OddDuck

Nahhh, that's just how they make BB's and birdshot over there, run 'em through a sieve after to get rid of the oversized ones.

Slow. very, very slow. After 6 attempts to make gears and getting oh-so close, but not close enough, I spent much time scratching my head. I was about to try to modify my lathe-in-progress when I fell into a deal on a tabletop Atlas horizontal mill. As soon as the mill lands in my shop, progress will be rapid. I will have the mill (if I have to sell a kidney...) by the end of the month. I WILL be selling kits by the end of the year. I would love to make some of my Christmas money off them. I will be selling a geared version and one that will be for belt-drive or motor driven. Stay tuned, and I appreciate everyones patience. I just don't want to put out an inferior product that would be difficult to put together and won't work as promised.

I always try to put myself in the customer's shoes. Would I buy it? If I was in the market for this item would it be of a quality that I thought I was getting good value for the money I am paying? This is something I am worrying about myself, I am working on several things that I have wanted to start selling, but I haven't yet gotten to the level of quality that I would feel that I was giving the buyer good value for the money. I won't sell them until I get to that point, because I don't want to put out something substandard. Selling to a higher standard is not a bad thing, because you will also build a reputation over time as someone who does good work, and your work may be in higher demand as a result.

Phil, my Gingery style lathe is in the non-tailstock stage at this time, so it is of limited help. I don't have a mill, either. I thought of hobbing, have researched it some, and it would be nice, but money and equipment lacks have limited me. If I can make a decent set of patterns, I can cast as many as I need so the machining time (on my end at least) will consist of cutting off the sprue. I've also thought of just casting blanks for those that do have the equipment and ability to make their own gears, and that will be an option that I offer in a while. That way they can make whatever gear ratio they want. Too many ideas, not enough hours in the day. :rolleyes:

No problem, Chad, I didn't think you were. I really should have made a working unit before I ever opened my big mouth and inserted a sell date. Live and learn, I guess. Progress is being made, slowly and surely.

Bentiron, his website was where I got the templates to make the first set I had, and the dimensions of the gearbox were based on the set I decided on. The latest pattern is coming out halfway decent, again, I hope to get a set cast by this weekend.

I'm working on it, honest! I'm on my fourth set of gear patterns, I think I may just have it this time, they seem to be coming out okay. Note to self, never try to make gears by hand again. I'm planning on a test casting of them by the end of this week, wish me luck, these things are giving me fits!

If you are really broke, how's about a pile of hand-made gift certificates, redeemable anytime, say fer instance" one free I won't give you a hard time for spending all weekend in your shop" or "no bugging you about your grimy face and slightly sulfurous odor" or " a free afternoon in YOUR section of the flea market" etc. Also, one of the best presents you could give someone is to simply spend an afternoon working with them, or visiting them out in the shop and showing genuine (or at least WELL feigned) interest in what they are doing. 'Course this may give them the wrong idea and they will start expecting you to come out and help... Interest in what someone is doing is nearly as nice as a neat tool or something like that.

Practice with clay. Work out the next set of techniques that you need to master with a material that doesn't need heat and can be re-worked into raw barstock with your bare hands. No heat needed. Cheap and available almost everywhere, check local (or semi-local) craft shops and they should carry plasticene (sp?) clay. The el-cheapo no dry out stuff you surely remember from grade school. And good on ya for helping your neighbors! That's probably why you are getting such a good response from your grandmother's aquaintences. You are developing a lifelong habit of being a good neighbor, and it will pay dividends in the long run.

The only problem with steel deer is that it neccesitates the use of armor piercing ammo to take one down, and the need for a portable oxy/acetylene rig to gut it... besides the steaks must be tougher than all get out. Purty darn cool! Nice work.

It would, Andrew, provided that the customer had a metal lathe. I've thought of several things like that, perhaps a future version if someone wanted to convert to an electric motor. I want to put out kits that are buildable with simple hand tools (okay, I'm including a drill press in my list of hand tools, but what basic shop doesn't have a cheap one? ) I talked to a friend of mine over the weekend, he's a curator at a middle sized museum and has a whole bunch of hand blowers from the early 1800's on up, and said I could either copy them or at least use them for ideas. The only problem is that the museum is in New York state and I'm in Maine. Might have to take a road trip this summer.

Can shell casings be used? Yes is the quick answer, I've heard of those who have done this. The biggest problem is you will lose about half the metal as dross, melting thin stuff with lots of surface area (shells, swarf, etc) can be difficult and isn't the most efficient method. Save 'em though, with the price of scrap the way it is they could be worth something the way they are. Also, I too would be concerned with getting a "live" one, longshot I know if you pick 'em up yourself, but one should never tempt Murphy. Like the others said, start with something a bit on the cooler side to get the hang of the process, aluminum is useful,common, and fairly easy to melt and cast.

That almost looks like a homemade one, the foot is a bit weird for a commercially made one. Take a ball bearing with you and give it a rebound test, drop the bearing on it from about a foot and see how high it bounces. If you hear a thud and it doesn't bounce, walk away. If it bounces more than halfway back, it should be fine. It's worth looking at and testing at least if it's nearby.

Thanks, Iron Clad, no website (yet, I may do that after a while), it will be signifigantly lower tech than that, more of you shoot me an email or pm and we swap all pertinent info, I can invoice thru paypal so there will be a secure payment method and records. Checks and money orders also gladly accepted .

Don't worry, we'll probably see it all at double the price on ebay... :(

Very nice Ed! I like how it has a bit of an "antique" look to it as-is. The carving on the handle is just right, a well balanced design.

Update # I lost count... Latest pattern in the series! This will be the less expensive alternative to the full kit. This is the bit I told Ken Jersey that I was working on, it's a bracket and pulley for a flat belt setup. The neat thing about it will be that it will come as a solid casting, with the pulley and bracket cast together. It will also have the through hole already cast in place, sized so that all you have to do is add a set screw to the pulley, cut it off, clean it up, and add your bushings and 1/2" drive shaft. The bushings I designed it around are common ones that can be found at nearly any hardware outlet, 5/8"OD, 1/2"ID, and about 1 1/8" long. You will also have to file where the bracket and blower meet to align the impeller with the inside of the shell. And, for those interested, here is a pic of the corebox in progress. This kit will consist of a pair of shells, an impeller, and a bracket. Eventually I will be adding a large pulley and support bracket, but I wanted to keep the cost down. I am going to start taking orders for either set on June 1st. I have to help my son finish his Eagle scout project and I will be able to concentrate on these. The price for the full kit will be $175 and the flat belt kit will be $100. I'm working on getting the gearbox that I have already cast together, should have it ready by the first part of next week. I will of course post pics when it's done.

Dont even need to get that fancy, if you are using bricks anyways, stack them to make the tuyere channel, just stack two about an inch apart and make a roof out of another one, place your blower pipe in the other end. Black iron will burn up, even clay-coated. If you are concerned with air loss, bring a small amount of clay with you, wet it until you have a paste, and use it to mortar the bricks together at the pipe end. When you pick up to go, wash off the clay and away you go. Easy peasy.

Nope, a cupola , as far as I know, won't work for aluminum. Bronze, yes, Al, no. A small popcorn tin furnace is duh-simple to construct, and will let you try out metalcasting for a minimum investment. I know we all want the ultimate do-all one hit wonder super forge/furnace, but a small dedicated melter will be your best bet starting out. Keep it simple, and learn the process so success will build on success.

Yup, Lio's homebrew refractory just ain't up to iron. Like the others, I do suggest starting with aluminum and work up to iron. The temperature difference is (relatively speaking) night and day. Molten iron throws off a LOT of radiant heat. You will need to learn to make molds with greensand anyways, might as well walk before you run. As far as fuel, you can do cast iron in a crucible furnace (that is what I do), mine is fueled with waste oil, but you can do iron even with a charcoal furnace. You will be using a lot of fuel however. Check out the forum over to BYMC, lots of info and the crowd there is just as friendly and free with info as the folks here.

The real question would be, what have you been doing naughty enough to have God smite your anvil? Methinks I'd take the hint, and go fishing instead...

How did I miss this? Consider that blower design shamelessly "borrowed" for reproduction purposes. (Great, another***** project!! )Thanks for showing it, and a nice close side view to boot! Oh, I'm with the others, by the by. Try a larger pipe, and closer to the heat source.

Fiery Furnace, I think I may just have to try these tomorrow, I couldn't afford to buy the Mrs. a Mom's day gift this weekend (we did spend a nice day together, and she was smiling so not a total fail... ) so this will be a nice suprise for her. She is just in the process of starting to set out her flowers in front of the house. These will go great. Good job on the tutorial, and very clear instructions! Well done.

Ken, My plan (and we all know how those usually end up...having teenage kids is rough on the ol'schedule) is to have A kit of some sort or other available within the next two weeks. I am going to do a little more patternwork this weekend on a simple version for those who want a simple belt drive unit. I'll post pics as soon as I have sonmething to show.

At least you don't have to worry about heat treat with bracelets. Very nice, you've given me some good Christmas present ideas. B)