Found a bedframe out for the trashman and figured it needed a good home. Cut out the main pieces of my crucible lifting tongs. Put a nice angle on the parts that grab so they come pretty well centered. Tried welding them and absolutely nothing stuck! Granted I don't have a nice welder, it's a Horrible Fright flux core MIG with min/max voltage setting, but still..... I was kinda wondering by all the sparks throwing off by the angle grinder if they might be carbon steel. Just thought I'd share. Not looking for an answer.... Might make a knife out of them and see how hard I can get one. I need fleshing knives for the hides I do....
I've heard rumors that old bed frames where high carbon. From an engineering perspective I can't come up with a reason why they would have been, but I have heard it before. Do you tan hides? I've messed with it through the years a little. The oldest boy found one of my books on buckskin and is all fired up to give it a go now.
I think Chirpy's Tinkerings on YouTube has been using bedframe metal to make the blades for some of the hand planes he's been building, for what it's worth. I've also ruined a couple drill bits on that stuff, it was years ago but I recall some parts of the same piece being hard to drill and other parts being impossible. I've "welded" some of it before using a plugs-into-a-110v-outlet fluxcore welder. Hasn't fallen apart yet. Jeff
Putting router blades on the ever growing list of things to make....Have to get capacitor(s) replaced on my table saw, Make myself a rawhide hammer out of the deer hide I finished scraping. Oh, and START building my new furnace, which, guess what?!?!?! I was gonna use BEDFRAME for the platform and lid mount armature. Imagine that. I guess out come the bolts and wrenches.... Yes, the hole I drilled in the bedframe almost took out a drill bit, but since I know a bit about drilling (pun very intended) and how bits break through the back skin of metal and twist themselves to death getting buried, I was able to hard power through it....
You can sharpen masonry drill bits to get a drill that will put a hole in most steels, I did this with up to 3/4" drills to drill steel I beams. Ideally a drill press will provide the consistent pressure needed to make it work best. I wonder if older bedframes are wrought iron?.
My last two homemade furnace bases were 2x2x.125" (50x3mm) steel angle with all metal caster wheels, welded with a 110v Amazon MIG welder (DC inverter) w/ shielding gas. The more rural steel supplier is very reasonable on materials (better than big box stores or steel suppliers in the metro area) but it's a bit of a field trip the wrong way to go there, so I try to buy ahead for a couple projects at a time. If I had access to more scrap I am sure I'd try it too... I have not done much with welding 'mystery' irons. I think the last time I tried I used nickle rod and a 220v AC 'buzz box' stick welder so I was not wrestling with low amp welding.
I learned something about drilling hard steel when I bought a chainsaw, a two cylinder Solo, to use with an Alaskan sawmill. The man who sold me the saw told me if I tried to drill the blade to mount the oiler, it would ruin the bit and harden the blade even more. He said to mount the drill bit in a drill press, press it down hard on the saw blade, and turn the chuck by hand. It cut slow but perfectly. Richard
Finally found some stock I could weld, welded very poorly, but that was the welder's fault, PEBWAW Problem exists between welder and weld....The machine welder, not the human welder, wait, I mean the human welder was at fault. oh nevermind, I hate the American language sometimes.... They work well. they can lift a propane cylinder crucible as well as my B-10 crucible, empty until I test them with some real weight. I do hope to get something just a tad stronger before I fill up my B-10.... Couple pics too of my 1/4 scale models I used to try out my sizes. I will say my scale measurements were spot on.
Nice use of models to help solve the problem. I would bring the gussets forward into the full-size version. If these do not feel good (loaded B-10 with the EMT tubing), I would get some pipe-size tubing or 1/2" black pipe to get a heavier wall.
How thick is the tubing wall thickness?. Heat soaking in and softening steel can be an issue so those thin outriggers that grip the crucible are going to bend and let go when hot, especially bronze temps and hotter. Also a single screw attach point would allow the strips to pivot out of alignment if they get hit on something. I know of at least one example of a crucible lifter made from 1/2" square hollow steel that has to be used with no hesitation as it softens when heat soaked, it's not mine and I refuse to use it.
The tubing I used looks like wiring conduit, so maybe a few thou thick, hahaha. Welder blew through in one spot, even on low. In the near future I am planning to get some black iron pipe and try with that. I will NOT be lifting my sacred crucibles at heat with these tongs as built. I am really just testing concept and sizing for the real things. For the time being, and not having any casting projects lined up I'll be using used propane cylinders for crucibles, again, just testing things like usability/alignment/lengths to make sure when I make the real set they will be as good as they can be. I've been reading Jeff's thread on the art/rock casting and drooling over the lift and pouring tongs that David/artist/lurker had. BEAUTY! http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/art-casting.2837/
David took some pictures of the jaws of the heavy crucible tongs I got from Bill Jurgenson a few years back through an offer in his intro post here. http://thehomefoundry.org/forums/index.php?threads/new-member.890/ He showed them to a local blacksmith and had him make those similar-jawed 2-man tongs (though Bill's are crane mounted and designed for solo use) and the pouring shank for his A25. They're probably beefier than they need to be for the aluminum pours we did, but nobody's going to complain about that. Josh Koss is the guy. Turns out he lives about 10 minutes away from my place, small world! He's really good. I met him last summer at the annual Great Canadian Rust Junkie Fest where he was doing a demo of "stretch raising" a round disc of steel about an inch thick into a medieval helmet, with some help from a few other full and part time blacksmiths. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9dZasev_W1/?igsh=MTZ3YTRveW44YWN0Zw== Mainly the GCRJF is a wood working show. Level 20 wood elf wizard and event host Jack Forsberg's experimental shop buildings are as beautiful to see as the incredible collection of beyond restored old Wadkin patternmaker's machines he keeps inside them. But there is also a resident blacksmith there, Nick Verbree aka old soldier toolworks. Anyway tongs. I used some 1/2" solid square scrap steel that I got from yet another forum member, Bldr J, to make most of the parts a for the new tongs for my A12. I feel like they're thick and sturdy enough to hold up well without being heavier than they need to be. Had some help from David with the welding too, sometimes it pays to get to know the local weirdos! I kind of wish I had more of that 1/2" square stuff because I still also need to build tongs for my size 16's and an A20. At least I know what to look for now. Jeff
