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Portable forge ratchet PAWL replacement


jmullins9

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I am cleaning and fixing up an old portable lever forge. When I disassembled the blower and removed the tuyere from the firepot there was a gasket material.  The blower has large gaps and needs a gasket. What is the gasket material?  I want to replace it. What should I use?

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I bought a portable lever forge and I am cleaning and rebuilding it.  It does not have the pawls for the ratchet wheel.  What do these pawls look like?  Can I buy these pawls?  Can I make these pawls? 
Are there any other parts in the ratchet wheel that I need for it to work.

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I’m rebuilding a blower for a portable lever forge. The fan shaft is real sloppy.  The shaft holes are oblong causing the fan to wobble. 
what can I do the stop this?  I wanted to know if I could use bushings and if so what type?

or is there another option?

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Sad to say there are no replacement parts that could be purchased for those old forges/blowers so all parts will have to be made. The fan shaft could be bushed using brass/bronze bushings but the holes would need truing and the bushings fitted to the shaft's. It looks like there is a remnant of a bushing in one picture. One way to make the bushings (this is what I would do) is to warm up the cast iron housings and pour the shaft holes full of Babbitt bearing material, then bore the right size shaft hole out. As far as welding the holes up and drilling them, it could be done but it takes someone who knows how to weld cast iron and has the proper welding rods. Improper welding will do more harm than good.

 Most auto parts stores sell sheet gasket material in different thicknesses and gaskets are not hard to cut out. Having never had the pleasure of rebuilding a ratchet blower forge, I can't say if the ratchet has any other parts to actuate the pawls or what they look like.

BTW Welcome to IFI, have you read the Read This First thread up in the blue banner. It is full of good tips for navigating and getting the best out of the forum.

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Re the ratchet pawls, they need to fit loosely in the hole, with an bevel on the end mating up to the teeth in the wheel. They also should have a small compression spring under each pawl to keep it engaged to the wheel with some light pressure. Easy enough to make, and the springs should be available at McMaster-Carr or Grainger or some such supplier. When I rebuilt one a while ago, I pulled the two pieces apart, and all the springs and pawls went 'BOING'. That's probably what happened to yours. Hope this makes sense.

Steve

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Like IDF&C said you can buy gasket material at most auto parts stores. It is sold in sheets. In a pinch on exhaust i have used aluminum foil. 4 or 5 layers thick, just need something to conform to the irregularities in the castings. 

The pawls could be made. If anything like a ratchet's they would be square on the bottom, and beveled on the top. Think of a rectangle with one end cut at an angle. They would also most likely have a small spring under them in the pocket they sit in. I am not familier with ratcheting blowers, i am however quite familiar with ratchet wrenches.

Small bushings can be found at transmission parts suppliers, quite cheap. May need honing to get the shaft to fit. 

One thing that i did just think of. Some things that have gaskets use the gasket not only to seal but as a spacer. Before you torque everything down do a test fit. Put the gasket in and finger tighten the bolts. Then make sure everything still turns and does not "lock up" . While rotating slowly tighten the bolts 1 or 2 turns each until all are tight. If the rotating parts start to lock up stop tightening and add a little thicker gasket. I do not know the clearance in a blower but it would be a shame to break the fan becuase the you jammed it all together.   

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