Blacksmithing, Forge building

[karmakanic]

Flat belts forever!

Got a pic of your uncles shop Mark? I'd sure like to see it.

My lathe uses a flat belt to drive the spindle. Not because it's an old lathe, but because it's a Swiss high precision instrument lathe, and the Swiss know a flat belt is the way to get max traction with low vibration, and yet allow the belt to slip in case of a crash.

And they tell me flat belts are the cat's meow when it comes to driving a power hammer. You can slip the belt for the really slow featherlike taps, and yet apply full power in an instant. For the Bradley I built a framework housing a 3hp 1000 rpm motor and a jackshaft. This framework will be mounted in the rafters of the shop. The jackshaft slows the rpms down to 450 or so at the hammer drive pulley.

Harv,
I didn't quite understand your analogy. Are you telling us you can go out to the shop and make a tool, and that tool changes sex into making love? Could you make me one of those tools? /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Dave

 

[knucklehead]

I'll see if I can check out the setup - my uncle was a machinist and an old engine collector, before he died. I think the shop is in the same condition he left it. There are a lot of things that could be photographed in there.

Harv!! /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif Still experiencing the high of the weekend, I see. Good for you.

I scoped your forge pics out again. What's the long pockets on each side of the firebox for? Looks like a good place to stuff tools or keep stock from rolling or getting bumped off the edge. I was wondering if it had a purpose other than that, or if it was something that was already like that when you found the piece to use.

 

[jtcweb]

I made a forge when I was in high school from a brake drum. I lined it with refractory clay, which I got from a block & brick supply place. In the center I welded a piece of square tubing with a T off of it. At the bottom of the T I put a shutter and on the horzontal leg I put a heater blower from the junkyard. This let me control the air with the shutter in the bottom and no clinker would fall into the fan. I wish I had a picture of it to show you. Worked good, but alot of smoke with coal.