macbruce

Nice tool, I like the hammer marks left on the sides....... B)

What's with the X's on the lenses?...... :)

We are constantly re cycling the water spray by arranging the bars in the forge so they channel the run off into a bucket . This bucket refills the slack tanks and fills the cat drinking water . You mentioned the noise, depressed air escaping constantly , irks my ears more than any banging, or grinding. For those smiths that engage in bending or twisting operations with mild steel , do not quench the irons , let them cool by themselves . I have seen mild steel harden enough to break in the scrolling.

Here in Colorado there's a dangerous lack of humidity, especially when operating a gas forge.....The added humidity in the shop atmosphere from the noisy, hi tec contraption keeps my sinuses and skin from drying out too severely...... :P ...... There's a valve so it never runs constantly....

A mister is so hi tech , I just tie the garden hose to a jackstand and aim a small spray from the twist nozzle on the ends of work in the forge . A very fine spray is all that it needs to keep the ends cool.

There are advantages to using a mister, one the rush of air with the water vapor cools more quickly than just water. Another is the atomized water for the most part just evaporates and doesn't wind up on the floor.......They are noisy though.....

Just use the spliced wire for the ground, use kearney (sp?) nuts and tape well.............

MacBruceter
Profesional hack

I've added the BEEF to the cylinder mount......Just waiting on MSC to get the pin stock here so I can line up the top and bottom plates exactly before I weld it together.

McBruce your rate of fire is much faster than mine; mine only fires a 2" ball, (or grape...)

When the Apocolypse hits I'll come down and we'll join forces!..... B) :ph34r:

I think this one belongs in the ''otherwise'' collum....hehe

Shucks new anvils are easy enough if ya got 8 bills to spend.... :D

The mongoose may always win in nature but in business I prefer to be the wise old cobra if I can, when I'm the one doing the selling that is......I always start my price higher than I think it should be or in other words factor in some money you weren't counting on anyway cause most folks will always do a little dickering if they're smart, I ALWAYS do unless the price is listed firm. If the the phone starts ringing off the hook and your email gets stuffed with replies, you're too low (I hate that). If I don't get any bites then I lower the price every few days by 10% or so and keep my cool.....Case and point; I sold an 80LB PW anvil in ''good'' condition awile back and paid $245 for it at an antique store, smoothed it up and made it pretty then sold it for $390 on CL (yeah, I'm a filthy capitalist). I threw in a stump to put it on and my gratefull customer wanted to give me another $10 which I refused cause we were both happy with the deal and to take $10 for the stump seemed CS on my part.....If he'd offered less, I would have taken less but some folks don't have the dicker bone in they're head, God love em.... :) ....He was the only call I got in 2-3 days and that's the way I like it..... B)

Easy fix Sam, the bolt that captures the indexing rod will do the same with the spring tensioner tower, no change there. The indexing forks on the hammer valve body will need to be carefully cut off and replaced with a 5/16x1'' flat bar about 3 1/2'' long welded 90deg from the body like the old forks....it's still being perfected so make due with what ya got for now bucko...... B)
Phil, the weights work just fine but they look kinda hokey which isn't what prospective buyers like to see, appearance is almost as important as function imo. This improvement should give the operator a full range of adjustments in pounds or ounces and do it fast, now where the heck did I put that XXXXXX weight?..... :huh:

Could be too that nobody ate them any more. My vote is on Mexico not china.

Yumm, jalapeno twinkies.... B)

Then the bakers at Hostess went on strike, the company went bankrupt. Guess that didn't work out all that well. Good thing I started hording Twinkees early. And no, they are not for sale..... LOL

No worries, they'll soon be made in China as well..... :unsure:

Dave, a friend of mine across the pond built a Zip and instead of weights for ajusting hammer pressure he put an adjustable spring directly over the hammer where the weights were.....Way smarter than weights.......But it had an exposed spring which, in some ways looks just as funky as a stack of weights, so a light or two came on and bada bing......The spring is inside the slotted tube is adjusted by a screw press and the pressure is appliedto the hammer via a cantilevered bar welded to the hammer. I've yet to find a spring with the correct tension and the crank handle is just super glued on as a mock up, but I think it will be an improvement over the old system.....ah well, seemed important to me anyway.....

I won't buy Delta, Milwaukee. ridgid, B&D or any other American brand that's made in China.....I'd rather buy a Japanese Makita or Hitachi (which are quality tools)made in China cause I don't care about Japanese workers losing they're jobs......If you buy an ''off'' brand Chinese saw at HF you'll regret it........ ;)

I've heard this one at ren fairs....
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=with%20a%20gingle%20bang%20jingle&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CEUQtwIwAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoGjz_DUAcdw&ei=C2imULSkDa3SiAKE1IGADw&usg=AFQjCNEKZuxdRrqwzsp7nmcP-d8Dl-dsIQ

How did you go about dealing with the lower die receiver? I'm dealing with a similar issue on a kerrihard I'm fixing up.

I fixed that as per Sid Sudimeyer's instructions, that is don't weld it and re surface it, just grind it down (rough in) and get after it with a file....I would still darken the bottom with acetylene from time to time and hit the high spots with a die grinder, then back to the file untill I got it where it needed to be......tedious, but it works. Sid also said that he just puts in spacers below the bottom die to make up the difference (in my case 1/8'')and doesn't weld em or use the indexing pin....He chucks those.
I spose if you have deep craters or cracks/breakage more drastic measures will be needed.....mb

I like apples and oranges... :lol:

Yer gonna love it! My 8'' Parker is something I use alot, for grinding, tapping holes and such. Having a vice that's mounted say a foot lower than your post vice is a nice addition to any BS shop.

Another good source of rare earth magnets is from sonic toothbrush heads. I keep one glued onto a 1/4'' brass rod about 3'' long.....It has saved me a couple of times getting steel specs out of my eyes.....If they're stuck real good it's off to the ER...... :(

I'm building a bending press that has a 4'' cyl with a 2500psi pump at 1.3 gpm (too slow for forging imo) that will give me a tad more than 15 ton. If your speed is too slow the dies will suck the heat away before you can get much done. My H frame has a 5'' cyl with a 10 hp motor and 11 gpm and it's pretty good for forging at 25 ton......I don't want to seem critical but if your fabricating and welding skills aren't up to snuff you can get into deep doodoo if things break on one of these......Can you take a pic of a drawing and post it, that would help.... :)
Also you can generally set the pressure relief valve on a 3000psi pump to a lower setting no problem.

Eh, maybe 12 hours was wishfull thinking.....This part is the most critical and tedious........
I've discovered that the strong solution of dish soap and water I use to wash my greasy hands works good for cutting fluid....

looks like you grabbed the brass ring on that one..... B)

Lookin' good Bruce. Is that an air supply quick connect on the cylinder? Just checking the throw?

LOL, I can tap it in with a soft hammer but I can't pull it out so I got rude and put 90psi to it, it's pretty snappy too!...........The power unit arrived today, all I need now is the valve, some hoses, the pin stock and about 12 more hours.............

Got the bull pin carrier built and slotted the chanel to fit the stroke.....Next will come the top and bottom pin plates that will be attached to the top of the channel and the top of the side plates......Shown in silver is the approximate layout for pin holes on the top of the channel.