Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Making a hand-cranked blower


Recommended Posts

Painfully slow and with little/no progress to show so far. Had a lot of non-critical or life threatening family stuff to deal with over the last few months so very little shop time. There will be something soon, things are starting to clear up time-wise so I'll be able to devote some shop time to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Took a look at your website. Nice looking railcar truck sets. I have spent a lot of time working on patterns and coreboxes for full sized sideframes and bolsters. neat to see models. You would have hated to see us throw out thousands of train part drawings when I helped clean out the pattern shop at a foundry that closed near here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

No pics yet. The gear drive blower is still in the works, I have a bit of a learning curve and equipment construction with my mill, I should have the gear drive version ready to go by summer.
I sincerely appreciate everyone's patience, and I'm looking forward to seeing some in action soon.

Mod note: advertizing removed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Really looking forward to doing business with you, Pete. You're going to go down in history as the guy that rejuvenated the American iron industry, and it all starts right here!

Question, though, and please don't take this wrong. But, you've been delayed fairly well because you're trying to make gears. While wanting to do the entire thing is admirable, wouldn't it make sense, in both time and money, to purchase gears from a company that makes gears? That way you can concentrate on making the parts that are not available any more.

Making everything from the ground up would sure bring a feeling of satisfaction, though, and I'll not discourage that. I only ask because I can't imagine Buffalo or Lancaster casting every single nut and bolt in their blowers when they could have more easily ordered them from a company that does nothing but make nuts and bolts... and gears.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simple answer is that I just don't have the cash. I did research commercial gears, and a single set would have set me back almost $100. If I bought a bunch, yeah, the price per gear would come down, but it was still expensive. Besides, I'm stubborn enough that by jimminy, I'm gonna make the whole durn thing. (Stubborn or stupid, you be the judge... :rolleyes: it's a very fine line.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally dig that. I looked around for gears after posting the above wisdom and was quite surprised to see how proud their makers are of them! Silly gits!

I'm currently researching forge designs so I can build everything I need as soon as my fire pot comes in. Even found a relatively close coal supplier. Things are definitely looking up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im am suprised you did not try a simple chain drive. Parts from Bicylces would be readily avainable and cheap, could last forever with only a few drops of oil, and could make it in about any ratio you would like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Chain drive? Brilliant! Sprockets and chain are pretty cheap, even for top-of-the-line stuff. Maybe make it a 10-speed blower so you could shift gears depending on whether your working with coal or charcoal.... or plain jane forging versus welding... mild steel versus old wrought iron....

That could be fun to tinker with!

Pete, I think I might have screwed up my Buffalo "climax" blower so some new gears could be needed in the near future!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 4 months later...

I just finished reading this entire topic (thread?). Wow, what a journey. I visited the ODF website, and have to render my compliments. So many people today don't have the gumption nor dedication to see a tough project through. Although I'm new to metalworking, I've handled plenty of difficult projects in the woodcrafting field. My hat's off to you, Odd Duck. If I owned a large company and was looking for a "fixer" I would actively seek you out. Again, my compliments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Farm Hand, I appreciate the compliment. The project has been stalled, I have a bunch of things going on at the moment and just don't have the time (or dough...) to finish up the set of tooling ( dividing head, repairs and tooling to lathe and mill) to make the gears. I will finish the project. Eventually.... Stay tuned, might surprise you all by spring. You never know. 

Every time I go out in the shop I look at all the bits and it has been bugging me that I haven't made much progress on it. Thank you all for your patience, you will be rewarded for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking forward to a good blower set up for belt drive! I am very fond of the looks of the European portable forges that have a treadle driving and wheel driving the blower. I hope you have some for sale this year.

Martin if you are looking for a belt operated blower you could buy the blower (they are being sold on the OddDuck website) and make a mechanism from bike wheels, although it it not exactly a belt it does essentially operate like one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Whitlox, it may be sooner rather than later, necessity being a mother, I am going to bull through on the gear project because I now have several pressing applications for gearing and they are just too xxxx expensive to buy. I may have results in as little as a month or so, stay tuned...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 8 months later...

Life keeps getting in the way, that's all there is to it. I'm getting incrementally closer, but it's still somewhere out in the distance. S'all I will promise at this moment, I'm covering for my manager at my real job for the next couple of months and it is the latest thing to severely hamper any shop time. Be patient, stay tuned...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...