Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[Martin (Admin)]

Random question of the day; how were ball railings ordinarily made?

They seem unnecessarily over engineered....

[Circlip]

Bit like Iffy fivers, Forging.
 
  Regards  Ian.

[Netleyned]

Or casting


http://www.wagnercompanies.com/wagnerail.aspx


Ned

[GAZOU]

3D printing

[Big Ada]

When Labour costs were low ideas could be explored.
 
Len.

[TailUK]

It's a guess but I would have thought that they were drop forged in wrought iron.  Cast iron would be too brittle and prone to rusting. 

[John W E]

hi
 
As far as I remember from my apprentice days in the Shipyard it was the blacksmith's job to make the handrail stanchions and as it has been said they were drop forged, depending on how many were required and what type of ship it was which dictated what type of material they were made of and it was the poor unlucky apprentices job to drill them all out for the handrails to go through and also drill the footplates and the swivel bracket.  Some of them are able to be folded flat on the deck and have a support lug near the top ball where the support arm fastens to.
 
As apprentices we all did 6 months with the blacksmiths before moving on to do another stint in the tin smiths shop ... and then the platers shop.... and then ..... and then ..... the electricians shop etc., and eventually ended up in the fitting shop where you finished off apprenticeship.
 
Guess what, one of your first jobs in the fitting shops was DRILLING more holes in flanges and making studding bar.....grgrgrgrgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  I wonder how apprenticeships are spent today. 
 
aye
 
john

[Colin Bishop]

For somebody ignorant like me, could someone explain just what 'drop forged' means I have often come across the term but never understood it.

Colin

[derekwarner]

Colin....simply a hammer head on a vertical shaft that is driven by an eccentric ....so the hammer drops down toward the anvil on each revolution

Different types of shoes are attached to the chuck on the shaft to progressively forge the profile with each successive downward stroke

The operator or forge man manually shifted & rotated the work piece between drops etc...........as he literally controlled the final profile - forging was actually an employment trade akin to blacksmithing........both being hot & heavy work & not for the feint hearted 

Naturally many variations in design/drive & control on the theme to cater for forging 1 ton to 5 lb shapes ......

Similar, but not to be confused with larger monolithic hot forging machines..........

We now have forges that are CNC electro hydraulic controlled & very little manual intervention.........Derek

[Colin Bishop]

Thanks Derek. Sounds as if drop forging stanchions was quite a skilled task then. These days drilled bar stanchions would be much simpler.

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

 
Drop forging looks terrifying!!

http://youtu.be/_8k1nv7xzjw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ2-jm9CjiM

... that's enough to make your fillings rattle ... and you all your ancestor's teeth as well!!!

For somebody ignorant like me, could someone explain just what 'drop forged' means I have often come across the term but never understood it.

Colin

[vnkiwi]

Ball railings are still used in the mining and manufacturing industry in Australia and NZ, and probably other countries as well.
Was a "weldlok" patent system.
Steel balls on steel tube verticals, supplied predrilled for the horizontal hand and knee rails.
All made in automatic machines. Balls pressed from steel sheet and welded up.
On site very quick to erect handrail systems.

[Colin Bishop]

Yes, very impressive. It is amazing how malleable metal is when you bash it.

Colin