polarbearforge

Very nice. I've never done any hot work on a punch press, but I used to make dies for them. I like the setup. Thanks for sharing it with us! Jamie

Nice looking press! That's the style I'm going to build when I get around to it. I had not thought about putting everything underneath, though. Good idea. Jamie

Larry, thanks for sharing the pictures of your build. We'll keep in touch about one for the school. All my grinders so far have been single speed. My solution (no way to use vfd in my old shop) was just to build more grinders. Jamie

Any maybe a quick change of underwear. Wow. Jamie

Why do people try new things? To test ideas, to see if they can improve on a tool or a process that can benefit many or just themselves. You could ask this question about a lot of different things people do. Like why would somebody hook up an old pedal powered stone sharpening wheel to a belt grinder motor. Jamie

It's geared down, but it's motorized. If you do a search for Mcdonald rolling mill you'll find other examples similar to mine. I haven't added the pictures back to the website yet. Jamie

Wow, that's one expensive DVD. But look on the bright side, shipping is only $2.98! Jamie

I forge weld all the time with my rolling mill. It's not a jeweler's rolling mill, though, and was built to withstand a bit more pressure. I'm not sure that a standard jeweler's mill would have the rigidity. Jamie

I have a feeling that I'll have to go with stainless steel media to get the results I'm looking for. I've tried actual tumbling media (it imbedded dust into the parts), coal slag (barely caused a scratch) and invisibily rusty steel shot(didn't know it had rust until I took out the rusty aluminum). I have some samples that I sent to one of the media companies. I'll update this when they tell me which I should use. Jamie

Must be a hammer bouncer thing.... Jamie

Danr's website is http://www.irontreeworks.com/. I can't seem to get there, however. I'll contact him and let you know. Jamie aka Copin

Thanks for the input. We have vibratory tumblers at work with the plastic pyramids and water flush as well. This was one of my projects for home. I tried the coal slag blasting medium, and it barely caused a scratch. It was also quite a bit quieter. I wanted to avoid adding water, since this is in my shop and it freezes in there sometimes. Jamie

Greetings all! I just finished my new tumbler. The body is 24 inches from left to right, and the bar in the middle is 1 " diameter. It is running about 29rpm through a gear reducer. After I took this picture, I coated the inside of it with truck bed liner. It's not overly noisy, but a constant noise that starts to get on my nerves after a while. Ear plugs and turning the radio up seem to help. I ended up getting it finished when they were throwing away 250# of tumbling media (new in bag) at work. It's a triangular stone. I've run a few batches of parts, and it seems to embed some of the dust into the parts. I'm planning on tumbling smaller laser cut aluminum and stainless steel plates. I don't need a real aggressive cut, just a light deburring and maybe a bit of a frosted finish. I'm going to try black magnum coal slag today and see what it ends up doing. Any other recommendations on media for tumbling dry? I'd like to prevent an extra washing step afterwards. Jamie

That's similar to mine, but without the indexing. I cut a larger plate at work with teardrops for my hawks, a few holes for when I need them, and several different sized rectangles for drifting belt axes. When I get a chance, I'll post a picture. Jamie

Yep, I am here, too. I wondered why I suddenly got a lot of questions about tong blanks. When I first started forging, I bought some tongs, but of course they weren't quite what I needed. I really didn't like forging tongs, I was more interested in being a bladesmith than a blacksmith. After one gathering, we watched Bill Epp's video on making tongs. One of the methods shown, was to start with flat stock, and forge a divot in a couple spots. Draw out one side for the reigns and twist the other side for the jaw. Put a hole in the middle, shape and rivet. As I was driving home, I couldn't help but think that I could cut a flat pattern on the laser. So I designed it and played with it, and came up with the regular tong blank as well as a bolt tong blank. I'll be the first to admit that these aren't for everybody. Some people can forge a pair of tongs from round stock as fast as I can from my tong blanks. I shared them for a couple reasons. I know there are others who need tongs but don't like to make them. They work really well for beginners. There's enough material in the handle and bit that it can be cut down as the need arises, yet they're beefy enough to handle a lot of abuse. Also, if I'm forging, I'd really rather forge blades or axes than tongs. (Personal preference, your mileage may vary). Jamie

That's a sad thing to hear. It appears to be true. Hamilton's Funeral Home Jamie

Looks good. I plan to build something very similar. Please keep us updated on how well it works! Jamie

Are the belts that aren't tracking on this machine the same ones that didn't track on the other machine? Have you tried different belts? I have had batches that didn't track on anything that I had. How much tension do you have on the belt? If you take a precision square and check the sheels for perpendicularity to the surface, mainly the drive wheel and the platen wheels, are they square? Otherwise I second the suggestions made so far. Jamie

Now that's a pretty cool looking forge. Somebody doing a lot of ren faires or demos would probably get a lot of attention with that. Jamie

The prices at work for steel have dropped quite a bit. I've noticed it from almost all our vendors. As was noted, the price we get for the recycled materials has gone down. One of the aluminum places that paid out $1 per pound for aluminum is now paying $.35 per pound. Jamie

Nope, it's not ruined. You'll have to thin with water anyway. Jamie

I used inline skate wheels, worked great. Easy to replace if need be. I made mine based on Spencer's inline hammer plans. Jamie

Only by word of mouth so far, but after thing settle down here, I'll be revamping the website and list them there. If somebody would like to order them, just email me. The prices are $7 per pair for 5/16 thick and $8 per pair for 3/8. I'll also be making another version that makes bolt tongs a lot easier to make. I'll post that when I have tried a few out. They are 20 inches long, and won't fit in a flat rate box, so I'll have to figure out shipping costs. Jamie

I use my rolling mill for damascus, and have taken it down that thin, but the rollers are 4 1/2 inches wide. The whole thing would have to be built more robust to manage 12 inches wide. I agree that working it cold would not be a good idea. A little dishing and tweaking maybe, but definate not thinning or heavy dishing. Jamie

Danr gets the tong blanks from me. They're acutally laser cut. Here's a picture (for everybody else) of that the head looks like. I'm not overly fond of forging tongs. I'd rather spend the time forging knives. I've cut them from 5/16, 3/8, and even a couple out of 1/2 inch. My next rev will include a pre formed style for bolt tongs. Jamie