JNewman

There is a TON of BS out there regarding 3d printing. I first saw a 3d printer about 19 years ago. And while they have come a long way I am not too concerned about them replacing me. Most of the machines print plastic parts laying layers of plastic down and have a fairly small envelope. They are SLOW. They are good for prototype parts and parts that would take very expensive tooling to produce a limited number of parts. The FDM machines which are the most common require a post finishing step if you want a nice smooth surface (less so in higher end machines) The machines producing metal parts are in the $500,000and up price range and are again very slow with a small work envelope. You have to charge a lot of money for parts to pay for a $500,000 machine. Especially when you need to use high priced metal powders to produce your parts As well 3d organic shapes take a fair bit of work to generate Cad models for and take expensive software which is also a barrier for entry and again pushes prices up.

With this being a kit, I assume some of the components could be changed to do a higher capacity version?

I am looking forward to seeing the completed kits. How many KW will these unit's be? They seem to be able to go to a lower frequency than the Chinese machines? I heat a lot of 1"-3" round and from what I understand the lower frequency is better for heating the center of heavier bars.

As a patternmaker and blacksmith this is an awfully ambitious project and I don't think you will get a better offer than John is giving you. Do you have access to a large boring mill? You are not going to bore the cylinders on a hammer of that size on a bridgeport or even a hammer a quarter of that size. As someone who has been building patterns for a living for 20 years, Off the top of my head the pattern and coreboxes for just the frame of that size hammer would be well over 300-400hrs in a well equipped pattern shop with journeymen building it. CNC equipment would speed things up a little but that is a whole other set of skills. There would also be $2000-3000 worth of lumber. There are also several other castings and the crankshaft which probably should be a forging. This is all before you start machining.

Don't use if you have a pacemaker.

Congratulations on the new hammer Larry. That looks like a nice hammer. The 600-750lb range is a nice size for a one man industrial shop. It allows you to work short pieces of 3-4" alloy steel efficiently especially under fair sized taper dies or using swages. It won't be long before you have jobs where your foot is to the floor . But it is small enough that you should be able to change dies by yourself and the speed is fast enough to still work some smaller stock. That hammer paired with your 2b will be a really nice setup for your shop.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=calgary+blacksmith+course&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=hmeMU8O0D6aC8QeZ4oDoCA Mark Pearce is a well known blacksmith who has done demos and courses all over North America. As well I would think the Nait and Sait courses would be good as well. I would definitely join the WCBG as well.

I know a couple of smiths out in the Calgary, Canmore area. There is probably a local Abana chapter. Link up with them and you will likely find someone who teaches locally. As well you will learn a lot at hammer ins, often for free or a nominal fee.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/03/students-death-from-exploding-barrel-an-accident-coroners-jury-rules A zip wheel on a closed barrel can be fatal as well.

Just watched Robb's show. Looked pretty good, not too much artificial drama. Fairly light fare not a ton of technical info but the show is not written for us. If it were it would never last. From the first show it looks like they have a show that may be interesting for the general public. Hopefully for Robb it will do well.

A lathe can be a very useful tool in a blacksmith shop as can many other tools. But the one thing you have to be careful of is not to fill your shop with so many useful tools that you can no longer work efficiently in the shop because you don't have enough room. I have seen too many shops that are so filled with tools etc. that it is impossible to work in the shop. I got an old conehead southbend lathe a few years ago for free and while I did use it for a few jobs I was disappointed with the performance of a lathe that old. Without the change gears it would not thread and I finally sold it cheap to free up room in the shop so I could keep my smaller power hammer when I installed my Massey.

I copied an idea from Tom Latane. I made a mount for a smaller post vise that drops into the hardy hole of my anvil. If I need the post vise I can drop the mount into the hardy hole and then drive the wedge in to attach the mount to the vice. You will still have the weight of the vice but won't need the separate stand.

I bought my 5 gallon jug from a place Ptree recommended a few years ago on Keenjunk or Forgemajic. My understanding is this company no longer exists. Tom Clark was selling pints or quarts of this lube already diluted. But I don't believe anyone is currently selling it in small lots. This lube is not graphite based it looks like a dark oil but is not an oil either.

I have a 5 gallon drum of the commercial lube and I like it for some things like punching a bunch of holes, I also use it on some bending dies I use on my press. What I don't like about it is the necessity to heat the tools enough to flash off the water. If I am punching a hole or 2 it can be a pain to use. I am using it watered down much more than Ptree is, I will have to try a richer mix. I have a mix of graphite and oil that works really well but is smoky. I don't like using a lot of it because of the smoke. Anti seize is similar in smokiness and effectiveness but the graphite oil mixture is way cheaper. I also have graphite mixed with water and a tiny bit of dish soap to help it mix in. The graphite tends to settle to the bottom so it has to be mixed regularly. and it really makes a mess I get black spots on everything. Where I use the graphite water mix is in dies that tend to pound scale in to the work. I make sure the dies are wet so the steam blasts off the scale. It does keep the dies cool enough that they chill the work but it really helps prevent deep pits from the scale. I would not want to be without any of the lubes I am using. They all have strengths and weaknesses and it makes sense to use the different ones for different uses. I have the 2 liquid lubes in garden sprayers and will fill a cup for a specific job if necessary. The oil graphite mix is more a paste and I keep it in a plastic tub.

I have not done any of them but I believe they go up to $400-500 each for sharpening. Read Grant's advise on sharpening them from a few years ago. He recommended using a big bandsaw to sharpen the big ones rather than forging them. The handling of a 4- 6" point would concern me the most during forging.

Snips can make some nice scrolling tongs. But I would wait until your forging skills are much better before modifying them. If you modify them at this point, you will be very unhappy with your mods in a year or 2. I agree with Frosty on the rebar thing. Steel is cheap!!! I make my tongs from 1045 but make your first few pairs out of mild steel.

That 9260 you got from me Neil would be as good as well.

I just have a big block of steel that I rest my heel on. I was in someone's shop where they had a rail mounted to the floor to rest their foot on. But I would still like to see Phil's setup.

I don't know what steel Stuart is using but I would say any spring steel would be good. 5160 or something similar. I would differentially harden the tool. Temper the body to a spring temper and then harden the claw tips and point a little harder. Especially with this being used on a roof bending would be far better than breaking

I just took a picture of a top die that I made for shaping 1/8" thick 4 stainless bowls I had to make and have to make about every 16 months. It is similar to what you have drawn but bolt on and a little crude. The bowls have to end up with the sides vertical. The hammer die did not work well for the deep bowl. It did beat me up quite a bit when I tried to do it cold and was tricky for the sides as the opposite side of the bowl is in the way as you are trying to work the inside sides. I have used a flypress to sink bowls which has the advantage that the slower motion does not jerk the bowl around like a hammer does. I will try to post pictures of the die tonight

I know an armourer who uses a spring swage under his air hammer to rough out his armour. I second the Clifton Ralph video suggestion there is a TON of good information in them. They are a sure fire insomnia cure though.

I am shocked at how bad even a lot of expensive big box store drill bits are. Buy your drill bits at an industrial supply house better bits are often cheaper. In smaller sizes I usually buy at least a couple of a size I need.

All that being said most of the pokers I have made are for outside firepits and I make them 30-36" long and I start with 5/8 to 3/4" stock taper it down to about 3/8" square leaving a heavy section on the end. I flatten that out to 3/8" flat punch a hole and split the end to make the hook. 3/8" square is plenty on the business end.

I think there are 2 issues here the stock thinning beside the weld and the strength of the weld itself The difference between the "blob" weld posted and the regular faggot weld is the heavier section in the weld zone so that any thinning will leave the bar at a constant section. Having the heavier section is definitely good practice. However if the weld is done very carefully like Dan P has shown us with his nice work posted the thinning is minimal. Did you upset the stock prior to welding Dan? Rather than upsetting the bar tapering the bar away from the weld location is another way to end up with more material for the weld. The sharp inside corner on a faggot weld that does not have a glut welded into it essentially is a crack in the weld whether there is thinning or not. A solid faggot weld will still hold for a fire poker. While I would be very unhappy if a poker I made failed at the weld it is not a life and death situation like a lifting device. poker .PDF

All of the above are best for different cuts. You need to decide what type of cuts you will be doing most and what the ends of your stock needs to look like. I really like my dry cut saw for quick cuts in 5/8" and under. It leaves a really nice clean cut and would probably work well for pipe and tubing as well but I have not cut a lot of that since I go this saw. I also use it for some miter cuts in 1x1.5" solid bar which it does not cut efficiently but the clean cut which is a finished surface makes it worthwhile. The vise which is similar to the vise on an abrasive chop saw is terrible for cutting miters. For the mitering I use it for I actually don't use the vice I have a fixture that mounts to the vice jaw. If I had the room I would set it up mounted in a table with a rear fence with a moveable stop. The abrasive chop saw is a horrible tool but if you are hard or potentially hard material it is the way to go. Mine sits on the shelf most of the time but is the only way to go for the odd job. I bought my big industrial bandsaw used for only $500 and it is THE tool for cutting 1" and up and I can cut multiple bars at the same time but it is slow to set up and the factory stop is not that accurate and difficult to set. I don't have a shear apart from a pair of bolt cutters and a scissor cutter which I both use to cut bars 3/8and under if the end condition is not important. The bevels on the end do make a nice end for welding penetration. A shear usually distorts the end of the bar somewhat but is often the fastest cut. The roll in saw mentioned above has a lot of versatility and while not as good for production as a horizontal saw it more than makes up for in versatility.