"Orange Crush" now lives in Montana!

Really a nice monster :)
How does a big press is supposed to wreck steel? I try to guess (but i'm interested in the actual answer): i imagine the big billet starts getting cold, but since the press is a big monster she doesn't care and squeezes the cold steel until a lot of cracking occours... is it the danger?
 
The biggiest issue that unexperienced users have with a press is "over pressing", that can mean anything from what you mentioned, to just plain taking too much of a "bite" at one time. Generally when using any press, I strive to compress no more then about 1/4" at a time, and often times no more then 1/8". When it comes to a press its about working evenly throughout the billet. You've just given me an idea for a short video! Once I'm finished setting up the press, and have everything working the way I want, I might just have to "wreck" some steel to show what I mean. :)
 
Thanks, for the info Ed! I am terrible about names never forget a face but names I can't remember too well. I think the one I was thinking of was smaller than this one. I was studying the pictures you put up and that is when I thought about the other press. I was very similar in construction!

Oh I am down for some video footage of the beast in action! :35:
 
Finally got "Orange Crush", and the rolling mill all setup, and the shop back in order. Now the fun part....testing out the new tools!


I started out with a few billets of damascus, some large chunks of 4140, and some 1" square stock of 416 and 5160.



The chunk of 4140 started out at 8 1/2" long X 4" X 4", and was able to get it down to 1 1/2" forging hammer stock in just a couple of heats!






Finishing it out was sooo nice using the rolling mill:






I only did the initial welds on the damascus billets, but will try to get pics of working those down into "W" pattern.


I'm really diggin these tools! Now if I can just keep up with what the tools are capable of doing, I should easily double my damascus production! :)

I've not been able to get any video yet, but am gona try setting up the "GoPro" tomorrow while I'm working on the damascus billets.....we'll see if it works out. :)
 
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Managed to get a short video of "Orang Crush" and the rolling mill in action today. Can these tools ever move some hot steel!
[video=youtube;llO_3eczKU4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llO_3eczKU4&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 
WOW!!! Ed, that's impressive! We all enjoy watching your videos and we learn so much.

Ken H>
 
Really liking "Orange Crush"! Heres a billet of "W" pattern, destined to become Feather pattern. Right now its 2" square X 8" long..... gona cut it into four equal pieces, rotate each piece 90 degrees, and then weld it back together....so the pattern will be on the long axis. Next will be heating it up, hot cutting it down the center, then weld it back together..... never could have done this with my old press. :)

 
Ed,

Great to hear you so happy with Orange Crush! Did you find a Volvo Muffler for the beast? That was the quietest and smoothest sounding car I owned.
 
I did find a muffler for it! I went rooting through a local auto wrecking yard and found a muffler and section of tailpipe off a late 90s Chevy truck...... it was a gas engine truck, so I suspect that sooner or later the muffler will clog up from the diesel, but for now its working well.

Now I just need to switch gears and stop forging so much..... and get some knives completed for the Blade Show! :) (but forging with the new tools is just so darn much fun!)
 
Nice set up Ed.
if you can some time post a pic of the foot pedal you have set up? I need to put one on my press.
 
I'll get some pics for you Tracy! The press actually has an air actuated foot control.....but I did build a mechanical one for the rolling mill. I'll get the pics up later today.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
I did find a muffler for it! I went rooting through a local auto wrecking yard and found a muffler and section of tailpipe off a late 90s Chevy truck...... it was a gas engine truck, so I suspect that sooner or later the muffler will clog up from the diesel, but for now its working well.

Now I just need to switch gears and stop forging so much..... and get some knives completed for the Blade Show! :) (but forging with the new tools is just so darn much fun!)
Click to expand...


You Animal!
Just had to put the noisy throaty sounding muffler off of the Merican truck! LOL
So much for being nice to your neighbors:35:
 
I was pleasently surprised.... its actually really quiet! The overall noise of the engine is what makes noise.....but the exhaust is whisper quiet. :) OH! I gotta go get those pics for Tracy! And while I'm at it, I'll take pics of the power unit too!
 
Tracy: Heres some pics of the mechanical foot pedal that I built for the rolling mill....

Overall pic:


The upper portion:


And....the foot pedal itself. You can also see the air foot pedal for the press (the orange thing in the background)



Here's some pics of that muffler that I slapped onto the power unit.....




 
I know you bought this from Jim Clow, and he made it

but
you kept it with no modifications.

Why an engine driven power pack.
Why not convert to electricity?


Especially diesel and in the cold weather we/ you have
I expect problems with cold starting, cold hydraulic oil, water in the hydraulic fluuid, cold chattery valves, engine drive noise.
Having to get and keep fuel...
 
Yes I did! (Kept it with no mods). Actually theres a couple of reasons.... First, its a proven setup, so if it ain't broke...... Second, in order to run both the press and rolling mill with an electric motor, the minimum would be a 22 hp electric motor, (the Kabota diesel that runs the power unit is a 39hp engine) and I don't have the power requirements in my shop for that. Cold starting has never been a problem for this unit....Jim had it sitting outside his shop, uncovered/unprotected for several years, and never had a problem. But, just in case, the engine has a block heater installed, which Jim said he never used.... but my thought is during the winter, just plug the block heater into a timer. I'd also thought about the fluid being cold, but again, it was never an issue when the unit was at Jim's place, but if needs be, buying a couple of "pad" tank heaters isn't a big deal. I admit I was skeptical about having to haul fuel, but its not a big deal.... I buy dyed diesel at a local farm co-op, for about a dollar less a gallon then standard "road" diesel, and the power unit is so mizerly on fuel, it can run for a month on $20 worth.

When Jim first put the stuff up for sale, I was going to take the press and rolling mill, and Chad Nichols was going to take the power unit..... and I started checking into running it via an electric motor... I know I could have purchase a phase converter, a 22hp motor, then spent the time and money to get everything assembled/converted, and likely would have still been at it, and a LOT poorer. As it turned out, the power unit presented a logistics nightmare for Chad, so I ended up taking everything.... which saved me a lot of time, money and effort..... it just worked out better overall for me to keep things as they are, and work on damascus. This might sound strange, but when I discovered all the work and money it would take to convert the power unit to electric, I actually prayed about it, and shortly thereafter, talked with Chad about the logistics issues.....so I took the whole ordeal as this being how it was meant to be for me. :)
 
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