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I Forge Iron

eutrophicated1

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Flint, Michigan
  • Interests
    Materials Science, fresh water aquatic ecosystems, classical mechanics, chemistry, physics, personal aircraft, making stuff

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  1. O.K., Mr. Frosty, if you say so. You just better be triple sure about the "bolts" holding those idler pulleys on. They don't have hex heads, nor are they secured with female allen heads. The only other way they could be secured is that they're studs, welded or threaded into the platen and frame. That's why I 'asked' how they were attached. At least I'm willing to look, listen and learn, not you though. You're so busy being right, you don't have time to listen. And that's scary. DONE
  2. Well, I'm going to have to build a press, if I ever want to draw out some billets. Though I'll start with come stock reduction blades, then heat treat them. Because I also have spent the last 25 years doing IT work. Lots of stress and no hammering on stuff to relieve it. So now that I'm into my 4th quarter century, and having had triple bypass surgery 10 years ago, and having good welding and mechanics skills to go with my mechanical engineering/materials science education, I find it reasonable to consider a hydraulic press sooner, rather than later. Just gotta sell off some stuff, so I can get what I need to make a grinder first. And, BadOlPuttyTat, I also live in Michigan, in a suburban area, where over-sized Butler-hammers are verboten. So we may have one or two things in common here. I hope your wife doesn't think you're crazy too.
  3. Its a Jurassic hydraulic red-white-and-blue beast monster, heh heh. I love it. May there be many, many billets squeezed through there. You may not have enough room in your shop anymore. Maybe I should buy that drill press, and relieve some of that tool pressure.
  4. Hi, again, IBT. I hope you don't mind the contraction of your name. Mine is FJH. I was wondering what retainer system you used on the wheels for your grinder; and is the drive wheel fully mounted onto the motor arbor? It might be possible for the belt tension to move that drive wheel just enough at high speed to allow the motor arbor to "machine" the wheel hub rather quickly, especially where the keyway is. What material is that hub made of? Sorry to keep going on about these details; but the last thing I want to hear is an injury report.
  5. I don't know if I would trust my life to a wheel set as light as those appear. If a belt grinder throws a belt, because a wheel broke, parts/pieces could go flying every which way in a hurry.
  6. High, Dave, and welcome. I'm a newer member here as well. I have seen Jeremy's videos, and am impressed with that 2x72 design, and implementation. Jeremy is a prodigy for sure. And I plan on using his videos and documentation to build my own belt grinder. The only caution I would give is that the design requires significant fabrication and welding skills, and a high degree of dedication to the time needed to complete the project. This is a complex build, with quick-change attachments for: platen, 10 inch contact wheel, small wheels, small radius grinds and several types of table rests. I've seen videos of professional fabricators trying to build this beast of a machine, and messing up the job. Jeremy's build showed clearances of only .008" on the sliding accessory tube; the pros had to have twice that just to get the sliding fixtures to work. Sloppy. I would really appreciate seeing the progress of someone having a good result with the build. I believe that there are others on this forum who would also enjoy seeing your thread of such a build.
  7. At some point you may want to add an attachment for a 10 or 12 inch "large" wheel, very handy for hollow grinding and some handle work on blades. Also maybe an attachment for a set of small diameter wheels for those really tight radii grinds. These 2 by 72 inch grinders can be amazingly flexible in configurations.
  8. There's enough sulfur in cheap engine oil(and some expensive ones) that came out of the ground, to make a pretty good sulfuric acid for pickling steel. Its the sulfur oxidation process from all the engine starts and stops that turns the sulfur into SO2, which in turn breaks down the oil, to grab some of its hydrogen, then more oxygen to make H2SO4, which ionizes with the aid of more acquired water from yet more broken hydrocarbon chains into sulfuric acid. All that "Cracking" of hydrocarbons in your engine sump, is what turns the fresh oil black. The metallic wear factor in engine bearings, camshafts, lifters, rockers and cranks in motor cars comes out to be maybe 3 grams, over the whole life of a well-maintained engine. Dirt? what dirt, how's it going to get into the engine sump? Well, there are the situations of poor engine designs that let coolant into the cylinders. That'll make dirt. True synthetic motor oils are polymerized out of methane and ethane. There are a couple of synthetic motor oils that don't have sulfur in them. That's why they can last up to 50k miles. Similar synthetic oils were invented by the Germans during WWII to run their aircraft and panzer tanks. Maybe the best reason for using some of the vegetable oils is their higher flashpoints. Automatic Transmission fluids have much higher flashpoints yet, in the range of 600 to 800 degrees F. In fact, after 10 years of rebuilding tranis, I've never seen the fluid actually combust. Throw a lit match into it, and it just goes out. And I've seen some tranis so abused the fluid in them congealed into solid varnish. Of course there were the cases where the fluid came out stinking and black. The trani clutch-pack plates in those cases were friction welded together, like a damascus nightmare. It looks like most of the steel alloys are liquid-quenchable. So, which liquid(s) are best? None of the motor oils mentioned had associated viscosity or weights attached to them. Maybe multi-weight oils are better, if they actually increase in viscosity as they become super heated.
  9. Right, regarding the hammer time. I'm too old to start swinging more than a 2 pound'r much. I've seen several bottle-jack press builds, been wondering if I should go air-over hydraulic, or straight hydraulic pump. Didn't even bother to check the prices yet. I'll start with stock-reduction bladesmithing first, maybe some 1080 steel. See how that goes, then maybe build an electric heat-treat oven with PID. I actually made steel in my youth, the open-hearth furnaces in East Chicago, Indiana. Some 12 hour bottle-top stainless heats, then some zip-zip 3hr. mild steel heats, different furnace. 250-400 tons per heat. Beeeeeg ladles. Had to shovel & wheelbarrow 1200lbs of manganese, 600lbs of molybdenum, 500lbs of chromium, 400lbs of magnesium, etc etc per furnace load. Then tap the furnace with an oxygen hose threaded onto 12feet of 3/4" pipe. Then throw up to 20 50lb bags of coke into the trough leading to the ladle. Did you know that molten steel pouring down a trough is translucent? You can see into it, when you're wearing those dark purple glasses.
  10. A very good reference to that thermometer, Sharkfood; can it really "look thru" the furnace opening to a spot inside? Wondering how the lasers work; think I'll call Amazon, and ask one of their experts... or not. Maybe its just my OCD wondering... I might try building a natural gas forge for my shop next year. Welding machine first, then grinder, etc
  11. Thanks, Sharkfood, thanks, Thomas. This thread hit me in my ignorance wheelhouse, and I appreciate the very specific information.
  12. In case you ever look back on this topic, you can recover the iron that has rusted on the surface of any iron-based tool by putting it into a container with a baking soda solution in water in it, having first cleaned the part or tool with acetone to remove all oils or grease. Then hook the part up to your small auto battery charger set to about 2 amps. Positive hooks up to a steel framing nail hung over the inside edge of the container and suspended by a single strand of bare copper house wire. Negative hooks up to the rusty part. Turn on the battery charger and observe. The bubbles rising off the part surface are 'some' of the hydrogen, taken from the water; The metal strip releases oxygen, also taken from the water. The baking soda just makes the water more conductive. Some of the hydrogen taken from the water grabs the oxygen in the rust, and makes water, which goes back into the solution. The oxygen in the rust is removed, leaving much of the iron in the original part. Doing this in the open air means that no hydrogen will remain close by. The process is called electrolysis, and has many practical variants, metal plating, for one.
  13. If its O.K., secondary questions: 1. Are there low cost thermometers for forges? 2. Is it common practice to modify the flame in propane furnaces to have a reducing mixture? 3. Is anyone using a thermostat to adjust the flame in propane fired furnaces?
  14. What an array of grit, etc, heh heh. What size wheels will that 1hp Jet turn?
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