pkrankow

George M

Thank you for the clear explination.

Phil

You wouldn't be the first

I guess it is pretty easy...

Phil

Make sure you use a non-checking rod. You do not want surface cracks. (no I didn't look up your choice)

A build up rod is often the correct choice, high hardness, high impact resistance. Work hardening is accepable. Wear resistance is not high on the list because forging is relatively non-abrasive (vs digging sand, gravel and dirt).

Since you are in England material choices are not always the same as here in the US. If you talk with the person at your welding supply shop during a slower time they may be able to help you select the correct material. Get some Tempil sticks while you are there in the correct pre-heat temperatures (just below, at, and just above) while you are there.

Phil

My free standing champion hand crank blower is probably about 75# (34 kg) Get a hand truck or put wheel on.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200407917_200407917?cm_mmc=Google-pla-_-Material%20Handling-_-Hand%20%2B%20Utility%20Trucks-_-188231&ci_sku=188231&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw={keyword}

Maybe your local library has this
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Build-Centrifugal-Fans-Home/dp/0917914600

or you can take a junk cloths dryer and strip the blower out.
http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/blueprints/100-series/bp0128-forge-blower-r361

or talk to the local heating and cooling repair shop about a furnace blower or exhaust blower from a gas furnace or gas hot water heater, working used with noisy bearings (the reason it would be replaced) but some regular oiling can keep it running for a long time. Yes this attaches you to electricity. If you take the fan assembly, hook it up to a drive train that give you about 50:1 from a crank handle and you can make it hand crank.

Phil

Maybe photographs would help?

http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/blueprints/100-series/bp0141-building-a-bellows-r373
http://www.iforgeiron.com/page/index.html/_/blueprints/100-series/bp0127-bellows-construction-r360

You can wrap the head in tape and draw reference lines with a sharpie.

With the cheap hammer I destroyed, it went noticably softer somewhere about 3/8 inch of stock removal. Yes, you can dress a hammer to death.

Phil

Sure would like to see the results.

Same here, even though I have been "Mr. Negativity" :o

Phil

The water drum bellows is described in Harries and Heers "Basic Blacksmithing" about page 113
you can download a pdf here...well, I can at least...I don't know how well it will work in your part of the world.

http://www.webpal.or...ods/pioneer.htm

Any type of valve will require neat accurate cutting. Is there a friend of yours with some carpentry skills who can help?

Phil

I once used a shop vac to take em out.........If you've got the nerve...... :unsure: ...... position the hose close to the hole then turn on the vac. They don't know anything's afoot until they get sucked up.......It takes awhile but after an hour or two nearly all of em come or go right up the Ol' wazoo. Then you're left with a shop vac full of very pis....well you know.... :D .....A good long shot of juice and they're ready for the ash can........... B)

I have a 10 ft "wand" for my shop vac so I can clean the great room ceiling. Piece of PVC pipe and shop vac adapter from the big box.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_37045-20097-9068711_0__?productId=1085001&Ntt=vac+adapter&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dvac%2Badapter&facetInfo=
Phil

Shop vac. turn it on and place the hose very near the enterance. Leave it run. Return about an hour later. The guards will be sucked up and many of the workers, so approaching will be easier. They will try attacking the hose and the vibrations will keep them coming. The dust and trip through the vacuum hose should kill the critters, but not immediately. Send about a tablespoon of boric acid up the vac before shutting it off if you are concerned about their survival. Don't empty the vac for a couple hours in case of survivors.

This is not a knock out treatment, it is just a treatment to make it easier to approach to apply a knock out treatment.

I have never tried this on big yellow jackets, but it works a treat on the little gound bees I sometimes get (about 1/2 inch from head to stinger). A tablespoon of boric acid into the nest and a shovel of dirt on top of the entrances has taken care of them for me after the vacuum treatment.

Phil

I am halfway in Stewart's opinion of "why" since there are easier way to deal with a rusty anvil than setting up electrolysis from scratch (an anvil face cleans up quite quickly from use in fact).

I personally have not tried electrolysis, simply because I have not had a reason to expect electrolysis to work better or easier than cleaning means I already have set up, so maybe the unknown is part of it.

Part of it is tounge in cheek fishing out if he is working on something that a much much larger container would be specifically necessary, and an anvil happens to be a good excuse to give it a test run. (Gosh, did I just call my self a troll?)

Phil

How do you add carbon to something?

Heat it up in the presence of carbon...carbon happens to move very quickly through steel and steel alloys. Carburizing is a common specialized industrial process used in heat treating.
http://en.wikipedia....iki/Carburizing

This can be as simple as packing a "can" with iron and carbon bearing material, say wood chips, charcoal, or leather and animal horn, or it can be complex like in modern industry where sometimes an atmosphere conrolled furnace is used and carbon bearing gas is used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cementation_process

In practice if you took ore and made an iron bloom in a charcoal (carbon) fired furnace you probably have to reduce the carbon content a little. Boiling molten pig iron (cast iron, over 2.5% carbon) in balling or puddling furnace is one way, another is to fold it repeatedly at welding temperatures.
http://en.wikipedia....ng_(metallurgy)

There is no one simple answer, instead there are many similar, related processes to solve a set of situations : too much carbon, too little carbon, too much impurities, etc.

Phil

I've broken my left, non dominant elbow three times over the years. Thankfully not my right. As far as advice goes, do what the Physical Therapist tells you, even when it feels better, even when it feels fine and you think you're fully recovered, keep up the PT.

I injured my rotator cuff (right shoulder), and both wrists in high school, almost 15 years ago. I still do the PT somewhat regularly, usually as a warm up since it is nice and light.

Phil

Well guy's this is my main vise & stand. Two pieces of 30mm plate with 50 x 50mm solid formed legs & married together with centre piece that acts as the hold point for the leg of the vise. I

Seriously built there. I guess you don't have to go back to the anvil for light straightening.

I am sorry to hear about your dog, every one is special one way or another.

Phil

http://www.waymarkin...a0-56009536d09f
http://www.oldindustry.org/OH_HTML/OhioIron.html

I don't know which are natural draft and which are forced air, but there are a lot of furnace ruins and restored ruins to look at all over the world.

Phil

There's no lights on it...is it road legal?

Phil

I'll have to look into it more to see if its worth it. I wiped off the dirt and got the specs off the unit today.

Fourney C-3
180 amps max output
Input 230v @ 32 amps
duty cylce 20%
power factor corrected

Will,
I am an addict for old equipment!......... That said, any peice of equipment meant to handle max. 12mins of work every hour has got to be even in the manufacturers opinion a peice of dogs..t. it probably has a good deal of copper inside. possibly worth twice its commercial value stripped and sold as scrap............Stripped i.e. clean copper is worth a heck of a lot more than a whole machine!

Thing is until you get into an industrial welder, 20% duty cycle, weld 2 minutes, wait 8 minutes. If you pull the covers off and the coil is still fully varnished with no obvious burns on it, it probably is still good as a welder, even if it isn't industrial grade. (Or do you have better already?)

If the varnish is falling off, there are signs of burning inside, not just piles of dirt and dark varnish, then maybe it is better to scrap it anyways. If it is broken, then strip it apart and maximize the value you get!

Phil

Since you have the tub on hand I guess you don't need a motive other than a clean anvil. If you had to drop $60 on a tub, or spend more than a few minutes working out a solution then I would still have to believe you had a different purpose than just cleaning an anvil.

I look forward to the results.

Phil

Several books illustrate using a chisel to form the tip after forging the rest of the blade to shape and thickness. A grinder is the same thing really.

Phil

Did you clay it?
Phil

Torque converter, that's interesting.

Since charcoal, coal, coke, all contain usable fines the screen is going to let good fuel fall through. Your table does not need to be thick, but it does need to be solid. With reinforcing thin sheet metal will be suitable.

You will want a brace to support the weight of the firepot if you go with thin metal for the top. You can use some angle or similar. You will also want to weld in something in the gap between the torque converter and the firepot frame.

Since you have a nice heavy duty frame something that can fold down and be used for long stock would be nice.

Good start, looks useful overall.

Phil

Um...I want one in my living room by I think my wife won't be amused.

Looks great!

Phil

round cookie tin?
http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Dansk-Butter-Cookies-Lb/dp/B001QX6FWC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1348326697&sr=8-5&keywords=butter+cookies

Phil

Scored 4 packs of heavy leaf springs about a month ago.

Also picked up an old Curtis 2 stage air compressor & a forney arc welder at auction. I think the tank on the compressor is 80 or 90 gallons. The welder is missing all the leads and the power cord is shot, probably try to resell it or scrap it out.

SMAW leads are cheap to make (well, not crazy expensive at least).

Tap plugs are easy to make from brass if you have a lathe too (nobody uses them anymore, so you are stuck). Measure the hole, turn a bar to size, chamfer/ball the tip, and drill the back side for accepting the cable to be soldered/sweated in. Saw the front side almost to the shoulder, clean up burs with sandpaper or a file.

Get some PVC that fits over the cable and drilled portion of the bar. Drill a small hole into the side of the lug though the PVC and fasten with a small screw.

I almost had to make a set of taps for my welder, and after discussing with the old man at the welding shop this was his suggestion. My taps cleaned up just fine. I had to sweat out the old wire, and sweat in the new.

If you change your mind and toss the machine keep your new leads for use on another machine, although you will probably need to change the ends.

Pictures of the old plugs before cleaning in this thread. I can take new pictures of the cleaned up plugs if you want.


Phil

I like the ambiguious warnings in the article.

I will have to check, but most of the sunscreen lables I have read recommend 20 minutes before going outside after application. I wonder if that is adequate for the flammability to go down.

Those aerosol sunscreens sure are quick and convinient to use most of the time. I have been using only aerosol sunscreen for the last few years.

Phil