Canister Questions/Issues

R

reader_06

Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
12
I know it has been done to death and I can probably find answers in a past post but easier to do it this way. My wife had two canisters made for me for my birthday. I ran into a few issues with the first can. I would appreciate any advice. I have watched some videos of people doing canister and read up on it but trying to match what they were doing did not seem to work for me.

1 - The first major issue was the metal power stayed grainy after removing the end of the can. I am thinking that I may have not gotten the temperature up high enough or did not compress it enough.

2 - I had a few different types of steel in my canister. I had some pieces from an old file, and old leaf spring, chain saw blade and band saw blade. None of the metal powder seemed to adhere to the band saw blade. It did okay with the other material. Is the steel in a ban saw just not conducive to forge welding?

3 - My next canister I am not going to use white out and just attempt to grind the can off. All I have is a small homemade press. Is the amount of pressure from the press going to made a difference in how the can welds?
 
1) You did not get the canister hot enough for long enough. It has to be 2200-2300°F all the way through. It takes up to 20 minutes depending on your forge's BTUs and the canister size. It is best to err on longer than shorter times. Do several welding heats as you compress the billet. You will feel it get solid as you work it down. DO NOT get into a rush and cut the end off or open the billet too soon. Read on.

2) Compression is required to consolidate the billet, but it won't make up for not being fully up to welding heat as per above. The metal types aren't a problem as long as they are compatible. The metals you used should all fuse with the powder.

3) Forget the white-out. Just press and forge the canister down until it is a bar about 1/2" thick then grind the thin skin of soft metal away. This protects the actual billet from decarb and assures rock solid welds.
 
Everything Stacy said and

Show your press and your dies.

Powered press or bottle jack?

Are you using squaring dies or just flat dies.?
 
I will get some pictures tonight.

I am using a bottle jack and have squaring jig I had made for the cannister.
 
Information I have you have to make a 30% reduction to make sure you have compressed it enough. Stacy is correct on heat. Heat to very yellow then leave it another 10 minutes and make sure you rotate to make canister is all hot enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top