A Man and his Machine

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
Finally got over to Ray Kirk's shop today - what an experience!

5160 & 52100 everywhere!



Ray and The Beast

!!! :eek: :eek: !!!


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Yes, that is a Chevy 250 L6 powering his Roll Mill...!!!



Ray told me he'll be hosting a shop tour Sept. 24 - if you're in the area....plan on being there. Can't wait to come back...Ray's a great sport and wonderful host.



Obligatory Mug shots...


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:p

Wish I could have spent more time, Ray. Thanks again!
 
Wow! I'm not sure what that machine is for but it sure looks like with a 6 cyl engine attached, you could lose a finger if not careful, or maybe a whole arm!

I'm curious, when making a shop visit like that, what possessed you to wear white pants??? I like the tool theme on your shirt, but it looks very flamable....
 
Hey John, Daniel is always a fancy dresser. Here's one from Trackrock.
 

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Ray likes to roll that 1 3/4 52100 round stock down in about three passes. You should see what it does to damascus!!!!!!! Mike
 
I did get to see what it does to damascus, miller....:D :cool:

Ray had a 52100/15N20 billet laying around....stacked it and put it through the mill. Took minutes (vs. hours/days - for me).


jmx - Ray figured it all out - there's a whole slew of gears you can't see (the last gear is right behind his right hand in the top pic) that divide the speed and multiply the torque. It is awesome...

Kit - LOL!! There I go showing my panache....


I did come away with a few scuffs...:o....we were just dropping by, didn't know Ray was going to put me to work...:eek:

just kiddin', Ray. :D
 
Ray, next time, have a bunch of work saved up for Dan! Nice pics, and I bet a great shop visit. Nice shop, too. Mug shot is right, especially the one on the right, heh heh heh!
 
ME Miller, you know it only reduces it by an 1/8" per pass.

JMX, The rolls are coming toward me and all the places that I could put a finger in are out of the way. I work with it by myself a lot, actually that is the only way to work it, and have put a lot of thought into how it is laid out and it limitations. It does have them. I owe an awful lot to Darryl Meirs for pointing me in the right direction on the rollers and rpm of them.

The shop tour will be an Arkansas Knifemakers Association shop tour and is a great opportunity to learn and visit with other makers. The first one I went to was at Cliff Polk's and I joined before I left, I didn't know that there were that many people that would share information about making knives. :) It has been great ever since.
 
Ray Can I ask what you used for rolls (type of steel , dia and roll RPM)?

I'd say you have more than enough hp power there :eek: :D
I helped my brother in-law make a wood splitter with a 4 cly Toyota engine
and a pettybone pump one time
it would twist the 8" beam if you wasn't watching it, you could cut a 6"
tree side ways very easy with it. :)

Kit I might have known Dan K would have been cutting rope, he likes cutting rope, I've seen him cutting rope, rope and more rope :D :D

Dan was that a new chopper? or the one you had at the necka HI? :)
 
Dan,
The rolls are 8 1/4" in diameter and are mild steel. They turn at between 30 and 60 rpm and are 5" wide. The engine is running in 1st gear and has been stopped by putting too much material that wasn't hot enough. It cost me a lot to learn its limits because when you exceeded them, it broke something that costs $$. It will grab more than it can handle
I had anticipated on having several sets of them in line so that I could just put it in and out the other end would be what size I wanted. That would have been too costly so I have plenty of the 8 1/4" dia. x 5" rollers left. They already have the holes in the center and I can make some one a good deal on them. I will not be needing any more for a long time. :)
 
raker said:
Dan,
The rolls are 8 1/4" in diameter and are mild steel. They turn at between 30 and 60 rpm and are 5" wide. The engine is running in 1st gear and has been stopped by putting too much material that wasn't hot enough. It cost me a lot to learn its limits because when you exceeded them, it broke something that costs $$. It will grab more than it can handle
I had anticipated on having several sets of them in line so that I could just put it in and out the other end would be what size I wanted. That would have been too costly so I have plenty of the 8 1/4" dia. x 5" rollers left. They already have the holes in the center and I can make some one a good deal on them. I will not be needing any more for a long time. :)
Click to expand...

wow at 8" I can see why..that's shooting it out there..
the splitter we built was with an automatic trans and we'd run it at about
2500-3000 RPM's but that is a different ball game too.
do you think an auto with a governor would have helped you? and maybe dropping to 5" for extra power gain in the two changes?

if I figured it right your shooting out steel at about 14" per sec. at 30 RPM's

Cool :)
mine is going to be a portable so 8" rolls may be too big for me.
but then again price rules too.. shoot me a price if you'd like.
dan@grayknives.com .I'll need to know what they have for a bearing ID surface also.
 
The holes are 1 7/16" in diameter in the rollers. At 14" per second, that is less than 1 mile per hour. Most people will walk at a speed of 2 1/2 to 3 miles per hour. So it isn't really shooting out but moving right along. :) The diameter of the wheels will also cause it to compress the steel more than it does pushing it back and that helps the pressure when making the first weld on damascus.
 
raker said:
The holes are 1 7/16" in diameter in the rollers. At 14" per second, that is less than 1 mile per hour. Most people will walk at a speed of 2 1/2 to 3 miles per hour. So it isn't really shooting out but moving right along. :) The diameter of the wheels will also cause it to compress the steel more than it does pushing it back and that helps the pressure when making the first weld on damascus.
Click to expand...
that makes sence for the weld.
Thanks Ray for the e-mails..
 
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