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I Forge Iron

bad boy punching


youngdylan

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This is a situation I get into all too often. The lady of the house want's one style, the "master"rolleyes.gif of the house wants something different, I want to go as left field as possible, architects always seem to have another worldly take but I generally respect/ value their input.

I'm not all together happy with the design but I guess the punching may interest someone. The slots are to fit 75 x 10 (3"x 3/8"), they're punched through 30 x 60 edge on (1 1/4" x 2 1/2"). I wanted to carry the lower uprights all the way into the top section and do some clever profiling/ forging on them. Mrs customer insisted on organic "stuff" (yawn) but Mr customer wanted something chunky that he felt was "masculine" ...... did I hear somebody say compromised design?

From memory the gate was about 5.5m long, weighs 3/4 Tonne and was built in a workshop 6m x 6m (20"x20")

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Nice compromise on the gate design.I take it they were both happy.
How`d you like working with that rail system as opposed to a swinging gate?

I am just amazed at the work you turn out in that small shop.

What`s with the treadle on the leg vise in the shop pic?

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What`s with the treadle on the leg vise in the shop pic?


I was thinking the same thing....



And I gotta buck everyone else... I like the gate, I think its a nice compromise....But Im with you (I think) I can see that something with more meat to it would have made more of an impact. I like big, heavy gates.. and with the heavy stone architecture... Massive would have been my choice... I know how it is to try and please everyone and it looks good... Its a great design...
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now thats interesting - why cant chunky and masculine be organic too? does organic have to be "feminine" then? am intrigued smile.gif


Beth

Definitely not my opinion, these were the customers and they pay my wages!!!

I must admit to being bored of doing organic or curvilinear flowing work(hence the yawn). I've done a lot of that in the past and used to like it. Last time I checked I was still a boybiggrin.gif Customers can be a bit like sheep in that they "don't know what they want but they'll know it when they see it" .Boy do I hate hearing that. It had got to the stage were I was simply repeating or modifying previous work in my portfolio. Trying to break out of that rut as much as I can these days.
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Nice compromise on the gate design.I take it they were both happy.
How`d you like working with that rail system as opposed to a swinging gate?

I am just amazed at the work you turn out in that small shop.

What`s with the treadle on the leg vise in the shop pic?


I was going to give you three guess's but I'm far too grown up for that!

It sorta of clamps the jaws together when you stand on the treadle. Means you've both hand free when grinding small stuff and you don't have to keep putting the grinder down to get the stuff out of the vise when doing a large batch of widgets.

I did think of rigging an air clamp up on the bench but the trouble is when you're doing a big run of work it's easy to "zone out" and end up getting "out of synch". It would only be a matter of time before I clamped up a finger or two.
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There is some serious drifting going on! You use you fly press? Some heavy duty work, very creative.



Home brewed H frame electrohydraulic press with H13 punch/drift.

It seems to me that Tonnage is important but the speed of the pump is just as important. It's only a 15Tonne ram but its backed up by a power pack running an 8hp motor. That thing MOVES, even under pressure. I kinda think it's important not let the work around the punch cool down too much as a high tonnage low speed ram would do.

When I've got my mojo going I can punch and drift those slots out in one heat. Alignment is a whole different issue

The flypress and tooling is just to straighten out the bar cos it's inevitably all wibbley wobbley after punching. A lot of what I learned about big boy/girl punching came from a conversation with a wonderfully talented English "smith": Alan Evans. To describe him as a "blacksmith" is an insult because he's so much more than that.

Any guys and gals into the aesthetics of big boy/girl punchingshould check out his site .....no copying nowsmile.gif

http://www.alanrobertevans.co.uk/page2.htm
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I was thinking the same thing....



And I gotta buck everyone else... I like the gate, I think its a nice compromise....But Im with you (I think) I can see that something with more meat to it would have made more of an impact. I like big, heavy gates.. and with the heavy stone architecture... Massive would have been my choice... I know how it is to try and please everyone and it looks good... Its a great design...



yeah, i'm with you on that because of the scale of the opening and the stone architecture but they pay my wages.

What I don't liike is that it's two gates in one.

Hey, I'm in touch with my femine side and can do delicate toobiggrin.gif

http://www.verdigrismetals.co.uk/sculpture/forged%20copper%20iris%20water%20feature.htm
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Home brewed H frame electrohydraulic press with H13 punch/drift.

It seems to me that Tonnage is important but the speed of the pump is just as important. It's only a 15Tonne ram but its backed up by a power pack running an 8hp motor. That thing MOVES, even under pressure. I kinda think it's important not let the work around the punch cool down too much as a high tonnage low speed ram would do.

When I've got my mojo going I can punch and drift those slots out in one heat. Alignment is a whole different issue

The flypress and tooling is just to straighten out the bar cos it's inevitably all wibbley wobbley after punching. A lot of what I learned about big boy/girl punching came from a conversation with a wonderfully talented English "smith": Alan Evans. To describe him as a "blacksmith" is an insult because he's so much more than that.

Any guys and gals into the aesthetics of big boy/girl punchingshould check out his site .....no copying nowsmile.gif

http://www.alanrobertevans.co.uk/page2.htm

I have drooled over Alan's stuff many many times.... The massive scale and style gives me goosebumps.. He is pretty much who I want to be when I grow up....
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I have drooled over Alan's stuff many many times.... The massive scale and style gives me goosebumps.. He is pretty much who I want to be when I grow up....



Ditto

Besides being good with the big stuff he's very creative/ ingenious and very helpful to boot. Truth be told I haven't met an English smith who isn't helpful, I'm sure they exist. You know all about "helpful master blacksmiths" dont you Larrywink.gif

It's beeb a while since I trawled round his site, I think it's a bit out date. Shame really because he did some amazing heavy duty yet delicate gates about 4/5 years ago, wonderfully inspiring they are. There was an artical in the BABA mag a few years ago. They're definitely not the sort of gate you make if getting rich is excessively important.
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Oops, I went and did it again, bought the 80 ton screw that was for sale, it seems southshore got the 100. I am hoping to do some large drifting on the unit, do you think the speed and power will be enough to be DANGEROUS.



You Xxxxxxxxbiggrin.gif

I keep casually looking for something of that size "just in case" but I guess I should really get out of my dolls house workshop first. Not too sure how common they are this side of the pond. I've got two manual flypresses, a 6 deep throat and a 5 "bar press". Theres something about screwpresses that fascinate me. I've got the 2 flypresses, a 15T and a 30T electrohydraulic press but I could still find a use for friction screw. I want one. I want one I want one (said to the sound of stamping feet)
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YD, awesome. Thanks for posting this. There is no substitute for power.

I feel your design pain when you have clients that cannot agree totally. I think you did a fantastic job of walking the tightrope. I have found it is usually safer to lean toward the female's opinion as they usually get what they want, and they usually have a major influence over where and if the money gets spent. As Danger mentioned earlier, his master is his wife...9 times out of 10 this is the case. ;)

I like Alan's work a lot. Thanks for the link. I am also a BIG fan of Chris Brammall.
-DB

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I have found it is usually safer to lean toward the female's opinion as they usually get what they want, and they usually have a major influence over where and if the money gets spent. .
-DB



without wanting to tread the sexism quagmire I've gotta agree with you.

Hope this doesn't come across as some sorta mutual back slapping society, but I'm quite impressed by yours and DangerD's gates. It's always good to get as far away as possible from "mock 18th centuary Georgian gates". I've got a VERY healthy respect for past metal pioneers, engineers and problem solvers but I don't see the point of simply worshipping the past without moving forwards. I'm always trying to get away from "gates in a frame". Kinda becomes a good balance of engineering, problem solving and design.

I've got a few questions to ask about your gates but I've got to wean myself of this forum. I'm spending WAY to much time here
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I like Alan's work a lot. Thanks for the link. I am also a BIG fan of Chris Brammall.
-DB


Alan's part of a pioneering English generation including amognst others Terry Clark, Anthony Robinson, Charles Normandale, Jim Horrobin who really pushed the bounds of blacksmithing in this country in the 80's.

Some of there work is featured in a book by Amina Chatwin. I picked it up in the mid 90's when my soul was being crushed as a school teacher. That book changed my life .....maybe for the better.

Only problem with having these true "Master Blacksmiths" to look up to is I keep banging my head against a wall thinking I'll never be as "good" creative or as inventive as they where/ are.


PS

Yeah Chris Brammalls work is SUPERB as well
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glad you in touch with your feminine side YD, would be a shame for you lads to limit yourself to purely chunky styles! :) I like the gates but i think like you do that they are two sets in one. Highly rate and respect the skills used tho, and can see that your clients were sending you mixed messages! Not sure about the woman being the most important one to please, but i guess its a good enough place to start :)

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I've got a few questions to ask about your gates but I've got to wean myself of this forum. I'm spending WAY to much time here


I agree, this site is really a time suck. I spent most of the morning reading and posting, and here I am again at 10:45 pm going at it again. I blame Naked Grant Zappa...but now that I am armed with all this new knowledge, I'll be so much more productive if I ever put down this computer and make it back into the shop.
-DB
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Oops, I went and did it again, bought the 80 ton screw that was for sale, it seems southshore got the 100. I am hoping to do some large drifting on the unit, do you think the speed and power will be enough to be DANGEROUS.


Congrats! I thought long and hard about making a bid on one of those. If they would have been a few thousand miles closer I would have thought about it a lot harder!

You have it in the shop yet? I wanna see some video ;)
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