Anvil Stand - may have bough the wrong material

[jmeineke]

Dang, man - what the heck are you swinging that can move a 515# anvil? You forging with a wrecking ball?

[ThomasPowers]

8-12 pound sledges for the "move @#$%^&" moments but even the smaller hammers can cause creep over several years---with an anvil that big I don't move it often and so creep becomes noticeable...

When the shop extension gets finished off it will move out there onto a large chunk of wood set several feet into the floor and the 410# Trenton will be the "inside" anvil...

[jmeineke]

You guys do some serious pounding, that's for sure. I'm not there yet - not even close. Heaviest hammer I own at the moment is 3 lbs.

I guess I'll go ahead and build it as planned. I think it will work out okay. I'd rather have the extra space up top and straight legs than a small top and angled legs. Easier to fabricate too. If it doesn't work out I can rip it apart and build something else.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I would have made a BBQ out of the grate.

[Dragons lair]

I would go with the angled legs. Not for support. It is easier to tip over a streight legged one
than an angled one. It's also eaiser to tip ome over than to pick one up. My 3 legged 130lb table
sits out in the weeds just cause I like stumps.
Ken.

[jmeineke]

I've been looking into the 'tip over' factor. I've learned that gravity doesn't care if the legs are angled or straight - just where they are at in contact with the earth in relation to the center of gravity of what they are supporting. I think the anvil cg is somewhere a little less than around half way down the body. Mounting it solidly to a heavy table changes things too, because now you have to figure in the cg of the table itself. The entire object then has it's own cg. I think the table will weigh somewhere around 120 to 130 lbs. I'd guess that will put the cg of the whole thing probably somewhere at or below the base of the anvil.

The next question then becomes how hard do you want it to be to tip the whole thing over by applying a side force to the top side of the anvil - 50#? 100#? 200#? (though instead of tipping, keep increasing the distance of the legs and it will slide rather than tip). I have no clue what my 20" spread will translate into. Just looking at the picture, my gut tells me it will be fine. I put the steel plate on my welding table and set the legs on it and my gut tells me it looks good too. I'm gonna go for it and see what happens.

I'm really not trying to over engineer this thing, but I want it to be safe too. I think it's going to be pretty hard to tip. I'm happy with the design, like the room up top to put hot stuff on, like the fact that I won't be tripping on legs, and I like metal stands. Who knows, though - maybe this whole experience will turn me into a "stump only" man some day. Only one way to find out.

[jmeineke]

Got the stand built (minus the casters) and am pretty happy with it - no problems with stability. I may shave a few inches off the posts - I think it may be a bit too high.

I picked up some 2" square tube at the scrap yard and am going to cut it into 3/4" lengths and weld them on for hammer holders. Will have to file the edges smooth so I'm not marring up handles. Trying to decide which way to I should mount them - front and back or on the sides. I like the way they look on the sides but don't really want to mess with cutting the table. Then again, how many hammer holders do I really need? Maybe I should just throw a couple on the ends and be done with it?

Edited August 21, 2010 by RefinedByFire