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I Forge Iron

Monster

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Newcastle, Australia
  • Interests
    Anything metal, Kitesurfing

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  • Location
    Newcastle, Australia
  • Interests
    Anything metal, Kitesurfing

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  1. Heading home from Ironfest 2013. 3 tonne and the Chevy didn't notice...
  2. Sadly not going to make it this year lads. I have to disappear to the other side of the globe for a while... Take a bunch of photos, have a great time, enjoying being "off the grid" for a while. If Phil is drinking what smells like spiced chai tea before 10am ask for the recipe. He makes it himself... has a nice sting in the tail. Monster.
  3. The movie Gunless revolves around a blacksmith and a gunfighter... Watched it a few times, good laugh.
  4. Does anyone know the brand of the shielded safety glasses that Jesse is wearing ? I have been hunting for a pair of the older "rail workshop" safeties with metal shields for ages but have come up short. There is nothing like that in Australia and Google has fallen short... Franky - hope the press goes well, you want to be the guy working under the press not driving. If you are driving you have time to notice how much movement occurs in the frame under load, especially with asymmetric loads... I always become really aware of load bearing structures around me that I will be moving towards when it all lets go.
  5. Some more ... http://www.factory20.com/ http://www.urbanremainschicago.com/
  6. Righto, as promised. The machine is an EMF Resistance Welder. It was modified to cook rivets by swapping the welding tips for flat copper electrodes. The electrodes have a copper jacket that circulates water to both top and bottom from a standard garden hose fitting. The spring assembly that clamps the rivets is stock. The stats off the makers plate are as follows : Model : TAE 32 5.2kva Primary Volts : 400 Primary Amps : 75/150 Phase : 1 Cycles : 50 The setting we ran it on was always 3, I assume that is 125A tap off the primary side of the transformer. The process for heating the rivet is as follows. As described previously grind a little off the head of the rivet to allow a good electrical contact to be made. Once the rivet is held in the jaws give it a quarter turn or so back and forward to seat the contacts well. Due to the larger mass in the head it will heat slower; we controlled that differential heating by opening the contacts at about the 30 second mark allowing the heat to run into the larger mass. Give it 5 odd seconds and then reclose the contacts to finish heating. In the last 20 seconds or so the rivet tongs can be angled left and right and run up and down the rivet to scrub the scale off. Due to the large magnetic force generated dont be alarmed when the machine takes the tongs out of your hand, and obviously dont wear a watch near one... Let me know if I can be of anymore help, Monster
  7. MM, I am the guy with the yellow hat on in the video putting the rivets in. Next Monday I have to go away for work and will go by where we keep that old green cooker. I will grab the details off the side and some photos of the beast and post them up for you. From memory, as it has been a while since use, it is a 3 phase machine, with water cooled replaceable copper heads. It took just under a minute to cook a 3/4" rivet from cold. The name of the man driving the cooker is Don French, a well respected boiler inspector from the New South Wales Railways. I have seen the cooker get the rivets so hot that the centre blows out under the force of the contactor arms, but that was only when the old man was distracted talking boiler stuff. There is a bit of prep in getting the rivets ready for the cooker; we found that the makers mark placed on top of the rivet head during manufacture had to be ground off otherwise there wasnt enough contact surface to get the 'trons to flow. As to the process. We had both a coke forge and a gas forge available but this was the most economical way to do it. The limiting factor was the hold up gear inside the tender. The mass of webbing meant that you could only get 2 or 3 rivets in at a time prior to having to put a new leg on the dolly and rearrange the props to get the right snap length. It ended up being wasteful on gas and coke. The best we managed was 70 rivets an hour, with the age of some of the guys that was moving. We have used that cooker for many jobs, from gun and snap to hydraulic horseshoe and it is perfect. In the time it takes to move the gear to the next hole you have another rivet ready. As it was a volunteer workforce the curator was keen to have everyone doing something so that they felt part of the process. Some of the iterations and workflows are more involved people wise than they needed to be, but I think that in the end the point is to include everyone that sacrificed the time to be a part of the longgg rebuild. As to the locomotive, it is now running on the main line around New South Wales. I will be in touch, Monster.
  8. hi darrel how things it was great to have u over and a forging good time , and by the way your birthday and mine is one date out 11-10 -57 cu good luck with your knee

  9. This year's event attracted the usual Aussie suspects along with some international participation from both the UK and US. Moony's shop opened for the weekend to all manner of ironworkers and professional Smiths, allowing many to exchange ideas and processes. All experience levels were catered for, from the anvil circle to the numerous power hammers. While many spent the weekend working on small stock it was also an opportunity to watch the professional techniques employed under the big Massey. Dinner was a massive success, with a traditional firepit BBQ; the hot rocks being replaced by large pieces of hot iron. All parted ways on the Sunday looking forward to next year's event ...
  10. That was the first thing I did when I left active service. The razor went away for over 12 months, no trimming, grooming etc... I have since shaved it again as I am doing some Reserve work and the Airforce doesnt tolerate lots of red, springy beard hair in cockpits...
  11. Too far for me to go and grab them... Look nice though. http://shop.ebay.com.au/2010mryan/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340
  12. Gents, Have a browse around this website, has two nice tutorials (with piccies) on a gas forge and burner. Karim uses both these in his knife and damascus classes and I have used both for a day turning out damascus billet with him. The billet was 1075 and 15N20, forge welding out to 200 layers over approximately 3 hours. http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/workshop-tour/tutorials I personally run a Ron Reil T-rex 3/4 burner and the price to get it here was quite reasonable. I havent changed it in any way and it worked out of the box the same day. If you are in the Hunter area I get my Kaowool (1400degC) from Insulation Industries and pay around $40 for a metre length. This was enough to line two single burner gas forges. The painted lining you described can be obtained from a place in Perth that does tubs of refractory wash, Karim lists the link on his suppliers page. I purchased a litre of ITC-100 from a Queensland firm but it came at a punishing cost. Here are some links to appropriate washes. http://www.rojan.com.au/upload/pages/zircon-wash/zircon-washes---new.pdf http://www.consolidatedrefractories.com.au/index.htm http://www.advancedthermalsupplies.com.au/products/thermal/ I go through a bit of clay kitty litter as well; I use it to change the gas volume of the forge depending on what I am trying to do. Just make sure it is clay, not the synthetic stuff. Monster.
  13. Thanks for the comments, The rough guide I was given came from this website : http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/03/renaissance-kitchen.html The other Aussie site that I have stumbled across is : http://www.manningimperial.com/ Thomas : Next time I am in New Mexico I will let you know, I was kicking around Albuquerque last year for 4 weeks and made time to catch up with the Gunter bros (just after they had finished fixing the Nazel). Was not aware there were so many talented smiths around Santa Fe. Will be good to also see how Albuquerque's large UP steam loco rebuild is going, might be some engineering blacksmithing work there in the next few years. Monster.
  14. Ferrous Freaks, Delivered this set to another work colleague who participates in the Australian Medieval Re-enactment circuit. He wanted a frame that could support multiple spits for cooking large feasts for the masses after a hard day of sparring and general medieval activities... The frame is 20mm round with 10mm punched and drifted holes. S hooks are 10mm square, 3 getting rudimentary dragon'esque' heads. The trivet is 20cm diameter, 20mm x 5mm flat bar. Forks started life as 20mm x 5mm flat as well. Most of the work was done with a gas forge and flypress. Oxy torch was used for localised punching duties. This was a fun set of gear to make, it was also my first foray into the punch/drift world with a number of lessons learnt, some through burnt skin and swearing. (They are the most fun though, you get something to show for the lesson at the end !). Welcome the criticism as always, quickest way to improve. Monster.
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