OddDuck Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 I'm working on it, honest! I'm on my fourth set of gear patterns, I think I may just have it this time, they seem to be coming out okay. Note to self, never try to make gears by hand again. I'm planning on a test casting of them by the end of this week, wish me luck, these things are giving me fits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Somewhere on You Tube I saw a guy making gears with a router, could you do that for your wood pattern? He seemed to be doing a lot of different stuff with these wooden gears all turning different stuff. I think they were made of marine grade plywood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 Bentiron, his website was where I got the templates to make the first set I had, and the dimensions of the gearbox were based on the set I decided on. The latest pattern is coming out halfway decent, again, I hope to get a set cast by this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hey OddDuck, I didn't mean to push i was just curious on your progress. best of luck Chad J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 No problem, Chad, I didn't think you were. I really should have made a working unit before I ever opened my big mouth and inserted a sell date. Live and learn, I guess. Progress is being made, slowly and surely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hey Odd, do you have a lathe or mill? Hob cutting a gear set may be more reasonable than trying to cast to finish. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Phil, my Gingery style lathe is in the non-tailstock stage at this time, so it is of limited help. I don't have a mill, either. I thought of hobbing, have researched it some, and it would be nice, but money and equipment lacks have limited me. If I can make a decent set of patterns, I can cast as many as I need so the machining time (on my end at least) will consist of cutting off the sprue. I've also thought of just casting blanks for those that do have the equipment and ability to make their own gears, and that will be an option that I offer in a while. That way they can make whatever gear ratio they want. Too many ideas, not enough hours in the day. :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaebo74 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 i was wondering as to the progress on this project . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 Slow. very, very slow. After 6 attempts to make gears and getting oh-so close, but not close enough, I spent much time scratching my head. I was about to try to modify my lathe-in-progress when I fell into a deal on a tabletop Atlas horizontal mill. As soon as the mill lands in my shop, progress will be rapid. I will have the mill (if I have to sell a kidney...) by the end of the month. I WILL be selling kits by the end of the year. I would love to make some of my Christmas money off them. I will be selling a geared version and one that will be for belt-drive or motor driven. Stay tuned, and I appreciate everyones patience. I just don't want to put out an inferior product that would be difficult to put together and won't work as promised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Although I did not cast the fan housing and impeller, I did build a hand cranked blower when I was first getting started in smithing by using single pulley, V-belt sheaves I found in the junk yard and a large, old Buffalo blower that had been linked at one time to a direct drive motor. The blower housing was a beast and probably put out 700 or more cfm when driven at full speed (probably a material conveyor blower). I built an angle iron frame with cold-rolled shafting and pillow blocks that used two sets of sheaves running light duty V-belts to obtain the speed advantage on the fan. The idea came out of "Practical Blacksmithing" by Richardson; listed as Fig. 24 on page 48 of my edition and titled "An Arkansas Forge"...this design is easy to fab if you have the fan and housing. This blower was tied to a "Whirlwind" firepot and large hearth - the forge was what I would call semi-portable (took three men and a boy to move). It made a BIG fire and worked as well as any Champion 400 I ever saw. I sold the whole rig to a friend who wanted to get started in blacksmithing but he only used it once then went through a divorce - his wife's uncle took every tool the guy had in storage and sold it at auction. I hope it went to a good home... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 i know this thread is a really old one but i love your blowers duck!! think you can cast one from brass? i ahve a small forge and the heat goes right to the blower when i start cranking it. and after i melted steel in the forge im worred about whatll happen to aluminum. id many times thought of making a new blower from brass(though i always thought of machining it from blocks) but this is a great idea! when you get them working, figure out how much it costs to ship it to south missouri! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 Ramsies11, I'm closer than I ever have been, I finally managed to pay for my mill, and it will be in my shop by Friday evening (coordinating three different schedules for delivery, don't ask). Progress will be rapid. This has been an excercise in both humility and frustration. For those who think I've given up, I haven't. I've been sidetracked on other projects that allowed me to get my new/old mill. As far as the blower being made from aluminum and melting, as long as there is air flowing through it (and even if there isn't) it won't melt. If your blower is getting hot enough to melt aluminum you are either cranking way too fast or you've set it IN the fire. Brass would look nice, but good gawd the cost! I'd have to charge WAAY too much for a blower made entirely from brass. You've given me a great idea for a display model, though. I will have them working soon, and ready for prime time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 if i sent you a few brass blocks, could you do somthing for one then? sorry about the brass thing but the other day i had steel in the fire and i wasnt paying attention but i was giving my blower some gradual turns and i melted the steel in two. needless to say, i needed a new piece of stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 if i sent you a few brass blocks, could you do somthing for one then? sorry about the brass thing but the other day i had steel in the fire and i wasnt paying attention but i was giving my blower some gradual turns and i melted the steel in two. needless to say, i needed a new piece of stock. You should have put the two piece ends back into the fire and forge welded it back into one piece. Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 well, id melted off about an inch of steel and i was out of flux, so i couldnt weld it, and even if i could, the stock would of been too short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jawno Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Seems like the pulley system would be very simple for people instead of dealing with the complexities of gear drive. More affordable too. Just saying. It seems you were right on the verge of having a marketable project and now you've been hobbled for seven months trying to get the gear drive working. Of course I don't know a lot about this stuff so maybe a pulley drive isn't as practical as it sounds. Good luck anyway. Now that you have a mill, things should go much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 i would prefer a wait for sexeral months for an easier to use product than to get one and have to work hard to use it. a gear system is better in my eyes because of the fact that you start with a big gear whos teeth go to a small gear, which is connected to another big gear, so the second big gear goes faster around than the first big gear and then theres another set of these connecting to the fan, making the fan move faster than the handle is turning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 Oh, I plan to offer several different kit levels, I think I showed the belt drive bracket in an earlier part of this post. I have a different shell for that one, the more typical snail-shell looking one. I figured that I would offer all the different options at the same time, that way the customer would have the greatest range of options available. Ramsies, if you really really wanted one, I could quote you a blower cast in brass, I'd get the metal locally to save shipping costs. Seriously, if you are worried about melting your blower, you shouldn't, unless you are doing something horribly wrong. Even if you reversed it and it was sucking the fire and coals into the blower instead of blowing air out, the airflow would probably be sufficient to prevent an immediate meltdown, and I'd think you would notice. Don't be too quick to discount a belt system, as long as the pulleys were the right size you would get just as good a drive ratio with that. Might look a bit strange, but would still work like a champ. Kind of a potatos-potatas argument, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unforgivun Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I haven't looked into the reduction ratio's at this point, but would it be feasible to use old bike sprockets instead of planety gears? Again, I haven't looked at the tooth numbers to see if the ratio would be effective, but I can't imaging it would be too bad using 2 reductions. I think most base sprockets are 40-50 tooth and small drive spockets are as low as 15-18. Some "Tensioners" used on old tandems or converting gas models are as low as 8 tooth (8-12 normally). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacksmith Johnny Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Hey OddDuck when you get this blower where you want it, I will buy one to support the mighty effort you have put into this. Great Job-take that china ! On a side note Lodge makes a huge cast iron frypan for camping that lends it self well as a pan donor for a portable forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Thanks, John, and I sincerely appreciate everyone's patience with me. I pick up the mill tomorrow, and this project is up there high on the priority list. I will post my website as soon as I have something to sell. I will have an operating model of each before I post it. Who knows, maybe even my first Youtube video... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 website? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Yup, for those interested, it's www.oddduckfoundry.com . Original, eh? Not a heck of a lot on it yet but it's a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 i like the name. short sweet and to the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsies11 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 only issue is that the whole site is under contruction! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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