[TheForge] Re: A&O power source (not OEM)

[Mike Spencer]

lbrown> Have you thought about running a shaft from the end of the
lbrown> axle directly to the gear that is supposed to run the gear on
lbrown> the A&O and mount the car permanently.

Yes.  Still thinking about it but I gotta finish the wood shed first.
I just got the gear off of the defunct electric motor last night at
3:00 AM.  Brass and nylon (?) so so I couldn't use heat.
Drilled, bored and tapped the key, got it out with an ad hoc slide
hammer. 

lbrown> Do you know the rpm for the drive gear?

Yeah, as soon as I can find the ID plate from the motor that I put in
a Real Secure Place Where It Wouldn't Get Lost.  Or I can calculate it
from the known hammer speed spec and the gear toothing. Something like
700 RPM, IIRC.

ralph>  ...but I feel like Dick slick compared to you - as I was going
ralph> to use a diesel tractor that actually has a working tachometer,
ralph> and hook an implement driveshaft to a shaft on the hammer set
ralph> in pillow blocks to carry the fiber gear that meshes with the
ralph> flywheel

That's what I would do too, if I could find a tractor that I could
afford.  Now that I have the gear off the old motor, I think I can
take it apart, strip the core off the 2" shaft and make the motor into
"pillow blocks".  It's real heavy cast iron, has bronze bearings, oil
sumps on each end, oil slingers etc. and is already configured to bolt
to the hammer in exactly the right place.

phlip> Hey, if it had been me, I'd have hooked the bloddy thing up to
phlip> a team of oxen and worked out a favorable gear ratio ;-)

Then you'd be happy to know that when Cecil Parnell (RIP) was building
the satellite station in Mill Village, NS that handled much (all?) of
the first-generation transatlantic satellite telecom (in the early
60s?), he threaded the end of a huge (ca. 8" x 24') shaft using a
horse, backing and re-hitching for every 90 deg. of thread.  This was
a guy that dropped out of school after the 3rd grade to "work in the
lumber-woods".

dave> Add a little duct tape to it and I'd swear that Red Green had
dave> moved to NS.

Well, we considered duct tape for the fuel tank (replaces right
headlight, see photo) but I got this deal on cable ties awhile back so
we went high tech. :-)

davem> I'll bet that with just a little finagling, you could cut the
davem> engine & trannie etc. from the old car and use it as a
davem> permanent power source for the hammer.

Yes, maybe.  I like having the forgiving automatic transmission and
the flexible connection between motor and hammer.  The hammer specs
call for a cement pier and anchor bolts to support the (300# maybe)
motor and its cast 200# iron shelf that's almost as big as the hammer
pier itself. I didn't do that so a non-rigid connection to power would
help avoid busting some critical casting if the hammer vibrates or
rocks too much.

frosty> How about rigging a really big fan blowing back across the
frosty> power plant so the "driver" can feel like s/he's going
frosty> somewhere? A big screen TV with appropriate footage may be a
frosty> good idea too.

Well, that's a station wagon, y'know, not a *convertible*.  Maybe a
computer muffin fan on the dash?  As for the TV, I was thinking of
setting up my old 486 with a web cam on the hammer and the monitor on
the hood so the driver could watch what's happening under the hammer
dies.

frosty> How's the stereo? I'd recommend at least 5amps per channel per
frosty> lb. of ram weight.

Um, well, the FM radio works.  Here in Canada, we listen to nice
refined classical music on CBC, don't yew know.  Do you really think
that a 4-cyl car running flat out under load with no muffler and a
300# hammer banging away is *too little* retaliation for the neighbor
that cranks up his outdoor stereo on Sunday afternoons?

ralph> Your projects are a constant source of entertainment.

Good.  Thank you.  Kind words.  What we need around here is more
levity.  Gravity is a bi**h, as anyone who owns and has moved a Nazel
3B will readily understand. :-)

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                 						   /V\ 
mspencer@tallships.ca            						  /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/						  ^^-^^

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