Amazing Chinese forging video

I saw that yesterday, almost shared the link as well. It's a real ugly operation until they machine the thing down. You can see calipers at one point and the rest of the measuring seems to be with some sort of rod with markings of some sort. My question is how consistent are those flanges from the start of the shift to the end, or on a rainy day when they're slipping in mud or anything like that.

To hot for mud :-)

I suspect the rods were marked - hole smaller than this - and flange .....

The company doesn't want to pound out another or 50% for mistakes.

Wrought iron not pouring. And the base must be a beast into the ground! Not much bounce in the ground near by or anywhere.

I think "we" went into pouring the form and then machine out the final.

Mart> Ignoramus15685 wrote:

But cast is not as strong as forged, no?

i

It looks like they know what they are doing, removing last 1/2 inch or so

"Ignoramus15685" wrote in message news:A8-dnYnbsaa57_ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

Metalworking in China is about as old as in India and the Near East.

AFAICT the development in each region depended on the characteristics of the local ore, such as the phosphorus content that makes cast iron easier to melt and pour but steel weaker.

Cast is not as strong as forged.

I can still remember seeing anchor chain being drop forged in the navy shipyard in Boston in about 1954 or 1955.

Dan

Geez, what a dangerous occupation. A few of them were at least wearing face shields, but if anything went wrong, somebody could be killed for sure! Guys holding several TONS of yellow-hot steel with tongs from just a few FEET away, while that drop hammer just wails away on the piece.

Sheesh, I can only imagine how long those guys work at this before somebody gets hurt BADLY. Probably just weeks before they have to reset the "days since last accident" clock back to zero.

Jon

On 12/28/2016 1:37 PM, Jon Elson wrote: ...

The one resource for certain the Chinese don't lack is manpower...

That piece is not iron. It's steel. Of course, if you're a nitpicker, steel is a type of iron. d8-) Big pieces of wrought iron are very rare and have been for around a century.

Cast iron is strong in compression -- stronger than forged (wrought) iron. But, except for ductile iron and malleable, more or less, it's weaker in te nsion and it's very brittle. You would not open-die forge any ductile or ma lleable iron to the degree of this example. It's not up to that much hot wo rking.

Again, though, that piece is steel. It's much stronger than wrought iron. T he forging will make it a bit stronger, but casting steel is an iffy propos ition, anyway.

There's no question they've made a huge flange of some sort, but if I ordered 100 of them, would they vary at all? Would they even all be made of the same type of steel etc. That's where I have questions about cottage type industry.

I think it was mentioned that's a flange for a 48" pipe. At 100 PSI that's

90 tons of force trying to tear that thing apart. It has to be a sound part and not just "close enough". Forgings still need proper heat treatment, and from that video maybe they just bury it in dirt. It's not really clear.

Why is casting steel an iffy proposition? it's done all the time. My neighbour was building a miniature US steam locomotive and that apparently had a one piece cast steel frame which from memory would have been in full size some 60' to 80' long.

teel is a type of iron. d8-) Big pieces of wrought iron are very rare and h ave been for around a century.

on. But, except for ductile iron and malleable, more or less, it's weaker i n tension and it's very brittle. You would not open-die forge any ductile o r malleable iron to the degree of this example. It's not up to that much ho t working.

n. The forging will make it a bit stronger, but casting steel is an iffy pr oposition, anyway.

Higher casting temperatures and fairly low fluidity are limiting factors fo r steel castings. There are other issues that sometimes cause problems, suc h as shrinkage where section thicknesses change.

A piece like the one in the video clearly is a cutoff section of steel off of the first or second rolling stand; a custom order, probably, because it probably couldn't be made in a modern continuous-casting operation. It's to o thick.

And I thought my previous job sucked! Someone else mentioned that just some of them were wearing face shields, I noticed a lack of hearing protection. No 'muffs' and likely none at all. Also noticed the lucky lift driver getting misted with a hose a few times. Need to watch it again and see what else I missed.

On 12/28/2016 2:01 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote: ...

I not call that "cottage"; looks like pretty sizable operation and clearly this is far from the first of these this crew has made.

I'd guess there's a final set of more-or-less conventional machining operations undertaken before final use...

Didn't try to estimate thickness nor stresses, but I'd also bet the stress levels are pretty minimal as compared to actual yield values. IOW, there's likely quite a lot of margin for the end use.

Being as it's obvious they've been turning these out in large numbers by the practiced movements, if they weren't up to snuff in application initially, they certainly are by this point simply by experience if nothing else...

If you saw the machine bay - there were a number of these.

I figure they are part of a bearing surface for Tree works or ground works.

Mart> >>> >>>>> To hot for mud :-)

What's a Tree works?

After examining links of this chain I'm glad I wasn't in the crew that hand-forged it: Splitting firewood is enough for me.

The early paddle-wheel steamboats required huge forged crankshafts that strained the limits of blacksmithing.

Forging a small one:

-jsw