I have finally decided to set up my old forge. I have a Canedy Otto
Manufacturing, Model H Western King hand crank blower that came with this
shop built forge. The blower seemed pretty stiff to turn so I disassembled
it expecting to wire brush and lube the gears inside the case. To my
surprise one of the gears was made from fiber and I think it is paper. I did
a little measuring and found the gear to be 1" wide, 40 tooth, 16 pitch and
I think 14 1/2 pitch angle. I think this gear is paper to reduce noise but a
plastic gear might serve the same purpose. To repair this old blower would
be my first choice. I have looked at a few gear vendor sites but haven't
found this gear but I did find this 1/2" wide, steel gear that looks to be
the right dimensions otherwise.

McMaster Carr 6325K19
Steel Plain Bore 14-1/2 Deg Spur Gear 16 Pitch, 40 Teeth, 2.5" Pitch
Diameter, 1/2" Bore
In stock at $29.22 Each


I have also been thinking of mounting a 1800 rpm motor on the blower and
scrap the hand crank gearbox. The other option would be to find a suitable
blower with an electric motor already mounted. Ideas? comments?
--
Steve

On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:44:39 -0500, "Up North"
wrote:

I have looked at a few gear vendor sites but haven't
found this gear but I did find this 1/2" wide, steel gear that looks to be
the right dimensions otherwise.


McMaster Carr 6325K19
Steel Plain Bore 14-1/2 Deg Spur Gear 16 Pitch, 40 Teeth, 2.5" Pitch
Diameter, 1/2" Bore
In stock at $29.22 Each

Boston Gear lists a cotton phenolic gear to that spec. p/n QB40

I have also been thinking of mounting a 1800 rpm motor on the blower and
scrap the hand crank gearbox. The other option would be to find a suitable
blower with an electric motor already mounted. Ideas? comments?

I've worked at coal forges that use cheap Grainger shaded pole blowers
controlled by a dimmer and toggle switch. They work OK once you get
used to the slow response of the motor, especially at low settings.

--
Ned Simmons

"Ned Simmons" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:44:39 -0500, "Up North"
wrote:

I have looked at a few gear vendor sites but haven't
found this gear but I did find this 1/2" wide, steel gear that looks to be
the right dimensions otherwise.


McMaster Carr 6325K19
Steel Plain Bore 14-1/2 Deg Spur Gear 16 Pitch, 40 Teeth, 2.5" Pitch
Diameter, 1/2" Bore
In stock at $29.22 Each

Boston Gear lists a cotton phenolic gear to that spec. p/n QB40

I have also been thinking of mounting a 1800 rpm motor on the blower and
scrap the hand crank gearbox. The other option would be to find a suitable
blower with an electric motor already mounted. Ideas? comments?

I've worked at coal forges that use cheap Grainger shaded pole blowers
controlled by a dimmer and toggle switch. They work OK once you get
used to the slow response of the motor, especially at low settings.

--
Ned Simmon

Thanks Ned
I priced that P/N and it was 57.00. I think I am going to go with the steel
gear for half that price. As far as I can tell the fiber gear was to make
this blower quiet as this was one of their selling points. I won't be
running this forge on a daily basis so I can't imagine the noise to be that
great. I ordered the gear though MSC and found both of the gals I spoke with
to be real helpful and knowledgeable and I told them as much.
Steve

Yup. A guy brought me one of those to repair once. He wanted THAT gear
fixed. It looked as though years of soaking in oil had the paper
"leaves" separating. I suggested he get a metal gear.
I worked for a company that constantly designed gear trains with
plastic gears to reduces noise. They ALWAYS failed. We ALWAYS replaced
them with brass or steel.

There are a couple of inherent advantages to the hand cranked blower.
1. When you quit cranking, the fire goes down so you are a LOT less
likely to burn up parts. Especially for folkd just starting out.
2. You may use a LOT less coal. Our guys estimate that training
classes with electric blowers take twice as much coal in a day.
A 3rd advantage is that, with the blower only working when you do, the
fire pot may not get as hot as otherwise, reducing the likelyhood that
overwatering the coal will crack the firepot.

There are plenty of hand cranked forge blowers that DO make a lot of
noise. Back in the late 1970's, Alex Bealer, a writer and "reviver" of
blacksmithing, held a sort of "blacksmithing conference" for a bunch of
art students somewhere down south. They had the whole event filmed.
Most of the audio on the film was those old blowers going
whine-whine-whine-whine----- with every turn of the crank!

I'd think twice about electrically powering that blower. The bearing
surfaces probably aren't up to it.

You might try posting this over on alt.crafts.blacksmithing, also.

If you are going to get into a little blacksmithing, go to www.abana.org
(the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America) and look around for
your closest affiliate blacksmithing group. They are pretty nice folks
to contact and get all sorts of help and info from. I belong to 4 of them.

in western Wisconsin,
Pete Stanaitis
---------------------------

Up North wrote:
I have finally decided to set up my old forge. I have a Canedy Otto
Manufacturing, Model H Western King hand crank blower that came with this
shop built forge. The blower seemed pretty stiff to turn so I disassembled
it expecting to wire brush and lube the gears inside the case. To my
surprise one of the gears was made from fiber and I think it is paper. I did
a little measuring and found the gear to be 1" wide, 40 tooth, 16 pitch and
I think 14 1/2 pitch angle. I think this gear is paper to reduce noise but a
plastic gear might serve the same purpose. To repair this old blower would
be my first choice. I have looked at a few gear vendor sites but haven't
found this gear but I did find this 1/2" wide, steel gear that looks to be
the right dimensions otherwise.

McMaster Carr 6325K19
Steel Plain Bore 14-1/2 Deg Spur Gear 16 Pitch, 40 Teeth, 2.5" Pitch
Diameter, 1/2" Bore
In stock at $29.22 Each


I have also been thinking of mounting a 1800 rpm motor on the blower and
scrap the hand crank gearbox. The other option would be to find a suitable
blower with an electric motor already mounted. Ideas? comments?

Up North wrote:
I have finally decided to set up my old forge. I have a Canedy Otto
Manufacturing, Model H Western King hand crank blower that came with this
shop built forge. The blower seemed pretty stiff to turn so I
disassembled it expecting to wire brush and lube the gears inside the
case. To my surprise one of the gears was made from fiber and I think it
is paper. I did a little measuring and found the gear to be 1" wide, 40
tooth, 16 pitch and I think 14 1/2 pitch angle. I think this gear is
paper to reduce noise but a plastic gear might serve the same purpose. To
repair this old blower would be my first choice. I have looked at a few
gear vendor sites but haven't found this gear but I did find this 1/2"
wide, steel gear that looks to be the right dimensions otherwise.

McMaster Carr 6325K19
Steel Plain Bore 14-1/2 Deg Spur Gear 16 Pitch, 40 Teeth, 2.5"
Pitch Diameter, 1/2" Bore
In stock at $29.22 Each


I have also been thinking of mounting a 1800 rpm motor on the blower and
scrap the hand crank gearbox. The other option would be to find a
suitable blower with an electric motor already mounted. Ideas? comments?

"spaco" wrote in message
.. .
Yup. A guy brought me one of those to repair once. He wanted THAT gear
fixed. It looked as though years of soaking in oil had the paper "leaves"
separating. I suggested he get a metal gear.
I worked for a company that constantly designed gear trains with plastic
gears to reduces noise. They ALWAYS failed. We ALWAYS replaced them with
brass or steel.

There are a couple of inherent advantages to the hand cranked blower.
1. When you quit cranking, the fire goes down so you are a LOT less
likely to burn up parts. Especially for folkd just starting out.
2. You may use a LOT less coal. Our guys estimate that training classes
with electric blowers take twice as much coal in a day.
A 3rd advantage is that, with the blower only working when you do, the
fire pot may not get as hot as otherwise, reducing the likelyhood that
overwatering the coal will crack the firepot.

There are plenty of hand cranked forge blowers that DO make a lot of
noise. Back in the late 1970's, Alex Bealer, a writer and "reviver" of
blacksmithing, held a sort of "blacksmithing conference" for a bunch of
art students somewhere down south. They had the whole event filmed. Most
of the audio on the film was those old blowers going
whine-whine-whine-whine----- with every turn of the crank!

I'd think twice about electrically powering that blower. The bearing
surfaces probably aren't up to it.

You might try posting this over on alt.crafts.blacksmithing, also.

If you are going to get into a little blacksmithing, go to www.abana.org
(the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America) and look around for
your closest affiliate blacksmithing group. They are pretty nice folks to
contact and get all sorts of help and info from. I belong to 4 of them.

in western Wisconsin,
Pete Stanaitis
---------------------------

I received the gear from MSC today and had to make some mods to it to make
it work. At first I thought I should bore the .5 hole in the gear to match
the .630 shaft but alas I don't have a boring bar that small and one I could
borrow is 10 miles away. I decided instead to turn that portion of the shaft
to .05. I accomplished that and then had to face the hub of the gear down to
..775 so it would fit where the paper gear was. I then drilled and tapped a
1/4" hole for a set screw to fix the gear to the shaft. The old gear was
held by a pin in a hole drilled diagonally through the shaft. I felt I would
not be able to match the pin hole and it would be a pain to disassemble if
need be. I don't have it completely together but the steel gear does make a
singing sound when the gearbox is up to speed. I will keep you posted when I
get the forge fired.
Steve