Double chamber bellows lever

[forgenorth]

I have built a double chamber great bellows and I am now making a shake roof over it. My problem now is that the roof has to be at a certain height and in the current configuration of the bellows the lever will hit the roof. My option now is either to lower the bellows to allow for the lever to clear or, rig the lever to a foot operation instead. I see pros and cons about each such as: with the foot pedal, you can use both your hands but you may fatigue quicker standing on one foot. If I go with the lower bellows the lever will also be lower, about chest height which seems like it would be awkward to operate. Let me know what you guys think or any experiences you have thanks in advance.

[Glenn]

Why not put a pulley at the roof level and run a rope from the bellows through the pulley and then to a lever mechanism ? Or you can just pull on the rope.

 

No one said the lever had to be connected directly to the bellows.  

[forgenorth]

I have used a pulley for the bellows before for other reasons and it seemed like there was always too much give in the line and friction in the pulleys. I used the same layout as shown in the book how to make a blacksmith bellows ( I forget the authors name but its a red paperback with black border and a bellows on the cover) and I guess he never tried the layout of the pulleys in the book because it didnt work. I used hemp rope and pulleys from home depot maybe with better materials it might work? I'd still rather use the foot pedal or top lever because I already have the materials.

[ThomasPowers]

On mine I used a rope from the end of the lever to the hook on the bottom board.  The bottom board would drop to within a couple of inches of the ground level.  By adjusting the rope I could control how high the user end of the lever would go.

 

I'd put in an adjustment to put the shake roof a bit higher myself.  MAXIMIZING COMFORT OF USING THE BELLOWS IS VERY IMPORTANT.  I have a friend who blew out his shoulder and hip after 10 year using a bellows at a historical smithy set up by folks who didn't know squat about it---I could blow my forge to welding heat with my pinkie.  He had to wrap the handle strap around his arm and heave with all his might just to get a usable fire.

[forgenorth]

Thomas Powers  Ergonomics are deffinitely important to me, my brother is going to school to be a PT and hes helped me design things more efficiently for the human body. We think the foot pedal is the more natural choice what do you think? They seem popular in Europe like on those round Alldays and Onions (I think it's pronounced o'neyuns I read). It seems to me that Europe Asia and Africa all have more ergonomic working conditions.

thanks

[forgenorth]

A couple of days ago I made the foot pedal and I like it better then the hand lever, heres how it's set up.

I drove 2 oak boards from a pallet a foot in the ground with a hole drilled in it the lever also has a hole in it but the lever seemed too weak so I put some 1x3 on the sides to add mass.I then slid a pipe into the hole in the lever to prevent the wood from wearing through. Theres a peice of rebar that goes through all the holes.

[forgenorth]

for some reason the pics didn't upload I'll trya again tomorrow.