Tuesday 11 December 2012

Grid on a .NET form

I needed to place a grid on the main form in a .NET application, the grid is a height field that I am generating for a random terrain generator.

When the form is loaded, the nMap class is instantiated with some definition stuff. The nMap class is where I process the grid of data representing the map cells. There is some processing stuff in the class that sets the RGB values for each of the cells.

Public Sub drawGrid(Optional ByVal minLines As Boolean = True, Optional ByVal majLines As Boolean = True)
        Dim cellRef As Long = 1024
        PictureBox1.Image = New Bitmap((CInt(nMap.width) * 10) + 20, (CInt(nMap.height) * 10) + 20)
        Using g As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(PictureBox1.Image)
            Dim grayPen As New Drawing.Pen(Color.Gray)
            Dim blackPen As New Drawing.Pen(Color.Black)
            'cellcolour
            For i As Long = 0 To (nMap.width * nMap.height) - 1
                cellRef = i
                Dim nColour As New Color
                'Dim nAry As cellRGB = nMap.grid(i)
                'nColour = Color.FromArgb(nAry.R, nAry.G, nAry.B)
                Dim nAry() As String = nMap.grid(i).ToString.Split(":")
                nColour = Color.FromArgb(nAry(0), nAry(1), nAry(2))

                Dim nBrush = New SolidBrush(nColour)
                Dim X1, Y1 As Long
                X1 = 10 + ((cellRef - (Int(cellRef / nMap.width) * nMap.width)) * 10)
                Y1 = 10 + (Int(cellRef / nMap.width) * 10)
                g.FillRectangle(nBrush, New Rectangle(X1, Y1, 10, 10))
            Next

            Dim x As Integer
            Dim y As Integer

            Dim intSpacing As Integer = 10
            x = PictureBox1.Width

            'gridlines - minor gridlines
            If minLines Then
                For y = 10 To PictureBox1.Height - 10 Step intSpacing
                    g.DrawLine(grayPen, New Point(10, y), New Point(x - 10, y))
                Next
                y = PictureBox1.Height
                For x = 10 To PictureBox1.Width - 10 Step intSpacing
                    g.DrawLine(grayPen, New Point(x, 10), New Point(x, y - 10))
                Next
            End If
            'gridlines - major gridlines
            intSpacing = 100

            If majLines Then
                For y = 10 To PictureBox1.Height - 10 Step intSpacing
                    g.DrawLine(blackPen, New Point(10, y), New Point(x - 10, y))
                Next
                y = PictureBox1.Height
                For x = 10 To PictureBox1.Width - 10 Step intSpacing
                    g.DrawLine(blackPen, New Point(x, 10), New Point(x, y - 10))
                Next
            End If
        End Using
    End Sub

The Major and Minor gridlines can be turned on and off as suits. This happens in the redraw function.

Monday 10 December 2012

Grid Mapping – random terrain generation

I am working on writing a .NET application that will be used to generate a map. The idea is to create a bump map that can be used as a height field in a GIS application for fantasy worlds (for gaming).

What I want to be able to do, is to create a grid of X x Y proportions and then using the colour values of 000-000-000 through to 255-255-255 to set the altitude at any of the cells within the grid.

The grid starts out with all values at 125-125-125 and then through a process of randomly changing the altitude, I hope to end up with a height field that is “realistic”.

One of the challenges here, is that to change the altitude of a single cell, I need to know what is going on with it’s neighbours (North, North East, East, South East, South, South West and West), so that the change in altitude reflects the neighbouring cells altitude.

To work out the neighbouring cells, I made this spread-sheet in MS Excel:

Spreadsheet

The grid is simply a 10 x 10 grid of incrementing numbers. The cells have a bunch of conditional formats applied to them so that I can see what is being picked.

P1 is just a simple equality formula, where I pick the cell that I want as the reference cell. In the above example, it is F6.

ReferenceCell

I also want the grid to wrap on the X axis but not the Y axis, so that it is a cylinder, rather than a sphere. When the reference cell is < 10  the North values are –1 and when it is > 90, the South values are also –1.

North West

NorthWest

North

North

North East

NorthEast

East

East

South East

SouthEast

South

South

South West

SouthWest

West

West

So when I change the reference cell to, say B2 I get:

Spreadsheet_B2

and when I change it to K2, the grid looks like:

Spreadsheet_K2

So, it wraps the way that I planned. The formulae are probably not as elegant as they could be … but they will do for now.

When I tell my program to increase the altitude of a given cell, the formula will take the average of the surrounding cells and then add the increasing value to the reference cell.

I also want to have the program increase altitude in a radiating way. That is … poke the surface. If the increase in value is going to be, say, 10, then the reference cell has 10 added to it, while the surrounding 8 cells will have 5 added to them. If the program repeats this operation on random cells and with random altitude changes, then I should end up with a bumpy map. The same will happen for reductions in altitude: –10 for the reference cell and –5 for the surrounding cells.

So far, the tool generates the height field and does the initial random altitude change:

1st Grid

2nd Grid

3rd Grid

4th Grid

At the moment, everything averages down. It seems that the process is currently only reducing the cell values, rather than increasing them. I will have to work out why that is happening … it could be my calculation of the average values … not sure yet. Also, the GUI that I’ve built for this allows me to turn the major and minor grid lines off, so that it looks less like a shower recess.

Anyway, that’s where I am with the terrain generator for now.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Sickle repair

A while back, I bought a broken sickle from the tip shop. The blade was in good condition and not twisted. The reason that the sickle was at the tip shop was that the tang was broken and the handle was long gone.

When I got it home, I beat out a new tang for the blade and welded it on, then ground it down (roughly) … and then it stayed in my shed for a while.

On the weekend, I did some mowing with my ride-on Husqvarna. I just went around the paddock fence line so that I would have an easier time of putting up the new fence. I also cut around the chicken coop so that the chooks could scratch up some insects.

As the goats hadn’t been out, I decided that I’d cut the grass closer to the coop than the mower could get … and that I’d use the sickle.

I honed the blade to a nice sharp edge and then went to town on the long grass, cutting it and dropping the cuttings into the wheelbarrow. Of course, not having a handle on the sickle gave my hand a pretty hard time … and before long, my hand was bleeding from the rough parts of the tang gouging my finger.

Enough was enough! Last night I took the sickle back to the shed and cut a new 2 piece handle from some spare cedar and then I cut some 5/32 brass rod to make some rivets. I cut the cedar on the band saw and then I drilled three holes in the tang and matched the tang holes with holes in the handle blanks. I gave the handle a rough shaping with my bastard rasp and then set the rivets (that just means I hammered the rivets until they were flush and then used the centre punch to finish them off, rivets in handles don’t need to be mushroomed, just thickened a little). Then I rasped at the handle some more until I got the shape that I wanted, then it was onto the sandpaper.

sickle

The place that my finger was taking the most damage from was the 90o angle between the blade and the tang, so the new handle is cut to ease this into a soft radius. I also shaped the handle so that it fit the curve of my hand better. Later on, I’ll rub some linseed oil into the wood … but that isn’t all that necessary.

handle

Sickle repair

A while back, I bought a broken sickle from the tip shop. The blade was in good condition and not twisted. The reason that the sickle was at the tip shop was that the tang was broken and the handle was long gone.

When I got it home, I beat out a new tang for the blade and welded it on, then ground it down (roughly) … and then it stayed in my shed for a while.

On the weekend, I did some mowing with my ride-on Husqvarna. I just went around the paddock fence line so that I would have an easier time of putting up the new fence. I also cut around the chicken coop so that the chooks could scratch up some insects.

As the goats hadn’t been out, I decided that I’d cut the grass closer to the coop than the mower could get … and that I’d use the sickle.

I honed the blade to a nice sharp edge and then went to town on the long grass, cutting it and dropping the cuttings into the wheelbarrow. Of course, not having a handle on the sickle gave my hand a pretty hard time … and before long, my hand was bleeding from the rough parts of the tang gouging my finger.

Enough was enough! Last night I took the sickle back to the shed and cut a new 2 piece handle from some spare cedar and then I cut some 5/32 brass rod to make some rivets. I cut the cedar on the band saw and then I drilled three holes in the tang and matched the tang holes with holes in the handle blanks. I gave the handle a rough shaping with my bastard rasp and then set the rivets (that just means I hammered the rivets until they were flush and then used the centre punch to finish them off, rivets in handles don’t need to be mushroomed, just thickened a little). Then I rasped at the handle some more until I got the shape that I wanted, then it was onto the sandpaper.

The place that my finger was taking the most damage from was the 90o angle between the blade and the tang, so the new handle is cut to ease this into a soft radius. I also shaped the handle so that it fit the curve of my hand better. Later on, I’ll rub some linseed oil into the wood … but that isn’t all that necessary.

I’ll post some pictures of the finished sickle later on.

Saturday 8 September 2012

Marshmallow Forks

Tonight we will be having our Bonfire. This is a thing that we do on our property every now and then. The occasion is simply Spring, plus my smallest daughter has decided that we are going to have a bonfire.

Every year we get loads of branches from fallen trees, branches that were fed to the goats and are now stripped of bark as well as various other bits of woody detritus. So this will be the fuel for our bonfire.

Last time we had a bonfire, I made some long forks for roasting marshmallows and cocktail frankfurts. This year, I need more because my daughter has invited a few of her little friends over.

The marshmallow fork is a simple affair. Two strands of fencing wire woven together and then spread out at the end to form the tines. The other end is shoved into a wooden handle so that it doesn’t conduct heat down to delicate little hands.

IMG140

So I start with some fencing wire. This stuff is about 3mm thick. I take out two strands and then fix them into the bench vice.

IMG142

There is about 6” of wire in the jaws of the vice, this will be the tines of the fork. At the other end of the wire, I even the ends up and fit it into the chuck of an electric drill.

IMG143

The drill is then turned on slowly to twist the wire. When the twist is even along it’s length, the job is done.

IMG144

Next, the handles are done by cutting a 5” lengths from a broomstick. A hole is drilled in one end to take the twisted wire.

IMG145

IMG146

I’ve wedged the twisted wire into the handle with a couple of extra bits of wire offcut. Later, I’ll pull the wire out and epoxy the wire into the handle properly.

At the other end of the wire the tines are simply bent into shape.

IMG147

The whole fork is about 1.25m in length, this gives enough distance from the fire to allow the child to roast a marshmallow or cocktail frank without incinerating.

Monday 3 September 2012

Cart Wheels continue

Yesterday I went back out to the workshop to check on the progress of the cart wheels from the Making Cart Wheels post. I wasn’t going to do much in the workshop yesterday, as it was Fathers Day, and my family had other plans for my time.

I removed the lathes from the jig and took a look at what I ended up with.

IMG137

It would appear that the jig and the glue have done their job pretty well. The glue has held the form nicely and the jig was able to clamp the lathes while the glue was curing.

IMG138

There is a straightening in the formed lathe toward the ends, but that is to be expected. The overall curve is good both in the arc of the wheel an in the straightness of the lathe from inside to outside. So overall, I would say that this application of the jig is successful.

There isn’t a lot that I can do with this piece in a practical way, so I am going to cut it up and use it on the jig. If I cut the “hoop” into pieces that are around 27cm, then I can use them to span two clamps. This will give me a piece that will help to clamp down the ends of the lathes when gluing a full 360o piece, by applying pressure at the join: between two clamps.

Next I’ll be buying some timber that is long enough to make lathes that will wrap all the way around the jig and then glue them with the ends offset (staggered), so that I don’t have all of the joins in the same place. Probably by doing two pieces with opposing joins and then the next piece at 60o from the first … something like that, so that no join will be in the same place as any other join. The idea is to improve the overall strength of the finished felloe. Of course, I have to cut the felloe up when it is glued, so this may be a little pointless … we’ll see.

Saturday 1 September 2012

Another play with the forge

After playing with the cart wheels, I had to wait for ages for the glue to cure, so I thought that I’d have a play with the forge.

I didn’t want to do anything dramatic, just get the forge up to a good heat and straighten some bent steel reinforcing rods that I have. The longer plan with the rods is to make them into forge tongs. To do that, they have to start out as straight stock.

I had loads of sawdust at hand, so I thought that I would also try out starting the forge using sawdust to see how that works. Apparently, this is a good way to start a forge fire. The particles of fuel simply disappear up the flu when they are ash and they take almost nothing to start.

Well, that’s partially true. When the sawdust burns, the charcoal particles form a crust over the fresh sawdust underneath and so only the top layer burns properly. When I turned the vacuum on to give it some air, that changed everything. The fire got started very well and was soon quite hot.

steel_temp_colour

I put the reo into the fire and started heating it. After about 15 minutes the fire was hot enough and I got to about 650 degrees centigrade for a 5 minute bake. As I was only bringing the fire up to bend the steel, this was hot enough for me. Also I didn’t want to use up too much fuel.

I still have loads of reo left to straighten, so I’ll be doing some more of that.

Making Cart Wheels

In the Wheel Jig post, I made a jig for making the wheel felloe (the outer part of the wheel). Now, after a hiatus of a couple of weeks where I had to attend to other responsibilities, I have come back to making cart wheels this weekend, Yay!

I managed to finagle some time to work out in the workshop.

The wheel jig has an outer diameter of 2.5 meters, so I needed some timber that was about 2.5 + the height of the felloe, as each lathe will increase the outer diameter of the wheel. I didn’t have anything that long, so I took a different approach … I can use the jig to make parts of the wheel, rather than the whole wheel all in one. When the felloe is made, it has to be cut up into 5 pieces so that the spokes can be fitted, so it isn’t as crazy an approach as it may first sound. The reason that I need to make 5 pieces is that the wheel will have 10 spokes, so one felloe attaches to two spokes … thus, 5 felloe pieces are needed. Anyway, enough of the theory and speculation … i want to play!

First, I took an old piece of pine that is 1.8m long and took it to the table saw to cut it up into 5mm thick lathes.

IMG124IMG125

I figured that lathes this thin would bend easily and not need to be steamed first. When the lathes are glued and bent, the glue will hold the timber in the shape of the jig.

The timber was cut on the thin side, so that the 5mm thin piece wouldn’t jam in between the slide and the blade. However, this meant that I was on the cut side of the wood. So extra care and attention has to be taken.

IMG126

When the lathe comes away from the stock, it is light and can easily ride the blade back and fly off the table at you … so be careful!

Next, I put a couple of lathes around the jig to make sure that they were going to bend OK and I would be able to bend and glue without steam.

IMG127

As predicted, the lathes were thin enough to be able to curve on this diameter without breaking. You can see that it is a fairly soft curve.

Actually, steam bending is not that hard. I made myself a steam chamber a while back and used it when I was making bentwood stuff. I will definitely be revisiting steam-bending on the goat cart project, so you can look forward to seeing the steam chamber in action at a later date.

Now that I was sure that the lathes were thin enough to bend without breaking, it was time to get the epoxy resin out and glue up. The glue that I am using is a 2 part epoxy that I bought for it’s cured flexibility. This is the glue that I was using to make laminated longbows with. When I put the longbows to breaking strain, it was always the timber that broke, not the glue. So this stuff is pretty good. Also, this epoxy is used in marine applications, so it is also waterproof.

IMG129

Mix the glue 1:1 in a disposable container. I bought a heap of plastic spoons, plastic cups and wooden stirrers for this purpose, I can make my epoxy mix and then just throw the fixings away without having to worry about contaminating the 2 part components.

IMG131IMG133

With the wooden stirrer, I spread a thin layer of the epoxy gel onto both lathes. The thinner the layer that you can apply the less squeeze out you will get. Also, applying the glue to both pieces makes for a much more reliable bond.

IMG134

Flipping the back piece forward over the front piece was the easiest way to match the two lathes. Don’t worry too much about how they match at this stage, the jig will apply the pressure needed to make the lathes work together.

IMG135

The two glued (but not cured) pieces were put around the jig … making it most of the way around. As I was putting the lathes into the jig I found that leaving the top bolt out was the only way to do this. Also, without the top bolt in place, the bar was able to be swung out of the way while bending the lathes around the jig. I went from the middle out to the edges so that the two lathes wouldn’t tend to spring apart when pressure was applied. When the lathes were in the jig and the bolts were tightened to finger tight, I then went to one end of the lathe and started to tighten and straighten the jig. There were some bends in the lathes and some points on my timber jig that were a bit uneven, so I had to put a shim between the jig and the lathe to tighten it up. It is also important to make sure that the bar is at a right angle to the wheel so that you don’t end up with twists in the felloe.

IMG136

All glued and tightened up, I just need to wait for the glue to cure. This takes about 24 hours, so tomorrow I will take the felloe off the jug and see if this experiment has worked the way I want it to. I need to add another 3 lathes to the felloe and then cut it up into pieces that will match into the spokes, but that is for later.

Sunday 26 August 2012

Goat Proof Barrier

Yeah, right.

Today, I had the goats out in the garden having a browse. Normally, the goats are well behaved and leave most of the trees alone. Of course, it is in the nature of goats, that they will see a tree and try it. If they like it, they will eat it.

There are some trees that you don’t want your goats to eat. Take my lovely wife’s hakea for example. We have been nurturing this along for a while and they usually take a while to establish and for them to flower. At the moment, the hakea is about 2 meters tall and has had one inflorescence.

The goats decided that it was at the perfect height to have a go at (tee hee) so they did.

My lovely wife was a little put out by their antics, so I had to come up with a solution.

I had a couple of 8 foot star posts, some fencing wire and some 1.5m rose-wood stakes. MacGyver time!

I drove the posts into the ground about 1.3m apart and then tied 4 stakes across the bottom of the star-posts making a box. Then I tied another 4 stakes at about 1.5m above the lower stakes.

Then I tied 5 rose-wood stakes between the cross pieces making a series of “palings” from the stakes. This gives me a 4 sided cage around the hakea that the goats can still get their noses in (some browsing of the hakea is still good). This will encourage the hakea to bush up without the goats pushing the plant over, break the main stems, strip the bark … all of the things that goats like to do when they find a young plant that they like the taste of.

There is no such thing as a goat proof fence … if you really want one of these, consider a concrete bunker.

Monday 30 July 2012

Wheel Jig – Part 2

Cart Wheels Part I

Today I made some improvements to the wheel rim jig, I marked out the outer rim using a transom arm protractor. That is, a protractor that is made by fixing a batten to the centre of the circle and then rotating the batten through 360 degrees marking a line at the end of the arm. This gives you a circle. Then I cut along the line with a jigsaw to leave me with a circle. I still need to rasp down some high spots and fill some low spots, but it gives me the shape that I need.

I drew a line through the centre of the circle to give me the starting point. This line passes through the centre point in the circle, the line gives me 0o and 180o. From there, I marked off points at 36o, 72o, 108o, 144o and back to 180o. As the circle is divided by an even number, I can simply draw a line from each of these five points to the opposite side of the circle to give me 10 equal divisions.

Next, I marked out a point on each of the division lines about 1 and a half inches back (2.5cm) from the perimeter and drilled holes through for the jig clamps. Turn the jig over and clean up the slight tear-out from the drill and, presto, a wheel rim jig is made.

IMG121

You should be able to draw a straight line between each opposing pair of jigs and they should all meet in the centre of the circle.

I may need to fix another layer of fence palings to the jig to make it thick enough. Otherwise there will be a tendency for the laths to warp because one side or the other of the clamp will be off-set.

IMG123

 

The threaded bar that is used in the clamp has been left quite long so that I can have enough clamp to make a rim up to about 15cm.

In the top photograph, I have put the topmost clamp all the way through and brought the next two clamps all the way forward so that I can use the clamp as a hanger to hang the clamp off the ground. I have also got a hole drilled through that was at 45o from the first hole. This will be where I can hang the jig up in my workshop. Hanging the jig means that I can have bench-space cleared up while I wait for the epoxy to cure. The epoxy that I will be using is a two-part marine epoxy. This epoxy has a little bit more flexibility in it than other woodworking epoxies and the wheels will take a bit of bumping around when under load.

One of the reasons that I have made this jig with 10 jig clamps is that I intend to make my wheels with 10 spokes. The clamps also provide me with a guide for making the spokes.

Anyway, that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed it.

Read Part I here

Friday 27 July 2012

Making Cart Wheels

Cart Wheels Part II

I need to make some cart wheels for my planned goat cart. Some time ago, I had some jig clamps made (to my design) by a local engineering company, they are simply a pair of round bar of equal size and diameter. The bottom piece is tapped so that a bolt can be passed through it, while the top piece has a hole for the bolt to pass through. When the bolts (2) are tightened, the two pieces are brought together.

IMG115

The idea is that you have a timber form and you drill a hole through the form and pass the tapped clamp piece through the hole. The work piece that needs to be clamped is then put on the form and the top piece of the clamp is added with the bolts (I have fixed nyloc nuts to the ends of the threaded rod to make my bolts). I have 10 of these clamps.

On another project that I was working on, I made some crude timber wheels (using fence palings).

IMG116

The wheel was only being used in a “proof-of-concept” so I never actually used the wheel. The next part is to mark up the wheel and put in the holes for the jig clamps. There are 10 clamps, so 10 holes around 360o means that they will be at 36o from each other … well I can work with that. First, drill one hole and put the clamp in.

IMG118

Here you can see what I mean, one part of the clamp is fixed in the jig, while the other is able to move in and out by turning the bolts top and bottom. The only real drawback with this design is that it is easy for the piece to skew, so I have to be careful when tightening the bolts.

So, to prove the concept for you, here is a piece of Huon pine that I cut from a larger piece, this is called a lath. I cut many of these laths to make laminated longbows from (another story for another time).

IMG119

I’ve placed another jig clamp at 45o (because it is easier to measure with what I had at hand. I will put the rest of the clamps at 36o).

You can see how the clamps are pulling the Huon pine in to the shape of the former.

For this to work properly, I will need to steam the lath (and the lath will need to be much longer). I will be cutting many more laths on my table saw from Tasmanian Oak since that’s a fairly easily obtained timber in the widths and lengths that I need. I also need to refine the timber wheel that I am using as a form. It is not a perfect circle. For that I need to set up my router on a swing arm from the centre of the wheel. I’ll use a straight cut router bit so that the wheel is cut cleanly from the centre.

IMG120

The lath will be set on the forming jig while pliant from steaming and then taken off the former. When the lath has cured, I will then use epoxy to glue it to another lath until I have a wheel rim that is approximately as high as it is wide.

In between laminations, I will leave the progressing wheel rim on the jig as the next lath will need to be formed to the wheel rim as it goes.

The above lath is about 3mm thick and 30mm wide, so I’d need about 10 laths to make a wheel. Also, each lath needs to be about 3mm longer than the previous one to account for the increase in thickness.

So, there you go. Apart from a bit of tidying up in the workshop that was my playing around in the workshop.

Tomorrow I have a Goat Judging course to attend, so I won’t be doing any more work on this project until Sunday.

Thursday 26 July 2012

Loooong weekend

This weekend is a long one for me. I am taking this Friday and Monday off for some much needed rest and recreation.

Now that the forge is completed, I can start planning some other stuff that I’ve been wanting to do.

A while back I made some wooden wheels that were going to be used on a water rocket carriage. The water rocket project went into hiatus (mostly because of time and cost issues), but the wheels were completed. I am thinking of using the wheels as a forming jig for making spoked wheels for a goat cart. I’ll need to drill some holes into the perimeter of the wheel so that I can attach the steamed wood to the jig using some clamps. I’ll need to rip-cut some timber that I have in the feed shed (blackwood, sassafras, Huon pine, leatherwood … etc.) and then I’ll steam and bend the wood around the jig. After the wood has “formed” I’ll bend another and then glue it to the previous lath. I intend to make each wheel from about 7 x 3mm thick laths. This will make each wheel about 21mm thick and about the same width.

I’ll make the rims for the wheel using steel hoops (made on the forge). I need to make some hubs and spokes as well … but I’ll get around to that later, for now, the wheel rim is the target project.

I will make one wheel rim and see how that goes. If it all goes pear-shaped, then I will rethink the plan.

When the wheel rim is crafted, I will need to cut it up into sections so that it can be hammered onto the spokes … but that is probably thinking about it a bit too early.

Also, I am picking up some aluminium roofing from a friend on Friday, so I will also need to do something with that. The aluminium roofing is intended to be the roofing of a new goat shelter that I am building in  the bottom paddock. I will need to buy some timber posts for the frame and some stud timber for making the wall and roof structure. Ideally, the new goat house will be only about 1.8m high. The goats won’t be able to use it until I have sorted out the fencing in the bottom paddock … but that is still a job for later when I have enough spare cash for fencing material.

Sunday 22 July 2012

More work on the Forge

So the plan for today was to fix the gap in the hood and to put the flue on the forge.

I started to cut a hole in the roof of the lean-to for the flue to go through, but all of the water on the roof from the dew came sluicing down on me … so I’ll leave that for later on (when the dew has finally evaporated off).

I cut the steel from the piece I cut out of the body to make some patches for the hood and fixed it on. It’s none too pretty … but then I don’t suppose that a forge is intended to be aesthetically pleasing … is it?

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The hood will now direct smoke and ash upwards without getting in my face. Yay!

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Like I said … it’s none too pretty. But I can always “hide” some of this mess with some pot-black, it will be less obvious if it is of a uniform colour. Also, the pot-black will help to reduce the amount of rusting that will affect the hood. Heat will make the rust flake off, but it’s better to have no rust in the first place.

You can see where the hole is going in the roof for the flue to go through.

Fitting the flue will be an exercise in expanding the bottom of the flue to go over the top of the hood, and then screwing it in place.

I got up on the roof of the lean-to and cut the hole through for the flue, then dropped the flue down and over the opening at the top of the hood. Fired it up and voila … chimney.

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Still a lot of smoke coming out of the forge, but then I was burning straw. I need to cut the bottom of the flue into tabs, spread the tabs and screw them on to the top of the hood to make it nice and secure. That should also help with the smoke … a little bit. A good fire, when it is burning a better fuel will not smoke as much as this, so I am pretty happy with the outcome.

Now the flue has been attached to the hood and I’ve fired it up.

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I’m burning a bit of straw and some old fruitwood cuttings. When the straw burned off and the wood was burning well, the flue drew most of the smoke as planned, so it was working.

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With the air pumping into the forge from the old vacuum cleaner through the tuyere, I was getting a reasonably fierce burn in the middle of the forge. Of course, the fuel was used up pretty quickly as there wasn’t much of it, so it only burned for about 10 minutes. With some decent fuel in the forge, it should get quite a good heat going. I may need to put a grate over the top of the tuyere so that the burning coals don’t just drop through to the floor. I need to keep some coals banked to keep the heat going and so that I can get a good burn happening.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. There may be some tinkering required as I increase the heat, but the forge is now ready to go into service.

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