Paul TIKI

We do hit triple digits. It's not horrible humidity wise, but not as dry as your neck of the woods. The heat lingers even after the sun goes down. Makes me miss Albuquerque. My 100 year old house out here does have central AC, but the second floor is a penance without room air conditioners. I think the guy who designed the HVAC didn't really have much of a clue. when he put the duct work in who knows how many years ago. It would be great if I could get a balanced fan to afix directly to the shaft of the motor itself. that would keep things simple from an electronics standpoint. the downside is that there would be no cooling without actually running it. I could also use a microwave fan (of course being very careful to extract it safely and making sure the capacitors are discharged first), or maybe even a disused vacuum fan. If it could run steadily and draw enough air through the filter that would be perfect. Come to think of it, just have the whole thing plug into a switched power strip and use two plugs, one for fan, one for motor.

I'm a bit jealous, a hunk a steel that big for an anvil. May it serve you very well.

That looks really cool, Thomas. I made a leaf, and learned that the scrap cutoffs my son gets from his job are tough as xxxx. They are approximately 1/2 by 5/8 ar400 steel. Anyway, this leaf is just from a hunk of rebar. I dunno what the ar400 is going to be

Twigg, the motor enclosure will just be a wood box big enough to cover the motor and flywheel with a hole bored on one side with a bearing or bushing to create a seal of sorts so that the motors bearings don't get fouled. The box will then have a fairly good sized series of slot holes that can be covered with a filter so that air can actually get to the motor to keep it cool. the goal is to keep metal particulates from getting in there and causing problems. My first thought was to use sheet metal for the motor enclosure, but I don't think that sheet metal would really add anything to it. The whole idea is just to keep particulates out while allowing enough airflow for cooling. When I get around to bench testing I may decide it also needs a fan in the enclosure to move enough air. My speed controller is an old sears branded thing dad got a long time ago. If it works, great. If not, I'll have to figure something else out. After reading everything here, including the associated rabbit holes, I think what I will do is simply bench test it, see what kind of hoops I can make the motor jump through, and possibly build a mount and enclosure for it then set it aside for a while with associated notes. In the meantime, for grinding and sanding I will probably just save for a simple belt sander and perhaps a bench grinder from Menards of Harbor Freight, or even craigslist. That will let me do the things that need doing while I work on creating or adapting a space for the finish work on various things and eventually blades. Depending on the shop I build for myself, I may even turn that motor into a power hammer. I'm not in a rush. I still need to be able to reliably turn out a leaf, so I can wait on the big stuff

IIRC it says 150vac on the motor placard. It's in extra innings at this point, so if it dies while I am bench testing it, I'm not worried. The treadmill itself spent some time outside in all weather, so it may not work at all. The control board died for certain so I tore it all down to harvest the steel from it. the motor was a bonus, as were the rollers, though I don't know exactly know what I will use them for right now. the speed control will come from an AC variable speed control I got from dad ages ago. all I need to do is attach a grounded plug to the motor. the speed control has an ac outlet and a simple dial. So, a little bench testing first, then start designing whatever it is I will be building with it, if anything at all. been reading, and projects may be on hold for a long while. I need to build a shop of some sort, sheltered for everything, before I can do a whole lot. I spent some time trying to list out wants and needs and a big belt sander or power hammer are way down the list.

Asking a "Should I" question without all the details is something you shouldn't. Thomas Powers

The motor is not enclosed. I figure building an enclosure should not be too hard. A vacuum filter on an opening in a shell. Seal the shell otherwise. A bushing over the shaft to seal against crap gettin on the bearing.

I know so little about power hammers. I saw that there are a bunch of pneumatic ones, and those seem to be the most prominent, or at least most marketed. I haven't seen any electric ones, though given power hammer prices I haven't looked very hard. Might be worth a lot more research.

A grinder, be it a belt or a bench type is something I foresee a future need for. I will be needing it to sharpen lawn mower blades this coming spring and it will be handy for other things. I suppose an angle grinder can serve in the meantime. I want to eventually begin bladesmithing, but I got a lot to learn before i need something like a bigger belt grinder. I posed the question because I can do certain kinds of builds inside when the weather is nasty and lighting the forge is not an option. I just don't want to waste time and effort on something silly or, worse, dangerous. You're right of course that a "should i" question without full info usually means you should not. I'm just looking for the things I might be missing. For example, George pointed out the guard for the wheel itself, something I didn't even think of. So the bench grinder built with that motor is out. I think that motor might be a good candidate for a 2x72 belt grinder in the future, or a band saw maybe. Those two things are much farther out in the future. In the near future I will probably just buy a bench grinder or small inexpensive belt grinder to get things done while planning for the longer term I'm also wondering if it might be a power source for a small power hammer. That's a topic for a lot more research though. How much power do tire hammers need? Can they be run electrically at all? I dunno. Might be an interesting application for a strong treadmill motor, especially if I can do it safely and cheaply.

That makes sense. I hadn't thought about building a guard to protect me, just one to protect the motor from debris and metal shaving. So if I were to do this I would need to build a motor housing plus a strong enough guard for the wheel plus a work shelf. That's starting to push me more into "Just buy one from home depot" territory. I really want to make something cool from that monster motor because I love to up cycle and recycle stuff in interesting ways. I may just get it wired up to power something and just shelve it until I can plan out a 2x72 belt grinder build that won't break the bank. Any other things I could use it for? Maybe a small electrically driven power hammer (I think they are called tyre type hammers) or a garden gnome flinging device?

I gotta say, because of IFI and learning a little about blacksmithing has helped end 2020 on more of an up note, so thanks everyone!

Frosty, what, exactly, are you doing to get Orc toenail clippings in your forge fuel What are som uses for Orc toenail clippings? I can see maybe using them as a blade in a wood working plane or a chisel....

Heck, the boy has a better tool set than I do at this point, except for woodwork type stuff. His is mostly mechanics in nature. The blacksmith stuff is kind of a hodge podge of his and mine, So I'm trying to duplicate that. Who knows, except for the stuff he needs for his car, most of it might stay here unless he finds a place that has the room for him to set up for blacksithing. He's moving to a town that is even more remote than where we live now. JHCC, the angle grinder I ordered was $10.99 with the coupon, and I don't think I'll be using it so often as to be a problem, at least not for a while. I could be wrong though. My current model for stuff like this is buy cheap, use it til it dies al the while saving bit by bit for a better one. It works for cars too, and probably anvils . Since I have very rarely ever used an angle grinder up til now, I figure i'm gonna destroy it fairly quickly with rookie mistakes and would rather do that with a cheap HF one than an expensive milwaukee.

I have the motor out of a scrapped treadmill. it's a 2.5 hp 3500 RPM, I think single phase motor that should run a treat on 120v normal house electricity. I have a 120 v speed controller somewhere around here that can be used to control the speed f the thing. I'm debating wheter to use it as a bench or a belt grinder. First off, I know debris can get in and destroy the motor pretty quick so I plan on housing it in a sheet metal shell and using vacuum cleaner filters to block the worst of the particulates while still allowing airflow. The motor itself has a balanced flywheel on one side and a belt pulley for the treadmill on the other. What I was thinking the easiest thing would be to just mount an 8 inch grinding wheel on the side opposite the flywheel and call it good. That can get me operational at the lowest cost while I take the time to figure out how to do a no-weld setup for a belt grinder powered by the same motor. Am I gambling badly with my fingers with that kind of contraption? Should I just get a home depot kind of bench grinder or 1x42 belt sander and wait until I can gather the parts for a 2x72 grinder?

Well I hope your Drill Press adventure is the sort that only needs some neosporin and a few bandads rather than stitches or staples. I got a chance to go to Harbor freight's website and get some more basic stuff with the gift card my boy gave me. Since he is going to be moving out in a couple of weeks I needed to get some tools he'd be taking with him, like an angle grinder, some wire wheels, a 2 lb ball been hammer, and some other bits and bobs. I ald=ready have some plans on what to do with it.

In the flight test world, the impact was financial in a roundabout way. Unlike in normal stocks, where you have to pay taxes on inventory, these parts were already expensed out. All of the parts became a sunk cost for the company. Since they were for testing purposes and at one time been on an experimental aircraft, they could not be sold without additional and expensive certification, and if they were modified they could not be sold at all. So there was no way to make the money back except as scrap. The rub came in insurance. Since the warehouse contained many usable parts, things had to be insured. adding a 3 or 4 million dollar engine (book value) all of a sudden that can add a good bit to the insurance premium. Even if the engine was no longer usable. The hoarding engineers had the upper hand until the insurance quotes came back

Better those sorts of "Odin's Blessings" than that which Odin gave us that produces bad poetry I do like that clear color line between the blade and handle. If it were me I might add some sort of clear coat provided it doesn't interfere with comfort or functionality. Altogether it's very nice looking.

On the plus side to my story, they sussed out the problem, fixed it and there are no incidents that I know about since then. I know there is a lot of titanuim for things like wing mounts and engine mounts but I really don't know about it's use in the moving parts area. I'm not a mechanic, but I have had a lot of opportunity to look around in the stock rooms when I was working on an inventory control and reduction project in the flight test area. The fun part there was arguing with old engineers who thought that we should keep expensive parts because they were expensive, even though the aircraft they were for had undergone 2 significant re-designs for that part (like going from 4 prop blades to 6). Or that we needed to keep the water ballast system for a really old aircraft in spite of the fact that the seals were all bad and it had become a home for spiders and other critters. My favorite was the Rolls Royce engine. It was at least one generation out of use and had been badly scavenged. I think we ended up donating it to a local tech school just to get the dang thing off the books.

Chimaera, oddball idea, but if you want it a tiny bit nor grippy you could use a dremel to do a little crosshatch in the steel handle maybe. I dunno, I think it looks cool as is

I'm still a newb, but I have noticed that I don't need the heavy hammer for everything. I've taken to a lighter hammer if I don't need to hit something that hard, mainly on things like smaller scrolls (I call them scrolls, but they aren't very good yet) or on leaves. I don't break out the 3lb hammer unless I want to move a lot of material. I have also noticed that if I let the material get much hotter I can move more material with fewer swings. I know, pretty obvious, but I didn't know until I watched several youtube videos. I also take time to stretch and swing my arm around to limber up when the material is heating.

Nice looking work. Whenever I get around to bladesmithing (probably be a while, I want to be sure of my basics), A Kiridashi will probably be one of my first projects. T. P. I never really noticed a need for welding on a personal level before I started on this blacksmith journey. Kind of like you don't really think about plumbing until something goes wrong. I really wish I had a good thermonuclear heating and power setup, but the concentration devices are a bit more expensive than I can muster at the moment, so I have to rely on indirect thermonuclear on a 65,000,000 year cycle. not as efficient, but I already have the devices necessary to take advantage.

You prompted me to think "Who do I know who can weld" and the list is very short, and the nearest person is well over 500 miles away, not not a casual drive to get there. By his own admission he's not even that good a welder. I wonder how that gap in my aquaintences happened. I suppose I used to know several guys who knew how to weld, but that was through working at a couple of places that I absolutely despised and so built no decent relationships there.

Oddly enough the welder, the bathroom fan I use as a blower, several chunks of steel, the concrete cylinder I use as part of my anvil stand were all here and evidently not wanted by the previous owner. So I should thank him for this wonderful new hobby We paid cash for the house as a fixer upper so we were shopping for places that were cheap and with needed repairs being within my skill set. Let's just say I have had to add a lot to my skill set in order to male this place a home, and I need to learn a few more things to keep improving on my lovely 100 year old house.

My problem with that is that I have no idea how to weld. Actually, I kind of know the theory but I haven't touched a welder in 30 years. Brazing I can do. I have a welder downstairs that actually came with the house, sans leads. I need a 220 outlet and a long extension cord to be able to set it up safely, not to mention the PPE required, so it's down the list a ways. I have thought If I take a piece of rebar and make an L shape with a 3/8 square on one end (the short one) Make a straight piece with a loop that can slide up and down the L . secure in the vise, put a socket on it and then have an adjustable jig that can take different thickness stock and can bend to different (small) diameters. I even have an idea using a U and Y shape to set up a 4 point pattern using sockets of different diameters to create elaborate hair pins.