Big excitement! My 300# Alldays and Onions arrived Friday. We had a
bad moment after the anvil was in place and all caulked and sealed
against water. The hammer wouldn't go over the 1 1/4" studs. Hitched
up the pickup to the anvil with a chain and took a strain on it while
the hammer dangled from the crane. Tim Bollivar (previous owner,
helping me out with the installation) was then able to nudge the
hammer into place with a big bar. Sigh.
The crane truck operator thought it was all Very Cool.
The ram is seized but a look inside the bore reveals no cesspit of
corruption, only a few spots of rust. It's soaking in a pool of
kerosene and I think it'll loosen up okay when I can get a portapower
under it.
The ram oiler needs repair that I can do. The integral compressor seems
to be fine. Ram tensioner is all crudded up but not seized, a little
worn but repairable. Have yet to dismantle the control valve assembly
but it isn't seized so it's probably okay.
Somebody welded the lower die wedges in place but they did a poor job
so I can cut them loose easily. Less sure about getting the wedges
out since the thing has been outdoors unprotected for seven years.
I won't worry about that until I see it run.
Installed on a big ol' concrete pad, a modified version of the one
specified in the A&O installation blueprints. It's outdoors, 4' from
a section of shop wall specially constructed so I can knock out 10' of
wall without weakening the building. If I get the thing running, I'll
build a shed over the hammer and open the wall. If I never get it
going, on the other hand, I won't have to cut a hole in the roof to
lift it out. Dynamite lawn sculpture, though.
All very exciting. Now I just gotta get the forge installed and I'll
have a blacksmith shop again and a project to soak up all the free
time I had laying around.
Anybody want to but my old shop? Big old building in the very center
of a picturesque Nova Scotia fishing village?
http://www.homesacrosscanada.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/cps.woa/4/wa/ListingDetails?board=SSNS&wosid=NtKZ0noZEYdT83ZCQhdpM0&key=769713
(And that's in Canadian dollars, too.)
- Mike
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Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
[email protected]
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/