What did you do in the shop today?

[BillyBones]

On 5/28/2021 at 11:08 AM, ThomasPowers said:

There is also a pizza place in Yellow Springs that is famed.

That would be Ha-Ha's pizza. Peperoni, onion, fresh garlic and mushrooms on whole wheat crust. Oh-Yeah. Back in the 80's you could get the "special" mushrooms on a pizza there. Local lore says that is why it is called Ha-Ha's. 

Yellow Springs is a nice place to visit, but having lived there the glamor wore off real quick and i am glad i moved to Fairborn. 

I too am an essential worker. When the covid first struck i was working on cars then changed jobs to the machine shop last spring. We make parts for ventilators among other stuff for the medical and aerospace industry. 

[Jobtiel1]

Wow Billy, you're making a habit out of starting off the new page here.

[JHCC]

A couple of productive hours in the shop (before heading off to take Lisa to some yarn stores). For starters, I figured out a good setup for winding FCAW wire from a 25 lb spool onto 3 lb spool. The 3 lb spool is mounted on a drill (using a 1/2” bit and some innertube rubber), the drill is mounted in the post vise, and the trigger is held down with a clamp:

The 25 lb spool is mounted on a piece of pipe supported by a couple of toolboxes (through the handles, to keep it from rolling away):

The drill is plugged into the variac-and-deadman setup I use for the blower on my solid fuel forge, which gives me good speed control and easy on-and-off switching. The results speak for themselves:

I also made a vise-mounted tucking fork and used it for the initial cold-shaping of a notions bowl for Lisa. 

All the heating was done with the oxy-propane rig in torch mode. The foot pedal worked GREAT. 

(And the pilot light on the gas saver behaved itself for the most part, which was nice too.)

[Donal Harris]

Cool bowl. 
 

Your post caused me to think of Frank Zappa. 

[Chimaera]

JHCC- I’m getting more and more of a habit of putting power tools in the vise. It’s getting concerning.

[JHCC]

Oh, speaking of vises: I also cold-hammered just a bit more of a bend into the vise’s spring. It had lost some springiness when I heated up the front jaw to take out the twist. All better now. 

[Frosty]

I get the vibe D though I was hearing Alfred E Neuman saying, "What ME worry? The voices sound pretty sure of themselves. I'll be right back. 

I found something for a drag on the large wire spool kept it from birds nesting. Doesn't need to be much, I wrapped a rag around where the spool mounted so it couldn't free wheel and it made rewinding wire on small spools a lot easier.

Nice start on the bowl John, what do you use to planish the creases? 

Uh. . . .where were we D? 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

I guided the wire by hand while wearing some tough leather shop gloves. It worked very well, especially since it wasn’t turning particularly fast. As for the large spool, there was enough friction between its sides and the two toolboxes to keep it from spinning too freely. I did get a bit of birds nesting at the end, but that was from overwinding the small spool and having some wire pop over the side. No big deal.

Regarding the bowl, I had originally planned to hammer the whole thing smooth, but when I got to this point, I realized that I really liked how it looked. It just needed a little tweaking of the edges with some scrolling tongs. Lisa really likes it, and that’s what really counts. 

[BillyBones]

7 hours ago, Jobtiel1 said:

Wow Billy, you're making a habit out of starting off the new page here.

All about the timing.

 

[bluerooster]

Friend brought a car by today for some paintwork. Well, it needed bodywork as well. Had some sheetmetal work, and structural work to be done, prior to the paintwork.  Glad I priced it accordingly, and had most of what I need on hand.  Anyway, no forge time till Monday, when I plan to finish up the other jaw of the vise project.

[Cannon Cocker]

You didn't get it that time Billy!

I once scored over a hundred pounds of Hobart dual shield wire from the local welding supplies dealer. My co-workers and I transferred it from the box onto empty 33lb wheels using the vice on the back of the service truck and the lathe set at 33 rpms. We did the math and if memory serves me right it turned out to be over 5 miles of wire. 

I finished another fire poker this time I did an eleven spoke basket twist. And I got started on a grill tool set. 

 

[Chimaera]

Technically yesterday, but got some good work done. Made an arrowhead necklace from the aforementioned dumpster fire mokume. Made a friend a cross (different billet) that turned out a lot better than I expected (not yet clear coated, so looks like garbage). Still have a couple large billets to use whenever I want. All made possible by my new, handy dandy coffee can forge. Was able to justify doing only 15 minutes of forging to thin out a billet, as it takes only a minute to come up to heat. Also made a friend a little coffee can forge. 

[BillyBones]

CC, love that twist. Quite nice. 

Chimera, need to get some kast-o-lite on that. Those fibers from the insulation are very harmful. Need to seal it up. 

[Frosty]

That's a very attractive poker CC, the twist is almost hypnotic, I like it a lot.

Your dumpster fire mokume is really on target Chimaera, darned good pattern development. Your coffee can forges need at least a coat of Plistex to keep the fibers out of your breathable. It will build up in your lungs and damaged, diseased lungs are badness.

Frosty The Lucky.

[DennisCA]

More hewing, first log is done now

 

Also the foundation is almost done, still left to apply more render to the outside, I was able to do the inside then I ran out of cement:

[alexandr]

On 5/29/2021 at 1:07 AM, Bantou said:

how do you attach the rod to the sphere? Heat the sphere and drive the tenon in with it hot?

Much easier. I drill a hole in the sphere and weld it to the bar. With this option, it is easy to clean.

On 5/29/2021 at 2:07 AM, DHarris said:

how long does it take you to produce all of that?

I can’t say, I don’t know. Maybe 3-4 days. I usually do 10-15 jobs at a time.

[Donal Harris]

22 hours ago, Frosty said:

Uh. . . .where were we D? 

Frosty The Lucky.

We were discussing necessity or The Mothers. I am fine with either, although I didn’t really get him when I was younger. He was just someone who wrote strange music and gave his kids odd names. 

1 hour ago, alexandr said:

I can’t say, I don’t know. Maybe 3-4 days. I usually do 10-15 jobs at a time.

You must have very lean processes. 

[Frosty]

Ah yes, Frank was pretty shocking in the day but it turns out he was a pretty upstanding guy and his kids seem to have turned out alright. I recall Dweezle and Moon Unit but not the third.

Truth is if it wasn't for the weird names I wouldn't remember who wrote the songs. I've never had much of a memory for music and composers. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Paul TIKI]

I used to have an album by Dweezil a while back.  He turned out to be pretty darn good on he guitar.  Fun Tidbit, He was in the Arnold S classic "The Running Man" as one of the Resistance guys.  Hes the one with the Beret and Unibrow always standing behind Mick Fleetwood

[Chimaera]

I was looking into getting something to coat them. For now I’m wearing an n95 respirator while using them. Does that suffice for the time being?

[Cannon Cocker]

Thanks Billy and frosty. I'm really having fun learning how to make them. This one was 11 12"long sections from an old tomato cage (I burned the galvanizing off outside on a windy day). Then I used half in round stock to fill the middle. (3"on one end 4" on the other.)

[Daswulf]

Welp, I got a week less to work on the gator wood burner, and have a mountain to climb with everything else that has gone on and goes on. The hump begins. Got the teeth welded in solid. 

Now over the week will be the mad dash to clean it all up and figure out my plan for the rest of it while everyone I know posters me for help with whatever they have going on. 

 

[Frosty]

(I just deleted a wise crack about you saying "posters" instead of pesters. It wasn't funny enough to send so I'll save what dignity I have remaining.

That is going to be an awesome fire place! Please get some evening pics of it with fire.  

Frosty The Lucky.

[SinDoc]

Frosty deleted a wise crack and didnt share it? I feel cheated.

[Daswulf]

Frosty, you should see all the potential autocorrect mistakes that I actually catch.