[TheForge] Forge Trailer Advice

[Grover Richardson]

Go ahead and make a trailer light adapter for the 3 most common plug styles.
Leave the adapters in an easily accessible area of the trailer.  There will
always be late night trailer coupling events, and if the adapters are
available long before hand, someone will be singing your praises soon.  Also
I would trust someone to plug in an adapter much sooner than I would trust
them to correctly plug in the spade inserts<G>.  Reason?? I work with color
blind electronics engineers.  Is that a red light or a green light?  Is that
red light on or off?  Add to that rain, short time, stress, and mistakes
will be made<G>.  I make them also.  

>*>-----Original Message-----
>*>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>*>[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ralph Sproul
>*>Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 6:45 PM
>*>To: Sponsored by ABANA
>*>Subject: RE: [TheForge] Forge Trailer Advice
>*>
>*>
>*>	Barry,  You should do alright with the pictures Mike 
>*>posted to the metalshapers list of my demo coal forge and 
>*>the size trailer I'd say works well.  The trailer weighs 
>*>about 900 lbs and a small rig can pull it - placing 1000 lbs 
>*>of forging gear into it which is about what your forge, 
>*>anvil, vice, blowers, stands, tables, stack, cords, samples, 
>*>story boards, and rest of the gear weigh will still go down 
>*>the road fairly well with a 6 cylinder pulling it.  The 6 x 
>*>10 cargo trailer is capable of hauling 2900 lbs in NH (and 
>*>other states) without needing electric brakes on the towing 
>*>vehicle - this is another situation you really want to 
>*>eliminate as the light plugs are enough of a hassle - to 
>*>send a member out on the road cuz he was in a hurry and you 
>*>couldn't get a different plug to fit their truck can really 
>*>leed to trouble.  Just dealing with light plugs and 
>*>providing about three different major types (flat four pin, 
>*>round for pole, and round five pole - will cover just about 
>*>95% of the rigs that will haul it.  I've even taken mine to 
>*>having a set of spade inserts that pull apart down the wire 
>*>loom a bit - so you can change the wire pattern if necessary 
>*>rather easily. Considering a jack, spare tire already on the 
>*>rim, and a 4 way lug wrench can also be a good investment 
>*>for the members of your club (or yourself if you do one of 
>*>these on your own).
>*>
>*>I do still sell the plans for the demo coal forge - but look 
>*>at the pictures and see if you need them.  If this is for 
>*>your club - I'll send along answers to your questions to 
>*>save your club money and provide education on smithing 
>*>........that's something I enjoy doing.
>*>
>*>If you have a copy of ABANA's "Coal Forge Handbook" - my 
>*>portable forge built with the help of 18 friends during a 
>*>workshop for such a task - is depicted on pages 26 - 30.  
>*>Stephen McGeHee did a real nice job illustrating that 
>*>project.  One note is the bearing he shows on page 27 is not 
>*>how we built our units.......we found hooks so the axle can 
>*>be removed and set firmly on the ground works much better - 
>*>and if your on a slight grade - it doesn't tend to roll when 
>*>you use the post vice.  Stephen also depicts the forge as a 
>*>coal forge basic table - the group of us added many 
>*>"accessories" to this forge table.  Those include a post 
>*>vice on one corner, a tool tray on another(shown in coal 
>*>forge book), a hand crank blower on a back corner, and a 
>*>hand crank drill press on the opposite rear corner.  About 
>*>12 guys in the Northeast have copied this forge built by a 
>*>cooperative effort of smiths at my shop.  I had the first 
>*>one as I'd purchased the trailer and didn't want to pull my 
>*>shop forge apart for demos any more - and that is what 
>*>originally inspired the workshop on the "ultimate coal 
>*>forge".  You will see these accessories in the pictures Mike 
>*>Graf posted on the Metalshapers list.
>*>
>*>Hope this helps and if you have questions - fire 
>*>away........others will benefit from what your going thru.
>*>
>*>Ralph
>*>
>*>-----Original Message-----
>*>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>*>[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On >*>Behalf Of 
>*>bmyers647 at comcast.net
>*>Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 10:40 AM
>*>To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
>*>Subject: [TheForge] Forge Trailer Advice
>*>
>*>
>*>Thanks for the advice, Mike, Dan and Ralph.
>*>
>*>I think that the single forge/single trailer idea might be 
>*>the ticket.  Lots of things to think about.  The thought of 
>*>the trailer being at the wrong place all the time was a 
>*>worry.  Along with the insurance, where to store it, how to 
>*>get it there, and all the rest.
>*>
>*>Ralph, do you still have your plans for the rolloff?
>*>
>*>Thanks to you all. _______________________________________________
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