Blacksmith Blower Rebuild: Part 5 - Reassembly and Testing in the Blacksmith Shop
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2015
- In this final episode we put all of the gears back into the blacksmith blower housing, add the oil, and give her a test. We also get some action shots of the blacksmith using the blower in the Georgia Museum of Agriculture's blacksmith shop.
That blower will last another 100+ years! Nice seeing it in action too!
I'm glad to see that some people are interested in keeping the old skills alive.
I like how when Keith is talking to "us" on camera - his accent is subdued, but when he's talking to other local folks - it's 100% good old boy!
I had one of these (minus the blacksmith shop) around 1968. I never opened it up or used it for its intended purpose, so I really enjoyed this series if only for the "what's inside" appeal. But, the gear cutting was awesome, I learned a lot overall. Thank you for documenting your work for us!
weshowe Thank you for watching and commenting. This was a fun project to share with everybody!
Good job Keith & nice series. Nice footage of the blacksmith, I have a lot of respect for them.
Bill De La Vega As do I Bill - I did some blacksmithing years ago before I got into the machine shop. I have not done much in the past 20 years, but a good blacksmith is a pleasure to watch.
Probably the best series on Gearing, arbors, pinions and gear making with explanation and tooling details plus the workings and Math on the deviding Head,really enjoyed it Keith, and showing it in action with the Blacksmith made the day, Thanks for sharing, God Bless My friend, have a great Day.Tim,
TIM WILSON Thanks Tim - I really wanted to do a good job on this series and I am glad that everybody is liking what they saw.
Well I can tell You It was very good, Your thumbs up confirms that,
Excellent build Keith. Its good for another 100 years now. Looking forward to another series from the museum. regards from the UK
Gary C Thanks - I am sure we will have plenty more interesting things come up down the road!
That's so so cool. Very nice job bringing that blower together in functional state. Sounds really cool too.
aserta She does a great job! I could not have asked for more!
This was a great project to watch and the blower is brand new again. You're videos are my favorites and I always look forward to them.
Plain 'Ol Beekeeping in Plano, TX The blower is working great - it was a real fun project!
Great vid there Keith
Seeing the Smith at work sure did bring back some memories
First one school metalworking classes we had a forge and had to make some iron rings
Second watching the Smith at work in the town making gates and ornamental iron work as well as shoeing the horses inc a few heavy hosses
Thirdly when I was at the iron works the blacksmiths shop had 10 forges all in use , one was for the chain makers the rest general bit and bobs upsetting you name they find it
They had a steam hammer , yes it was steam powered , but for light work they ran it on air , but if they needed to give it some Paul Thompson the used steam .
In this shop each smith had his own striker it was interesting to see the communication between the two tap the anvil so many time for the strength of the hit and a final tap on the job to indicate were to hit it.
In addition each of the plants had there own blacksmiths shop so there was quite a few .
Stuart
Stuart Hardy Sounds like a fun place to work. Power hammers are really cool. I saw an air powered one in operation the just other week. The roundhouse museum in Savannah Georgia has a huge steam powered one that was used for repairing the locomotives years ago - it is not operational but still there. It must be 30 feet tall!
Really nice job Keith! The museum is lucky to have a skilled machinist to repair antique machinery.
Bill Moran Or maybe the machinist is lucky to have a great place full of challenges and fun toys to play with!
when the man took his hand off the handle and the handle kept spinning,that was a beautiful thing!
“Master-Blacksmith at work” very cool! Restoring old machinery! Very cool! This is why I always say, thanks’ for taking the time to make this video! And I support this site. ~M~ what you bring to “RUclips” is why I am here.
Mike A Drover Thanks Mike - I guess I am about the luckiest person on the earth to get to play in this big playground out here!
Hi Keith,
Just a few words to say thank you for these six videos, lets hope the blower lasts perhaps a hundred years before someone has to do the same thing, thinking, "These old Engineers were pretty skilful!"
+mrbluenun My pleasure!
Good fit up on everything, very nice. Amazing that the blower survived all those years without a half dozen casting repairs...even the handle was never broken and repaired.
Dave
David Richards More of these things surrived than one would think. If you notice, there is another blower in the background behind the one I repaired. That one is my own personal blower that I loaned to the museum while rebuilt theirs. Mine is in great shape and still runs great after all of these years!
+David Richards most of these were built to be used, smiths are hard on their tools because they make them work, and not uncommon to see these blowers going for a couple hundred dollars at smithing meets, they are fairly common
Holy forearms batman! Your blacksmith looks the part. Good demonstration and payoff. Thanks Keith
A great conclusion to an excellent series, Keith. I enjoyed this a lot. Breathing new life into old equipment that has so much history and provided so much service is very satisfying. It looks like you did a top quality job, and hopefully it will last at least another hundred years before it needs rebuilding again.
HemiRod23 Thanks - I am sure that it will give great service for many more years to come!
great video Keith. Brings back memories of when I worked in southern MIssissippi cruising timber in those 100 degree 100 percent humidity.
John Leake Yeah, I know the feeling. Today, it was relatively cool for South Georgia in the summer - only hit a high of 91. But we had 2" of rain last night and it was overcast all day, making for a really high humidity all day. I was soaking wet from sweat at 9:00 this morning while it was still in the upper 70's. As miserable as it can get, I will still take it over the cold and snow - for me there is nothing worse than being cold and not being able to get warm.....
Thanks for taking us out to see it in action
Rod Rosenberg Glad to do so!
I had no reason to watch this video, but I did, and found that my 100 year old blower has been running dry for quite some time. Will fill her up. Thanks, Keith.
+Lolita's Garden So, you DID have a reason to watch it - you just did not know it until you finished!
Truly a great series. Thanks for posting.
Excellent repair job, that thing was whizzing along just like new. Thanks for the video.
cerberus So far, she is working like a charm. I have no doubt that it will last for many more years to come!
Keith, nice work on the final assembly, the blower seemed really solid and efficient as it was being used. Thanks for sharing the demonstration there at the end, your Blacksmith was doing some sweating there, that's a hot job in the middle of the summer in South GA! Take care sir...
turbocobra Yes indeed - it is hard not to sweat down here in the summer time. With the high temps and the high humidity, all you have to do is walk outside and you are soaking wet. Last Saturday when I filmed that, the temperature was only about 94 degrees but when you factor in the humidity, the heat index was 107 degrees!
+turbocobra he is also burning wood which throws heat in all directions (sparks are a giveaway), coal forges tend to encapsulate the heat in the center, so they don't throw out as much heat
Just want to say from over here in Aust. - Keith, keep on making the vids!
I love getting a notification on my phone that you've uploaded a new video, since it means I have something worth watching in the evening when I'm home from work.
Aaron Nicoli I am happy that you are enjoying the channel - I am having a blast doing all of this fun work and posting things here on RUclips!
Top video Keith. Your gear cutting was very clearly explained. About a month ago I was given a copy of the Machinery's handbook, ninth edition dated 1937. At the time I didn't appreciate what I had, but on seeing how you used it as a reference source, I had a closer look at it, and now have a small understanding of the great asset it is.
Thanks
Ken
gibbsey9 There is a ton of information in that book for sure! I use mine all the time....
Great finale, Keith.
Another great series. What an awesome Mentor you are for would be Apprentices everywhere.
Man that blacksmith has some forearms!
Excellent video series Keith, it's great seeing the machining and setups but really cool to see it in use too. Thanks!
***** Glad that you enjoyed!
Awesome Job! Nothing like that South Georgia head and humidity.
It gets pretty hazy hot and humid in central Virginia too! Seems like it has got a lot hotter for a lot longer since I was a boy!
Daniel Lineberger Hot and Humid, that is the name of the game down in these parts. It gets pretty miserable if you are not used to it.
Definitely some heat there now. Nice work, Keith. And thanks for sharing.
ILGopher Thanks - this was a lot of fun!
I enjoyed the series on repair of the blacksmith blower. Most of my machine work has been on racing cars, anything from front to back. I have cut Acetal (Delrin) gears and it is a good medium to use for quiet running. Thanks for the videos.
+James Bridges Thanks James!
Great job Keith: you are a great teacher good enough to get me drooling over the prospect of getting my little lathe set up just for fun! Greg
Charles Compton I highly recommend having a lathe just for fun!
Very nice! You can get an indication of how nice the gear alignment and mesh is by how long the handle on the blower kept rotating after being released. Sounds great as well. Smooth!
+rohnerw Thank you - it is still being used almost daily and working great!
Beautiful job and series Kieth.
a honing machine will make the gears run smoother . Great job as always
Great repair , I enjoyed all 5 parts Keith !
ShawnMrFixit Lee Thanks!
Keith, enjoyed this series. It was great to meet you a few weeks ago at Jeff's shop party. Thanks for casting the lead hammer for me.
jeff hayes My pleasure! Hope to get to meet up with you guys again soon!
Keith, well done videos! I enjoyed watching you repair the blower, and remembered a whole lot of things that I'd forgotten since shop class back in high school 50 years ago.
Thanks John!
...same here....only thing different as the Jr./High School had a gas-fired forge..
I was goo to see the blower come together and be used by the smith! That is one heck of a museum down there in Georgia. I'll have to come and see it someday!
vajake1 I still have lots of stuff to sneak into videos and show you guys.... I might have a fun little project coming up for the print shop soon.....
Nice smithy shop and I'm drooling over that anvil.
Eric Corse The anvil is indeed a very nice one. I have one at home that is bigger though - a 400 lb Fisher and Norris!
Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org I've got a hundred pond Hay Budden. I'd love to have a bigger one but I need to be able to move it. A 400 # Fisher sweet.
Great repair job. enjoyed watching all the steps and tips. man i wish video like this would be on tv instead of all that crap they put on. It might even inspire the younger generation to get there hands dirty.
one4stevo hear hear! There's very little on TV that's any good these days. I watch these guys on RUclips instead.
one4stevo Back in the 1960's on UK tv there used to be a small time filller called 'the potters wheel' and everything since then on tv has been terrible! there could be much more educational stuff
one4stevo I have to admit that I barely watch TV any more. My wife and kids are glued to it all the time and about the only time I watch it is when they are watching something and I just want to spend time with them. Everything seems to be either mindless or has some agenda behind it, both of which drive me crazy.....
JRoque250 Me too! Thinking of cancelling the cable.
I believe it was the wise Pink Floyd that once said "I got thirteen channels of sh*t on the TV to choose from". That's still true today, except that now we have 120 channels. PS: buy a roof antenna and get all of your local channels plus more for no monthly fee. Cheers.
great build Keith. loverly to see it working well
Great video Mr Rucker, really enjoy watching thanks for sharing.
wade hicks Thank you for taking the time to watch!
Hello Keith,
Very good end result and nice that you have shown how the blacksmith blower is used. Now when I see the smith I had to think at my godfather who was also for years a smith. But he used always an oven heated with coal and an electric blower but the rest he did the same with hammer and smith tools.
Besides, maybe you didn't know but the place where I live was before know for a big coalmine called Staatsmijn Maurits, later knows as DSM ( Dutch States Mines ) or now Sabic. My father worked there for almost 40 years till he died. My father did measurements in the mines and told a lot about his time in the mines, sometimes at almost more than 600 meter ( about 1968 feet ) in the ground.
Anyway many thanx for the nice video and many greeting from Roel !
RoelTyros Thanks for the great story about your dad. I spent a summer as a camp counselor many years ago out in New Mexico here in the US as an interpreter in an old gold mining camp. We had a small gold mine from the early 1900's that we gave tours through - but it was not nearly as deep or long as those big coal mines. Still a lot of fun working underground. I also spent a lot of my time that summer working the blacksmith shop in the mining camp and working with the kids that came through our camp to make a small project to keep. Those were the days.....
Keith -
I really enjoyed this series.
carver3419 Thank you - my pleasure!
Interesting series, thanks for showing how everything is and was done
Walt Peterson Thank you for taking your busy time to watch and leave me a comment!
amazing video series. the bolt at time 6:30 is actually a stud which aligns everything with a square nut on the outside of the casing. in case you were curious.
loves your video's nice shop for the children to see the smith working
Bleu Wolf The blacksmith is always a popular place for people to stop and learn!
This has been another great video. I really enjoy watching these old tools return to service. I don't mean to be a smart ass, but your blacksmith friend is really risking eye injury. I heard old saying years ago " you can dance up a storm on a wooden leg, but you can't see squat out of a glass eye ". I failed to wear eye protection once many years ago and got a drop of liquid wrench in my eye. Lucky for me, I got immediate medical attention and wore an eye patch for about a week. Again, thanks for another great video. Ken....Marina CA
Another great series Keith. It covered everything and answered a lot of questions I had. Seeing it being assembled and then in use was great. From the looks if it, the blacksmith didn't seem to have any trouble and as you said it will only get better with time, but it really puts out some air!
Regards,
Rich
Rich206L Yes, it is doing what it is supposed to do and doing it well. Can't ask for more!
Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org Thanks for the reply Keith! I'm just sitting around waiting for the forge and eventually the finish to the safe, this is going to be a hard one too to top once it's complete! Imagine a series from Victoria Safe # 1, with all the good and the bad in between (relevant too the safe), to the finished product! A RUclips Oscar in my opinion!! Thanks for such terrific stuff!Regards,RichPS. BYW, I thought that the blacksmith could have mentioned what a nice job you did, that's just me, you know...
Excellent job Keith! It's good for another 100 years.
Herb Blair I sure hope so! If so, I won't be the next guy to have to work on her....
What a great job! I'm sure it's quite satisfying having it all come together. On another note, that's got to be really hot work in that blacksmiths shop in the summer. Just standing around in the summer where you are is too hot.....lol. Thanks for the video.
Duncan Mac If you want to get hot, you should come ride up in the cab of the steam locomotive with me this time of the year! I was up there about an hour this afternoon and I was more than happy to give the controls to the next guy.....
Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org Oh man, I can just imagine. You'er a brave sole. Thanks for the reply.
Excellent work Keith .
Lynton Rodda Thank you!
Nicely done Keith! That was a cool project for sure. I really enjoyed watching the blacksmith work the blower and show it's use.
Is that a Peter Wright anvil? Looks just like mine.
Take care man and thanks for all the cool videos.
Adam
Abom79 I can't remember for sure if that is a Peter Wright or not, but I want to say that it is. Most blacksmiths consider the Peter Wrights to be among the best. I have two anvils that are my own - a small 77 lb Swedish anvil that belonged to my great grandfather and a monster 400 lb anvil that was made by Fisher and Norris!
first time discovering your channel, and I'm hooked. Watched all 5 parts of these in one sitting. Thank you for taking the time and effort to put these together.
Gareth Crispin Thank you - I am glad that you enjoyed the series!
Nice work Keith!
Wonderful series Keith!
Matt C.
mattcurry29 Thanks!
I really enjoyed the whole series. Not sure I am ready to cut any gears but at least I have some idea how to go about it!
+William Bemis Should you ever need to, at least now you know the basic process!
Thanks for another excellent series Keith! It was very nice to see the finished product in action :)
IMagius IMagius Thanks - this was a fun one!
A great repair job! Judging from the saturation level of the blacksmiths shirt, he might have a hotter job than the engine conductor!
Jack Hoying I don't know if it is hotter than being on the steam locomotive, but when you add in all of the physical work involved in the blacksmith shop, it does result in a lot more sweat!
+Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org most of the heat is actually from the fire, wood fires throw out a lot of waste heat, the sparks from the flames are a dead giveaway, also note the color he forges at, the brighter the metal the more elastic it becomes, but the closer it is to burning
love it when a plan come together!
sandrammer As to I! Thanks!
When setting up a new gear train, put lapping compound on the gear teeth and run them in with each other. Then wash them well with varsol/kerosene and reassemble. Thry will be much quieter and less likely to gall.
Great series Keith, I really enjoyed the whole process and learnt from it. Thanks for the video.
Bundy Bears Shed Thanks - glad that you enjoyed!
You should havestamp your name on those gears, you deserve it! 👏👍
Excellent! Thanks for sharing the process.
John Strange My pleasure. This was a fun project all the way around!
A fine job Keith.
Bernard Wallace Thank you!
nice repair keith.
Robert Kutz Thanks Robert!
Very interesting videos thanks Keith
Love this! Thanks, Keith!
Sean Harrington Thanks Sean - I am very glad that you enjoyed!
Two great craftsmen getting it done ( old school, but effective :>)
invest4me Old school may not be the most modern way to get things done, but it sure is fun!
when i was first learning to be a farrier almost 60 years ago(how time flies) one of my tasks was to crank that wretched blower. sometimes i wondered if my arm would fall off. later, when i built my own forge, one thing i made sure of was that it had an electric blower.
crazymanmichael Our blacksmith at the museum has a shop at home where he uses electric. He complains about the blower all the time. I personally like the touch of the hand cranked blower as you can really adjust your air on the fly easily, but I guess I don't have to do it all day long day after day.....
+Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org there are several different types of blowers tell him to be thankful he does not have a great bellows to work, they will wear you out in a hurry, i prefer a fuigo or japanese box bellows myself
Hello Keith, you are a good person , I can tell that you are a nice person too, I love your videos, old school. I finally figured out how to subscribe to your channel. Keep the videos coming. Don't pay attention to any bad comments( they are jealous) have a nice day
Ronald Melhorn LOL - Thanks for the subscription!
fantastic job
Andy Coakes Thanks Andy - glad that you enjoyed!
i really did enjoy it
Nice rebuild
John Germain Thanks!
hi keith looking forward to this
Thanks!
Nice job.
Carter W Hern Thank you!
I learned a lot. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Great Job
***** Thanks!
Good work there Keith, I was waiting for the pin striping tho'
Gordon McMillan yes i too was thinking he would repaint it too, but i guess it wouldnt stay shiny more than 5 minutes if he did
Gordon McMillan If the original surface was in bad shape, I would have repainted it, but in this case there was enough of the original paint to just leave it alone. Besides, it will all be covered with grime soon enough....
Nice work :-)
Gentlebear Thank you!
Very cool series, Keith...lots for you to show us. There's nothing like bringing back old tech...still works great! I suppose if I went back and wrote things down, I might be able to calculate things myself but how many turns of the fan for one turn of the handle was there?
i did the same thing with my el cheapo electric blower (use gasket maker) and its actually creating high pressure ...much like a turbocharger ....as you know blower housing suffered leakage do poor plastic casting so i split it open and added a gasket maker to correct the factory defect
i know the mechanical blower will not spin that fast but still a nice touch
+Faisal Abdulaziz blowers for forges don't need to be high pressure, they need to be high volume, what matters is the amount of oxygen getting to the fuel, more than a few using hair dryers and bathroom exhaust fans to feed their forges
This blower would surely put a smile on mister @ wranglerstar 's face
Ben's things & thoughts I have watched some of his videos but I don't think I have seen him doing any blacksmithing.
+Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org he does some, but not much, more homesteading and wildfire stuff that smithing
All that older stuff is built to looser tolerances, in those days large productions weren't able to hold the modern days tolerances, plus metallurgy was not so advances, though the tools were lasting and lasting............ Just like the Bunny...!!!
Pierre
pierre beaudry I sure have fun working on the old stuff. Yes, it was built very differently than things are today - and it is amazing how much of the old stuff still works or that can be repaired to get back to working again. Not so much like the "improved" stuff they make today.
Improved means improved profits for them cause everything is made to ends it's life a little after warranty so you buy again and again, they struggle more at this sordid game than if they would make the tooling last forever.... Sad world, for this and many other things.... :-(
Pretty sure the Georgia museum of agriculture should be named Keith Rucker’s museum of Georgia agriculture
gears do run noisy at first, made a couple of replacement gears for my lathe, they were noisy at first but now can hardly hear them
Hi Keith,
Nice series & fun to watch.
It looks like the air discharge is centered in the fan housing. Could you turn the crank in either direction and still have it work OK?
Maybe you will have to make that missing bolt :-)
Joe
Joseph Magedanz I found the bolt! As for direction, it does not matter which way you turn it and it can be set up to run left handed for a left handed blacksmith.
Joseph Magedanz Air INTAKE in center of housing, centrifugal fan, runs either way.
Hi Keith - really enjoyable to see this come back to life. Sorry to ask again if this has already been answered, but why is there one phenolic gear in the middle of that gear train?
odc43054 It reduces vibration in the gear train and helps to keep the gears running quietly. With the speeds going on in there, you could get a whining noise from the gears.
I was surprised you filled the reservoir with gear oil. Most gear boxes are about half full and the thick gear oil spreads across the gears. Thoughts?
Thanks for the series, Keith. Question about the blacksmith's shop. I take it that was a sand floor (to keep dropped hot parts from bouncing under things), but what is under the sand, is it just earth or is there something like concrete or brick?
ArtemiaSalina In this shop, it is just the bare ground, which here in South Georgia is about 95% sand!
+ArtemiaSalina most shops prefer either bare earth, tile, stone or concrete, they don't burn
When you mentioned blower earlier I was picturing either a fan-type or an older version of a squirrel-cage centrifugal. I don't believe I have ever seen a centrifugal blower that uses paddle-type blades before. Just shows there are always different ways of getting to the same destination. Is that a housing from a second blower in the background at 10:45?
+Bigrignohio This type of blower has been around for many years. I believe that the flat blades are so that the operator can rotate the crank on the blower either way and it will still blow. And yes, that is another blower you see in the background - it is actually my personal blower that I let the museum borrow while I was working on theirs!
no kidding 140 winter oil seems awfully thick for that maybe a 90 and a little Lucas oil stabilizer would be better.
Clearly that guy does a lot of blacksmithing by those forearms! The sound of that blower reminds me of an old hand crank grinder I used to have, makes me wonder what ever happened to it?? I don't remember getting rid of it but haven't seen it around either....hmmmmm. Does the smith make stuff you all sell at the museum?
bcbloc02 Yes, he makes a few items that they sell in the Country Store here at the museum. The guy that you saw in the video is actually a school teacher that teaches a shop related class at the middle school. He loves to blacksmith and comes out on the weekends and is here most days during the summer. He does a real good job as the museums blacksmith - a lot better than the last guy we had there. We also have another guy who is more of a knife maker that comes out sometimes - another really talented blacksmith for sure!
Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org not trying to be pedantic but a knife maker is more specifically referred to as a blade smith.
+crazymanmichael depends on how they craft their product, a smith is anyone who works iron, a blade smith who does not use an anvil is not a smith but one who does is
Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org The blower is fantastic. It's nice to see all of your hard work come to fruition and the blower in use at the forge.
***** Indeed it is - I stopped by the blacksmith shop today to check on things and it is still working great!
Keith,
As others have said you did an excellent job. One question I have, is why you desire to switch to a plastic gear? In your first video you said you would replace it with cast iron, so you must have changed you mind. I assume it is a sacrificial gear in case of a James up.
Again, your skills are something to aspire to.
Al
cpcoark After doing some research, the reason for the gear being made from that material was actually for noise reduction. The material in the original gear reduces a whining noise that would be generated had I gone with metal gears throughout. I decided it was best to put something in there to dampen the noise.
Keith Rucker - VintageMachinery.org
Thank you Keith. I never thought about noise but it makes since.
hope you find that bolt Keith
Dan Watkins I did actually find it the other day after I posted the video. It has been properly replaced!
What about the bearing holes in the blower housing? Were those still 100% ok? I was expecting you to put some bronze bushings in there as well.
speedphreax I reamed the holes out slightly oversize to clean them up and went with what was there. It is cast iron on steel, which is actually a very nice bearing material.
Keith, what type of oil do you use in your oil can? Thanks!
William Huber The little can that I was squiring onto the bearings? That was just a light machine oil - something similar to way oil.
Keith - Out of curiosity, did you choose to not paint the exterior of the blower because of time limitations, to leave it "original" or "as found", or another reason altogether? Thanks for the video.
cemx86 When restoring things for the museum, I always look at what kind of finish the original item has. If the finish is in decent shape, but old and original, I like to leave it alone. Most of the projects I start with are just rusted beyond trying to save the finish, but in the case of this blower, everybody at the museum felt like we should just leave it as it is. So, in the case of my work on this item, it was more of a mechanical restoration rather than a full blown restoration with new paint.