Blacksmith Forge Blower: Reassembling with the Newly Made Gear 

What it comes down to is that you are young enough that by the time you got a bicycle, the bearings were caged. We used to take our bike wheels apart every couple of weeks, wash everything clean with gasoline, repack the wheel bearings, and then wash the assembly with gasoline to get the assembly grease out. Then we would put oil in through the capped oil cup. Our idea was that the thin oil would make the wheel hub have less friction and our bikes faster. I used to get a dollar to do that job on other's bikes and would put a squirt of oil every week as part of the service. Dad never complained as the oil I used was the $0.10 a quart oil we had in a tank with a metered hand-cranked pump. That was a good pocket change maker, as Dad paid me a dollar a week and $0.25 for every car wash I did. On a Saturday I on a good weekend or if there was a funeral could make $2 doing that. Dad, being an old 1st Sgt would inspect every wash job for quality. Heaven forbid not getting down into the corners of the window glass or having streaks on the glass. The floors had to be vacuumed perfectly. That job was always fun as what one found stuffed under the seats or dropped under the seats was very interesting. It was good money for a kid in 1952. I had to pay $0.50 out of my money every 2 weeks for a haircut. Had to have the sidewalls army style.

On your gear set, it's easier to lay the casting on its side so the gears will just lay in place and you can align them visually. Like a transmission cluster shaft, if you make a dummy shaft that holds them in alignment, then all you have to do is push and rotate the shaft to align the key and the dummy shaft keeps the bore aligned as it is pushed out the other side. You are missing the cone shaped lock washers for the three mounting screws.

Keith, you can always watch your video of taking it apart. :)

I have been repairing and restoring classic bicycles for three decades by now, and thus I can attest that the old rule of thumb "full minus one" does indeed give you the correct number of bearing balls that should be used in these type of loose ball bearings. This means that even when a specific number of balls seems to fit quite well into the bearing, you should still go ahead and take one bearing ball back out again, because bearing balls without cages need some free space amongst them in order to work properly. This may sound somewhat counterintuitive at first, because one would of course assume that the highest possible number of bearing balls used should give the best result by distributing the bearing forces more evenly across a higher number of contact points, but in reality loose ball bearings really work better with one "missing" bearing ball. You might want to try this in order to reduce friction in your blower assembly.

They make a tapered star washer for those screws that hold the housing on. That might have taken up the space without having to countersink the casting.

The screws, attaching the gearbox to the housing, were probably bottoming out because there used to be an asbestos washer behind them to seal it off.

I can remember putting bicycle pedal shaft bearings in exactly the same way, good fun and manual dexterity (and faith in the grease) required

If only someone had a video on tearing one down 🤣

For bike bearings, going by feel, I always tried to *just* make the end play go away. That usually meant leaving just the slightest amount of endplay in the bearings, which would go away when the lock nut was tightened down.

I'm a bicycle mechanic and the cone and bearing setup is standard on most bikes. We often repack and adjust the cones.

Mr. Rucker....you look great! I have not watched your channel in awhile. I hope the best for you & your loved ones!!

Fascinating old tech. Thanks for going into the details.

TIP Keith for putting two gears in place on a shaft in a small space. You could SUPER GLUE them together.😉👍👍Tip from a Navy guy. 👉👉1 more thing a cork gasket on the cap would make it original.

Thanks for sharing. My grandfather helped my fix my bicycle once upon a time. We didn’t run to the store for parts. We headed to the dump. At the time I didn’t understand.

As soon as you showed me that output shaft I said "bicycle wheel bearings". I just dealt with the exact same setup about 2 years ago on my old Facet Biotour bike. Did it a similar way. Grease held the bearings, then the shaft held one side and guided the other. worked a treat.

Nice job Keith. Certainly do not see one of these forge blowers rebuilt everday. My Dad had a similar one when I was a boy. My Dad said the Forge was an essential tool in the shop on the Farm when he was a boy. His Dad, my Grandpa used it alot repairing equipment and making tools. I can remember my brother and myself cranking it. Was fun playing with it. Thanks for sharing the process. Have a great day.

Hmm… Wonder if the guys who built it a hundred years ago thought that some guy would be rebuilding to last another hundred years. Good greasy hand video, Keith! Thanks for sharing. 😊

Nice looking blower. Hope it frees up for you. I have the same blower and restore it about ten years ago and I remember having to go back in and clean all the grease out and use light oil to get it to be usable without exhausting myself to use it.

Back in the 50's our neighbor had a Lima crane, he used a forge to melt zinc to pour in cable end fittings. I cranked one of the blowers

Grandfather had one in his farm shop and would put some coal in it then let us crank it while he heated, bent, repaired, forged something on the anvil to our amazement. As kids we liked going out to the barn and helping (playing with it). He used 30 weight motor oil in it. You have the bearings a bit too tight and should remove most of the grease. They will be oiled by oil that is splashed around the gearbox while cranking and not be packed with grease. Once up to speed it should not take much effort to maintain the speed.

Given the oil in the gear case, should there not be a gasket between the gear case and the blower case? The lack of a gasket might account for the trouble Keith had taking up the slack between the two cases (?)

Thank for the Video, Another step along the way.

Can't imagine blacksmithing and hand cranking the forge blower

Thanks Keith, that will be really nice. You are making me want to get my old forge going again.

Around 6:13 as Keith struggles to get these gears in I have to imagine that the factory worker putting these blowers together day in and day out had some long forgotten method that made it go together soooooo easily and quickly.

It's so nice to see tools from days gone by restored so that they may be used again. Some specialised trades such as your local Blacksmith are slowly disappearing. We need guys like you to help prevent that from happening.👍 Great worth Keith. 🇬🇧🇺🇦⚒️

I have one of these old Champion blowers, almost exactly like the one your assembling, I need to go through it, but it does work very well, not much to go wrong with it. It was found in a dumpster in Grandview Idaho, and given to me by some friends years ago. It was full of dirt, non-functional and needed a new handle, of which I made a new handle and got to spinning again. I also had to cobble up a stand for it, and with very little effort, it puts out a lot of air. I need to build a proper forge for it still and plan on making knives with it. Very cool project, nice job on the gear.

Thank you Keith!

Had to put a not dissimilar gearbox together about 40 years ago when I was an engineer in the Merchant Navy. I used a welding rod bent in half with hooks bent on each free end to hold the gear in position. Then when it was at the correct height in the box I folded the welding rod over the edge of the gearbox casting to keep it in position. Was still a right bugger to do, especially as I got the gear back to front to start with and had to take everything apart again. Happy days.

On the 10th attempt it worked.

Imagine how much easier this reassembly (and the original production!) would have been if they had split this case and had it bolt together, instead of making it one casting. I'm impressed with your patience getting this thing back together. My thought would have been to glue the small gear to the big gear (maybe using loctite) for reassembly, assuming they touch each other once fully assembled.

Nice build. Use some light oil on bearings instead of grease, will spin easiler. Otherwise its arm workout. Ha

Thank you for sharing.👍

Great job

Good morning Keith. Looking forward to seeing it in use. Have a great weekend.

Nice project!

Well done, Keith!

Thank you for another great video. Stay safe out there. Cheers

You're looking good Mr. Rucker. Good job on the weight loss.

Hmm.. I wonder what keeps the "cone" of the bearing from getting to tight or to loose over time.. Souldnt there be a jamnut to lock the cone once the bearingplay is set? Like it is constructed on the bicycle wheel hubs..

Good job putting back in service Keith !

What is cool is that blower was made in my home town. The house I grew up in was built in 1900. At the end of the block was a gas station. I got curious years ago about what had been there originally, because it wouldn't have been a gas station in 1900. A search of old directories in the library revealed that it was originally a blacksmith shop. Given that your blower has a date of 1901, I wonder what the likelihood is that one of those blowers would have graced that blacksmith shop?

Takes me back to packing the bearings in my push bike many many years ago! Don't miss it!

One can judge ball-bearing clearence either by measuring the clearence with a tool, or simply by feel, or measure the pre-loading. Bearings like this, should have zero pre-loading. One can put a little weight on the wheel, and see if it freely rotates, so as to see if there is a pre-loading or not. Pre-loading might bake and crush the balls in time, for they are not designed for this. Roller-bearings on the other hand, can be pre-loaded, but that is another cup of tea. I sometimes take it apart for inspection, and to apply more grease. I had a split ball bearing in my bike's hub, probably because I over-tightened the cone before. However, the halves oriented them selves well into the grease and did not marr up the races. A new bearing-ring, (18 cents), a little dose of grease, and now biking forward, to defeat over-weight and save the atmosphere:)

Super job as usual but did he forget to install the lock nut against the second cone? I hope not.

Brings back memories of cranking the forge blower for my Pawpaw (Grandfather) as a kid. Up at 4:30, out to the field at dawn. Go to the shop (to work in shade) at heat of midday.

My dad used one very similar, I don't remember the gears making as much noise though, perhaps adjusting the bearings can alter the lash on the gears. Much cheaper than electricity now a days.

That is very satisfying.

have an old round forge that the blower mounts directly to the basin. believe it was my great grandfathers ! the blower is stuck and the basin is cracked But someday i hope to get it back in business

12:10 - It's a bicycle axle. They're built the same way with loose balls in grease.

Nice project. Just a note, don't over pack bearings with grease, the ball will have difficulty moving if it can't easily push the grease out of the way and this can cause the stiffness you're seeing and with something like a trailer wheel it can cause over heating and early failure.

nice job

Hello Keith It’s great to see that even ‘pros’ like yourself sometimes struggle to work in tight spaces. It can seem more like surgery than engineering! Greetings from the UK.

that style of bearing is still used in bicycles and maybe motorcycles. there should be a keyed washer and a locknut with both cones

HI YOU HAVE ALOT OF GREAT SKILL AND EVERY THING... I HOPE YOU HAVE GREAT STUDENTS TO FOLLOW YOUR GREAT OLD WAYS.... CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE THE FINSHED OF THE SAMPSON BOAT WINDLESS..

Thank you for this video. I have a blower I need to clean and lubricate before I install it on my forge. It's mechanically sound. I just want to make sure she's properly maintained before I put her into use.

cup & cone bearings like old school bicycle wheels, bottom brackets and headsets.

0:51 - You have a vid of taking it apart, much better than the stills I used putting a car back together 5 years after it was taken apart. 7:36 - Nail polish; color per your taste. 15:15 - 'Sticking' needle bearings in a Muncy T10 intermediate shaft from memory. It worked.

Keith, I noticed the thumbnail of this video has "reassembling" misspelled. Just thought you'd like to know. I've been watching every video for years and will likely never step foot in a machine shop - just love the dedication to the craft!

I would, sure enough, crank it in the other direction. Anti-clockwise is the way that will run way mo betta. Mine does. Lots of them do. I got yelled at one time by the shop boss. The angle at which the helical gear is cut makes it so. Please try it, Keith. Your ear will tell you. It seems to me that most of the grease in the bearings could get thinned out now and use lots of oil instead. That handle ought to go around at least once after you let loose of it. The way it is, you will get tired of cranking and get cranky.

Ah yes, 10 speed Schwin in a gritty environment. The oil will shortly thin out the grease and eliminate the drag. Meanwhile, the grease provides some lube for the new ball. There should be some way to lock those cones from backing off. I do think Locktite on the flathead screws would have been a great idea as well as some silicon between the blower housing halves. I have seen the demo modules in auto parts stores of Lucas Oil for gears like those. It sticks better to the gears and carries around them providing better lubrication.

Should watch your own disassembly vid ^^

Amazingly my two still have good bearings and gears. Neither is quite that big. I am looking forward to seeing how yours mounts to the forge and how the air is delivered under the fuel.

'super old style of bearing'.. That is how a lot of bicycle crank bearings are done!

Trying to remember how something goes to back together. Yeah, I've sung that song many times!

Heavy grease and a magnet to magnetize the shaft.

Love these videos. Based on a lot of these comments, I'm supposed to suggest a "better" way to doing things. Sorry, but the other 9 ways I can think of, are all the same as the ones you used .

Good afternoon, What a pain the bugger was to put back together.

I know how much of a bear those 2 gears are. I put my uncle's blower back together also. I found a little trick though. I took a few drops of Loctite and temporarily glued the 2 gears together on the keyed pin. then lowered both down at once with a coat hanger. Worked like a charm. One mistake I made tho was that I drilled out the old ball bearing races and put in sealed bearings instead. Big mistake because the sealed bearings have rubber/plastic seals and they melted from the heat of the forge after about a month. Made a heckuva mess lol. I ended up scraping the melted plastic out and putting washers on both sides of the bearings and packing them with grease... a 1 hr. job turned into 3 days lol... and in case you're wondering, yes the blower was mounted wrong and was too close to the forge which is why they melted.

With oil in the gear case, you shouldn’t need grease on those bearings (other than the amount you need to hold the bearings in place for assembly), the gear oil should lubricate the bearings and quiet the noise from the gears down considerably. Getting most of that grease out of the those bearings will also make it a lot easier to turn. Nice job rebuilding this old blower, like you said, good for another hundred years.

This whole process kind of reminds me of fixing a watch from inside the watch

I think there is far too much grease in the bearings. There needs to be a bit of space to allow movement

Thank you Keith for all your videos and website scans. That blower’s fan or impeller blade design looks pretty rudimentary….. I’m sure that there may be some simple blade profile changes that would decrease resistance and effort and increase output…! There’s a challenge for one of your viewers….!

That grease maybe putting too much drag on the bearings. Vaseline is a good choice for holding things in place. Vaseline will melt into a liquid once it warms up.

With some minor mods you could make this do dual duty as a forge blower / air raid siren.

Good morning

I think the grease in the ball bearings adds a lot of drag, i would've used just enough grease to make the bearing balls stick for assembly and then put a lot of oil in the bearings to dilute the grease, so the bearings can run freely.

Bearing balls and ball bearings are not the same. What Keith did here was to install the balls that made up parts of the bearing. A ball bearing wouldn't work here without machining the housing to accept them. For something like this, the bearing, as equipped are most suitable.

Very nice 😎😎😎👍👍👍

I wonder if, originally, there were washers behind those screws that hold the 2 main sections together.

Хорошо похудели 👍💪

I wonder if the amount of grease packed in the bearings isn't adding quite a bit of drag, especially given the many turns the fan must make for every crank of the handwheel. I would think that just enough to ensure that the bearings won't wear, along with periodic maintenance, would make a tremendous difference. Those straight cut gears are sure noisy, too! I wonder why one set was helical and the other wasn't!

Nothing but quality ! Unlike todays designs. I've seen many of those blowers run very freely but how original and their often they were serviced isn't known. Of the ones I've seen, they tend to continue to turn once you let go of the crank by maybe 1 to two revolutions. It's truly a sad thing that our current society cannot or will not manufacture quality items that will last the owner a long time a give almost no breakdowns. Such a simple blower like these yet they were made to work an easy century or more. Today, it seems that plastics are an enemy more than they are an advancement to the tooling industry and society. They have their place, no question but there are times when plastics should not be used.

I would have thought there would have been some sort of gasket material between the two halves of the fan housing. Maybe cork or paper. Also, where you used a bit of string I have had good luck with a strip of cardboard or flashing metal instead. That way I could lift, rotate (a bit) and turn the gear to get all lined up. Great result though.

Well done, all your balls in place, with copious amounts of grease around them. May I suggest, before the application of oil into the belly of the beast, you may like to apply some Super-Lube, onto the innards, before using the oil-fill. The Super-lube, oil will evaporate leaving a film of grease on the parts so sprayed ! It's made in the USA, by the SYNCO Chemical Corporation, Bohemia, NY 11716. I have found it especially useful for those hard to get at places, and it comes with a long plastic tube to get into all the awkward places ! Have fun ! Stu xx

Like some gun parts can be assembled with a short slave pin that is pushed out when installed

Nice job Keith, but I'm curious about the steam regulator (?) on the bench behind you

For what it's worth and I am not a blacksmith, however I have been around numerous forge fans in operation and even helped by turning some. Most appear much looser than yours. It may be related to wear, but they typically turn a rev or two before coming to a stop after being driven. I would consider loosening the bearing a little more for easier turning. Just a comment. And thanks for the series.

Plans to use it soon? Great job as usual Kieth. Take care, God bless! ✝️🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Trying to get those two gears in, I was expecting you to turn a dummy shaft just long enough to connect them. Place the whole assembly in, then use the other shaft to push the dummy shaft out of the way

.watch your old strip down video in reverse and it will show it going together

Reassembly is a pain when it's been a while and no photographs.....😔

I didnt see a bearing race on the second fan bearing(18:00).. looked like it had been pressed out and needed replacement before new ball installation.

Would the room for the three screws been from washers to create somewhat of a thermal break between the gearbox and the blower shell?

Would it have been perhaps possible to adapt the casting to use a sealed captive race rather than the old bicycle wheel-type cone and barings setup? I always remember when I was a kiddie and working on my bike, taking those apart and cleaning all the gunk out and then reassembling them with clean grease was a frustrating Sunday afternoon's work!!!

No wonder you had trouble with the assembly. Neither Ginger nor Maryann was there to supervise!

👏👏

Or take a few photos with your mobile when taking things apart. Helps a lot. Tony

I'm thinking that you're (general you) supposed to assemble this on its face, sitting with the part that's on the handle side on the vice down on a table or towel. Snake the gears in from the side and slide the shaft from the top, because even for when this was new, i don't imagine they'd want to fumble with the gears for that long. Even if you knew the right procedure, you'd still take a while to get things aligned right. Probably would've been easier if one of the shaft faces was removable with screws. :))

I gotta tell ya Keith…when you started putting in those first two gears it made ME fidget in my seat! I’d have thrown something across the shop!😂