces the table with a more conventional grinding stone. This one might have had oil and abrasive put on the face for sharpening instead.

Hey now, don't encourage them to ruin our anvil market too

I used one for a forge chimney, the circumfrence is only a tad smaller than the entire forge hearth. Plan to get a second one since some smoke still blows out the sides. If I used 5 it probably would topple into the neighbours property and they woud get a bit miffed.

A toolsteel steel plate was usually forge welding onto an iron body. Making the hole square isn't worth it. It would take indsutrial broaching machines and risk ruining the anvil entirely. Or you could use a square punch to drift it but then you need a big forge and a power hammer.

Isn't that a square hole just before the horn of the anvil? I pray your steel face was more than a 1/4" thick.

I saw someone further back in this thread with a 26' long 20 tonne lathe so for the other extreme I challenge anyone to get a smaller centre lathe. Weighs an entire 3kg and is just over 300mm long and 150mm between centres. Named "Super Adept" cast into the base. Only got it recently so I haven't connected a motor or fitted a chuck.

In my defense that comes under forged steel sort of. My own anvil is wrought iron with a steel face.

You could use it but it won't work well and won't last long. Working anvils are cast steel, forged steel or a steel plate with a cast iron body with the common theme being a more durable steel face. You might be able to make use of the horn for shaping metal but most other chunks of steel of a comparable weight will be better for forging. If you have the 15lb version then it won't be much good at all. That is as much use as a doorstop.

Are your drill bits reputable and sharp-ish? A good brand (in my case Dromer) of simple HSS bits will beat a mystery china brand of cobalt bits on most days.