JNewman

Forge welding very small pieces together is tricky. Why not forge the cross from one piece. You could punch or drill holes in the corners and then split off the arms, or do a Christoff cross (Phil posted a link above). You could also forge a cross onto the face of a piece of flatbar, think repousse but thicker material.

I have been having the same problem. Customers who used to pay on 45 days are now 60+ and companies that were 60 are now 90+. The problem is they are getting paid slower so they are paying slower.

I try and get the shop better organized and uprgade equipment. This has two benefits firstly I will be more efficient when I get busy and secondly, invariably when I have the shop or machinery torn appart rush work starts rolling in. Things got a little slow last week so I tore the Massey appart I then got a rush pattern to make. I delivered the pattern Monday and thought lets move the small hammer to a new location before I use it to make the center pin for the Massey I started on that and an order of 50 hooks and chisels that get welded on a pipe that I quoted in June finally came in of course it is now a panic rush. Today an order for 2 pair of 40" long tongs came in and a panic rush pattern modification. So while I would like to finish cleaning and organizing the shop paying work has to come first.

I forged and machined the center pin for my hammer today. I ended up having to make the pin offset by about .05". I am not sure why it ended off by that much I think it may have been a couple of things that added up. There was already a shallow hole about 1.25" with mashed corners where I had to drill the 1.5" hole in the anvil, picking up the center of that hole when I figured out where to machine the slot in the sow block was tricky. I got everything back together and dressed the front of the top die a little because the front edge of it was not straight, it was bulged out about 1/16". Tomorrow I just have to grease up the key and reset it solidly.

Thanks Patrick I think I will pick up a copy as soon as cashflow gets a little better. I have been shipping out quite a bit of my heat treating lately, and for a lot of my larger orders I think I may continue doing that. They have far better temperature controls than I do and as long as the order is big enough to be over their minimum I think is is more cost effective.

Anything over 30c is too hot I'll take the cold. Just above 0c here right now, got to get a little colder so the ski areas can make snow.

Here is a picture of the foundation I put in a year ago for my Massey. I dont have a picture after I removed the formwork before the hammer went in but you can see how there has to be a hole under the hammer. A Nazel will take a rectangular hole rather than the octagon for the Massey but you can get the idea. It is 5'x8', 5.5' deep, I was going to go 6+ feet deep but I hit bedrock and groundwater.

Good to see that hammer is going to get used. Because that hammer is a two piece hammer you will either need to cut a hole in that floor or build something like Ralph has done in the picture at the bottom of this page. Plans Available. You will want to take your time to get everything level and lined up so your dies line up true to one another.

Lee Valley tools has a childproof kitchen/bathroom cabinet latch that is actuated by a knob that is a magnet. Maybe you could buy that and adapt it to you use. Another option is to put a latch in a hidden place or that operates in a counter intuitive method like a knob you have to pull rather than rotate on a door you push. The business next door to my shop has an old stamped sheet metal suffolk latch on their front door which is a door built into a big sliding door, it is amazing how many people come into my shop because they cannot figure out how to get into the neighbours shop. I think an employees only sign is probabaly a good idea as well, but I don't think threatening customers is good for business

A mild steel drift should do just fine.

Phil for your bolster block. get it hot and drift it out.

I cannot believe you think $30 is expensive for tongs.

The Massey is 1/8" to the foot which seems to be a common taper. The less taper means a stronger grip and I would assume it would make it less likely to come loose. It does make machining the key a little more touchy as taking a small amount off the key allows it to go quite a bit further into the dovetail.

Blacksmith depot is in North Carolina and will ship. They have all the things you are looking for and will ship to you. They have good prices and are good to deal with. In the spirit of full disclosure I do supply Blacksmith Depot with swage blocks, cone mandrels and Firepots.

Good to see you back Frosty I am glad to here you are recovering. I broke my skull 14 years ago and recovery was a long road. It does make you appreciate the things you have and how lucky you are to be on that road. A rehab hospital can be a very scarey place. The next year will be a balancing act of pushing yourself hard but not overdoing it. Contact me if you want to talk to another head injury case.

As Grant mentions the heights are very important, if you set the anvil too low you could tear the hammer appart and possibly hurt someone the first time you use it.

There are quite a few OABA blacksmiths in Durham. Come on out to a couple of meetings and you will likely meet some. There is a wide range of abilities in the organization beginners are more than welcome. The next two meetings are the opposite side of Toronto from you but are not that far especially the February meeting in Milton.

After thinking about it a little more I think you problem was you were fileting surfaces when you had a solid.

Can you generate toolpaths from the dxf files you can produce in sketchup Pro?

Now I want to know how you printed a jpeg from Rhino. I had to save them as a pdf

Try Surface-fillet surface, then pick all 4 corners and enter. I think the command you were using was for inside corners. If you use the command I was using and pick the corners and apply them one at a time you end up with funny corners but you do end up with a solid as opposed to the solid with impossible surfaces.

I just took the Sow block in to a machine shop to get a slot machined in it. I will borrow my neighbors magdrill next week as soon as the 1.5" Multi-tool drill I ordered comes in. Hopefully I will have the hammer back together by mid week next week.

I have a couple of the guys who worked in the shop my 5cwt (600lb) hammer came out of. My hammer is refered to as "The Little Hammer".

All the above is good advice, another option if you have a lot to do and this is a paying job is to find someone with an ironworker and pay them to punch them for you. Sometimes paying for an hour of someone else time can save you a days work.

I usually use the edge of the anvil for drawing rather than the pein.