Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Henry Lockley

Members
  • Posts

    18
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    North Midlands

Recent Profile Visitors

826 profile views
  1. I found the steel locally in the area which someone was selling. It was on EBay, collection only here in the UK. Looking back it was a bargain, I’d imagine to buy it new would cost at least £200, per sheet. I did pay £20 per sheet, each being 1.5 metres long and half a metre wide. It’s made some fantastic benches and the forge which I built.
  2. It will be on top of a beer keg which is stainless if that makes a difference, will the heat of smoke and hot gasses still damage it? Thanks
  3. Tonight I tried the forge out to see what needed to change. I need to cut deeper slots in the angle iron so long rods are lower down to the forge pot. The blower is toooo powerful, with the ash pan thing at the bottom fully open it still is too much and it’s so noisy. Before investing in an expensive blower, I hope to try and fit a voltage controller to lower noise and make it more tame. Other than that the forge is perfect for me, I can heat up so much more steel stock than with the old brake drum forge, which would only do ends of rod and melt the tip off. I am pleased with what I’ve done, I’m 17 so when done with the full time IT course at college and the night time welding course I hope to make this more than a hobby and have something profitable. I’ve got a shed to build which will be the next project for me but I have one last question. For the chimney, I intend on using 10 inch aluminium spiral tubing for the flue pipe. Is this going to be okay or am I missing something. Obviously it won’t rust but will it last, as steel 10 inch pipe is eye watering expensive and money is tight with my part time job. It’s only cost me £20 to build the forge so far, the fan and angle iron was lying around only had to pay £20 for the 12mm steel sheet.
  4. You are right, the blower is way too much for the forge. I know because the brake drum forge I had before had a 2 foot flame from the coal because it’s too much. It’s a bouncy castle blower. I thought having an Air gate would remedy it but even fully open it’s still too much. And it’s noisy. I hope to put a voltage controller on the fan to really tame it.
  5. Well I’m yet to build the shed for it lol I’ll get around to it one day. I have a hydraulic press which the shed will get build around. I wanted to make a forge capable of heating big stock which can get be used in the press. Hope to make stuff like axes and custom work one day. Here’s a photo of the press
  6. Yeah I’ll cut some V slots in the sides. How high should the 10” chimney go to work well
  7. Well, it’s more like the end of my coal forge. The blower is fitted and has a crude but functional air gate/controller however at some point I’ll have to buy a voltage controller thing to really control the power. Other than that and the fact the legs need to be shortened I have finished the forge aspect but now we get to the chimney. I’m thinking of opening up one side of the beer keg and having it as a side draft, the keg is around 2mm and 318 stainless, so it should be okay. How big should the opening be to let the smoke go through on the keg? And, what width/height should I go for with the chimney flue pipe? I’ve got about 3 or 4 metres of 6 inch pipe but I doubt it will be big enough to function well. Please excuse the dire welds on the forge I was kind of rushed.
  8. So, I’ve done abit more to the forge. I’ve welded in the fire pot and welded up the legs. What I plan on doing next is welding abit of 5 inch flue pipe to the bottom of the forge pot, it’s already a T shape so that should be fine. Now, my plan on a chimney is a beer keg with a hole in the side next to the fire pot to work as a side draft chimney. I’ll obviously have to connect the beer keg to a big chimney but will this work? I have a few photos below to hopefully explain my plan. Thanks
  9. I am hoping on doing really anything, not that it answers the question. Knives, pokers, punches, small axes, tongs as I have none. I want to get it right so in a months time if I want to try making Damascus I won’t need a bigger forge. I’m debating if 12mm will last long enough, it’s not going to be a full time thing but if it ends up turning into that I hope it serves me well. What height should I have for the forge? Thanks for the reply.
  10. I’ve been building my first “proper” coal forge these past few weeks. My past attempts have consisted of quickly made badly designed forges, one of which was a cut open beer keg with a brake drum in the middle and a few bricks to add height to the pot. It could heat metal ok but the fire pot design meant that if I tried to heat a length of steel up it would melt the end of and it would not be possible to heat the middle of rod up. A while back on eBay I saw for sale 12mm steel sheets 1500mm by 500mm for £20. I bought four of them to make benches with but I thought I might aswell build a good forge with them. So far I’ve fabricated a forge pot, dimensions 12 inch by 10 inch, and the pot seems massive. The depth of pot is about 4 inches. Is this pot too big? Adding to that, will my pot need more steel cutting from the bottom to add air flow. I have a few slits cut but I’m debating if it’s enough. And, is my pot mounted correctly to the plate. I intend on having a beer keg with a hole cut in the side to be placed next to the fire and have a side draft chimney. Also, how high should I mount my forge, anvil height? Anddddd, how tall, wide should the chimney be? Sorry for the questions, don’t want to mess up my forge build. I’ll burn standard house coal not coke, if that helps. Hopefully my photos are okay, if some of these questions are already on the forum I apologise, I mainly want to know if what I have to so far is okay but I might aswell ask about the chimney and height for when I get to it. Many thanks for your time, Henry.
  11. Sorry, I meant nut not bolt. I placed a nut over it and filled it full of weld. It still didn't work tho, the extractor kit shocked me as I was expecting it to break under the pressure from the wrecking bar. I will take the extracted bolt to the only place I know of that will measure and see what they can do. My hopes aren't high as I'm expecting it to be old and uncommon but that's how it goes. Also, the bolt is expanded due to the extractor going in. It looks like an NPT bolt now. The extractor is still stuck inside the bolt so that's gonna be fun getting out. How much do you charge for the 30kg press? It looks handy. Thanks Henry
  12. Thanks for the insight. I had a Norton N4 given to me but the grub screw was stuck and someone cut the head of it off and ground it flat with the tooling still stuck inside. It was an absolute bugger to remove. I welded a huge bolt to the grub screw and it just snapped off. Ended up using an extractor kit and it took a wrecking bar and a pipe to get it off. Just need to get a replacement grub screw now but don't know where to get one as the thread is quite coarse. I'm very lucky as my brother is a mechanic so it was his welder and extractor kit. I can make all the tooling using his equipment, I'll just buy the steel. I also found inch thick steel plate which I can use to bolt tooling to and bolt that to the base. Thanks, Henry
  13. How do presses work with regards tooling? I know I'd have to make my own, same goes for my flypress. But does all the tooling bolt to the base or does the tooling change on the ram that comes down? Sorry I don't know the technical terms for presses I know nothing about them. Regards, Henry
  14. Could I make much if I sold the entire machine as is? Then bought a modern press with a single phase motor prefitted that is lighter and doesn't weigh a ton, literally. Thanks for the comments, keep em coming. Regards Henry
  15. When the machine is fitted I will have to decide then if it's suitable. My primary concern is the 2HP motor. Does anyone think I could make money if I sold it, how much would a suitable motor cost? Thanks, Henry
×
×
  • Create New...