Hi all!
My Hero Forge saga continues :-)
I picked up this forge abou ta month ago, it's all belt driven, whereas most rivet forges I've seen have a quarter gear that moves the flywheel, this one has two belts instead of the gear.....
I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it all up, got everything moving and spinning the way it should be. Got it all back together, started to test out to get ready for new homemade leather belts.... using Paracord to get the right sizes ;-)
Well, I think I have the wrong flywheel.... the flywheel should spin clockwise in order to spin the blower clockwise... however, the clutch portion only locks up to spin the flywheel counter clockwise :-( I attached a picture to show what I mean.. hopefully....
you can see the tabs on the flywheel portion that will only lockup with the axle portion to spin the wheel counter clockwise....
am I correct in saying that there is no way that this thing will spin in the right direction by the pull of the wooden handle? There is also a spring on the inside between the flywheel and axle portion that pushed the axle portion away from the flywheel... I feel that spring is in the wrong postion and should push the axle portion toward the flywheel clutch and not away from..
I have no reason to suspect that this flywheel is not original, although it may very well not be original by the look of things....
anyone have the clutch pieces for a clockwise rotation and need a counterclockwise setup? or want to sell the assembly or pieces?
two pictures... first one of the entire assembly... second one of the closeup of the "axle portion" of the clutch
I'd love to get this old girl runnign again properly... I'd rather not hand make the clutch pieces in order to do so.... but I'm at a loss as to where I might even begin to find pieces like this :-(
thanks all!
Mike B
oh and the "actuator" arm that usually has a big steel weight on it that the wooden handle attaches to is broken, so no big weight... I can substitute a bungee cord or two for now for that....
However, it's on the right side of the flywheel, which is opposite of what I see on all the other forges... usually that big "ball" arm is on the left, along with a gear mechinism for moving the big flywheel.... mine is all on the right side.....