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I Forge Iron

Justin’s Smithing progression. [PIC heavy]


Justin Topp

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Haha yes I have. My neighbor just put it  on the curb for garbage week to be thrown out. So I grabbed it right up. It’s stuck but I got it moving a bit and am soaking in diesel currently to hopefully fully get it Moving. Otherwise it’s in great shape. Good to know it’s a good blower. Feels really solid. 

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I freed up a C-O blower recently.  Over filled the oil sump with plain, (no leak stoppers!), ATF and let it soak a month---having a dirt floor in the shop makes oil leak cleanup easy.

Then I was able to pry the fan CAREFULLY back and forth a 1/4", then 1/2" then half a turn and then it was off to the races!  Cranked it a while as rust is a lapping compound.  Clean flush and fill with oil to the correct level and it was done.

I sold it on as I actually prefer my champion hand crank.

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Hmm. Gonna try moving it once I get home. It’s been soaking a while in diesel. How much oil should I put in it? 
any reason you prefer the champion over the C-O blower? Also as a side note does anyone know why are champion 400 blowers so popular compared to C-O or buffalo?

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I filled the entire reservoir with ATF to start; knowing that it would leak out along the shafts; but as I mentioned easy to clean a dirt floor! The blower had been laying flat on a concrete floor for 25 years and I was pretty sure any previous lubrication was a mess inside---I didn't want to pull the gear box cover.  So long time soaking, full reservoir, Gentle work.  I had to heat the counterbalance in the forge to get the screw to come out; wire brushed it, oiled it and that worked fine too.

Once it's clean, running and flushed there is a marking on the blower that says fill to this point.

The gearing on the C-O was much nicer and seemed to be more of them.  However when I cranked it there seemed to be more resistance and when I let go it stopped sooner than my champion. And I had been using the champion for decades and so was used to it.  

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The plug should be about 3/8" - 1/2" off the bottom of the gear box. They are splash oil systems so the bottom gear touching the oil in the reservoir gets carried to everything in the drive train. 

My Champ only wants a few drops in the oilers per session. There is an oil port (oiler) above the main gear and one on each end of the main shaft. I use chainsaw bar oil with a friction proofing additive. Heck I use bar oil in almost anything that needs a little oil: chain saws, blower, Little Giant, door hinges, latch on the snow plow, etc. 

My LG doesn't slobber oil though there IS a little running from the main bearing in front. If it's slobbering and slinging oil you're using too much. Mine is perfectly happy with a couple drops, a squirt in the main bearing oil cups runs down the frame. A few drops and rock the crank plate by hand to distribute it and she's ready to rock.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I only open the bottom plug to make sure there isn't too much oil collecting in it. It helps prevent oil leaking on the floor. I only use it outside but it gets to live inside. 

We're not using the same kind of oil they made when these blowers were new. Modern, say the last 40 years, oil is stabilized and doesn't turn to sludge then pavement over time, it stays oil. Getting 100 years of oil sludge pavement cleared out of the gears is maybe 90% + of putting one of these old gems back in action.

You probably aren't old enough to remember needing to change oil and filter in the vehicle every 2,000 miles and about every 10,000 miles warm the engine up good, drain the oil, put the plug back in and put a gallon of kerosene or diesel in the crank case, fire it up and let it idle a few minute to cut the sludge. 

I'd be surprised if blowers didn't get lard for lube. Lube oil of any kind wasn't cheap on the frontier or just early days. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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The CO blowers only leak if over filled.  They are a wet lube system and actually have seals that help to keep from dumping oil all over the place. 


Justin,  The champion 400 blowers were highly machined with real bearings. So were considered by many to be a superior blower but leak oil constantly and even a few drops of proper oil should be added during an 8hr forge session. 

Buffalo blowers the "Silent 200" is my favorite blower out of all of them and it to is an oil leaker. 

I find it puts out more air then the Champion 400 or the CO but the machine work is not as tight, but they did things that cheapened them as time went on..  You could still buy Buffalo forge blowers into the 80's vs the others which were out of business. 

The early Buffalo Silent 200's had some nice machine work and were setup for a really long time of use with true ball bearings where needed with bushings else where. 

I own  6 or 8 Buffalo Silent 200's from a very early model which was a 12", several 14" and even a 16" which is sized up completely. 

I own 1 CO which was traded to me from another smith that subcontracted some work to me and paid me with blower. 

I own 1 Champion 400 and was bought and used for demos as it was on a stand. 

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I’ll open it up on the next fill. Thanks for the advise. This has a huge globe of grease that was in the top of it under the top port. That came out easily. 
 

I think mine may be missing the seal because it leaks oil out of the bottom of the gear box on the seam. Haven’t heard of the silent 200 blowers but sounds like it would be pretty good. And thanks for the info about the 400. 

 

the CO blower works fantastically other than the oil leaks. But once it’s drained I’m going to take it apart. Clean it and try filling it less. It’s missing the counter wait so I was wondering can I just take a bit of round bar maybe 1-3/8” and drill a slot and add a set screw? Or does it for some reason need to be more complicated than that? I assume it’s primary to help it continue to spin after you stop cranking? Currently spins about 3 revolutions when I stop from a reasonable cranking speed. 
 

also I was Inspired by early Ironwork I turned an old horseshoe into a hinge. Using the hand crank and corn for fuel. 

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It is. I really like how well it shows the dynamic system of grinding wheel, suspension chain, front porter bar, and bottom porter bar. The weight of the anvil is completely supported, and the worker has a lot of control over where on the face the anvil is getting ground and how much, just by changing which bar he is pushing and how hard.

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