Jaro Petrina

Actually very common on what I have seen.

Gary do you have any explanation for the offset handle on the original?

OK, supposedly its from a derelict smithy near castle of Velhartice here in Bohemia.

No idea, they gave it to me, because I m local metal guy . I am in Bohemia, BTW. I need to grind a bit and see whats inside.

Hi guys, could you analyse this for me? I was given this by local museum guy, (they were cleaning the cellar), its supposed to be around 500 yrs old smelt. There is few stones in one piece, rest is clean.

Its chinese rebar, I think scrap metal melted without any quality control.

The stack is clamped indeed, the tension is just about 1" or slightly more and there are now also hoops at the end of the stack which hold it together. I will surelly cut the bolts, that was not a priority untily now. "I like the black paint job. Gonna add white pinstripes? " - Actually I am gonna add gold pinstripes and logo

Hahaha, quite possibly

That press is brutal Converting log splitter was an idea I once contemplated, but none sold here wasbig and robust enough.

From the fact that I actually build machines as a professionall for more than 20 years now. There is a good reason why old machinery was all cast iron.

Its bit flimsy. My old professor for combustion engines theory always said : "You cannot substitute volume for anything." With machines like this one its the weight. If you go to the lenghts of building one, I would go with burned plate design and big axial mounted motor. That will also center the axis on one plane for all the wheels and pulleys. With todays prices for laser or water cutting this could be done affordably and also with minimum welding, if you are not apt at it. I have 3 HP Engine on mine and it weights 160 pounds without the table on which it stands and that one is probably

Painted also the motor, looks better.

Good recovery man. I built my #40 for about $2000. I am sure more erudite members of this board would chime in, but... I suppose it depends on what type of work you want to do and what are your limitations in regards of instalation. If you have plenty of space and you can build proper sabot (foundation) in the ground I would hunt for a bigger machine like a 40# or a 50#, youll get much more work done in same time. Jaro

I think that the problem is that the stainless is good heat conductor, unlike the refractory, which is heat isolant. Very often with ribbon burner a problem is when the refractory block overheats to the point that the mixture detonates prematurelly inside of the burner. I think this would happen very quickly with the all metal burner. Big problem I think.

So I painted it. Needs golden "John players" special logo. I might turn bigger primary wheel later. Also might put an electric switch on it