So stage one is complete – I have passed my B+E test and got my towing liscence. Even if it dfid completely wipe all my funds.
Unfortunately the more I pulled apart the trailer I had bought to build the portable forge on, the more I realised it wasn’t really up to the job. I started looking at buying other trailers and eventually bought another larger one for £60 from the scrap yard. …also turned out to be duff. But from the two I had 4 wheels and hubs, 2 tow hitches and a Truckman top which I can flog for some monies.
Tow hitch straight off the trailer then cleaned up,
The handbrake was shot so I used what parts I could out of it and built a new one.
…and the second trailer pre-destruction.
I figured all of that and the material I could use from the trailer frames, I should be able to build a trailer from scratch relitavely easily…oh, how I was mistaken. Take a seat and I will tell you a tale of stress and not much sleep…
Here I used the parts off the trailers to mock up roughly the dimensions of what I wanted for the trailer
I was undecided about the suspension because I also had some springs and shock absorbers off the two trailers but the mountings for that sort of suspension is very complex and would have taken a while to make, not to mention be quite bulky for the size of my frame. I decided to go for leaf spring which I ended up buying new – some things I would rather be sure wont fall apart en-route… I vaguely copied the spring mountings from the trailer shop…
…and made my own to save money.
This has been a familiar decision that I have had to make a few times already – spend money or spend time, and I am short on both. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t…and sometimes you will never know. From what I have discovered, the best results come from just getting on with it and not fannying about thinking about it so much.
I made the axels out of 40mm square bar which I wleded on to the hubs I already had – I painted these as apposed to galvanise because the stub axles and threads which obviously need to be clean.
I made up a few connection pieces also to save money on buying parts…took a little while but I think I made the right decision…
The hubs all connected up with the new leaf springs – everything seems to line up ok…
Now I think Im pretty happy with the base of the frame, I can start building up.
Uprights go on then I start building the roof section which will lift up and backwards on four legs
I started rolling the roof supports and welding them on – you can see in the picture the corrigated roof secions I will be using for the roof.
As I was welding the connection points on ro the roof frame I made a serious rookie error – I went along each side welding them up one after the other, not thinking that welding creates heat which creates warping. So my nice straight and perfectly alighned roof os now resembling a pringle. After me and Billy spent some time jumping on it to get the bends out, I gave up and had to just make do 😦
With the roof supports and the corrigated panels on the roof there is some significant weight that has to be lifted when opening up the roof so I decided either gas struts or garage door springs would help takle the weight off. After some faffing about trying to get the right sort of springs off a spring manufacturer which ended up going nowhere I swiped a few off a trampoline which work fine!
When the roof is closed the springs are under tension…
…and when open they relax. Proper job.
I started designing how I wanted the set-up of the interior of the trailer – display areas, floor panels and storage etc… and went about putting in the framework. Dont be deceived, this was not as quick and painless as I seems in a series of photos…especially for a pudding brain like myself.
Next is the forge itself. I wanted this to be in a pivot so it can swing out to be used and swing back inside the trailer when being stored. This means one less heavy thing to lug in and out of the trailer every time and saves the space needed for a stand.
I started with an old disc brake then fabricated a tray to line with fire bricks which avoids the mess of using soil or sand. For the tue iron (the bit that sticks into the fire that blows the air through) I swiftly looked around the workshop for anything of substantial size and found an big old lump of round bar that I found ages ago. I bent and cut it into a ring then welded it together. This will be beefy enough to sit at the bottom of the fire and take the heat without burning.
I then made up the frame with two pivot points for it to swing out on and welded on the pins to the trailer frame. You can also see the system underneath which I made up to take a hand-crank air blower that my friend has sourced for me in York. With dimensions passed on via email I have made up the connecting points but will not find out if it fits/works until I get to York…a day before the first event…ill be cutting it somewhat fine there.
As for the rest of the goodies that make up the inside workings of the portable workshop, I built a basic and quite lightweight anvil stand – it was originally going to be a fold up design but I decided that time was paramount at this point so just boshed a simple one together.
On a shopping visit to the scrap yard for some material for the trailer I happened upon a perfectly working small leg vice and a hefty length of 100mm box section which I saw more than fit for the leg vice stand. All of which, along with the other material, I picked up for £15. What a well appreciated stroke of luck!
I was thinking about mounting the length of 100mm box section to the anvil stand in such a way it would be removable. When I leant the vice up against the anvil for a moment of contemplation I was struck by a brilliant idea – mount it straight into the hardy hole of the anvil, thus saving the weight of a hoofing bid bit of box section. All you really need is the solidity of the anvil to fix the vice to so I just cut out the middleman.
I fabricated up a plate with an attachment for the hardy that had a wedge system underneath to hold it solid to the anvil.
Then a small socket on the base of the stand for the vice leg to slot into.
As one of those wonderful bargains you occasionally aquire on ebay, I picked up a lovely old grinding stone for 99p. Had to drive down to Exmouth to collect it but still well worth it.
I have big plans for this, involving a singer sewing machine type set-up with a treadal powered system geared up so I can do some serious grinding on site without that silly electricity stuff!
Then, after much more searching and sadly missed or lost auctions, I paid a bit more money and grabbed a very tidy little hand crank drill press also off ebay which I picked up on a journey I was already making. These along with the anvil and vice are the two main pieces of equipment I will need to do most jobs while completely off grid.
All that needs doing now is building the interior such as shelves and tool racks and cubby holes for all the other tools and supplies.
On one of many late night stints trying to get some decent progress, I managed to fit the axles and wheels on proper. To my amusement and delight I came into the workshop in the morning to find Billy had left a celebratory bottle of bubbly ready for the christening first drive…which I did the morning after. I was a happy man again 🙂
The plan was to get all the work on the frame done in time for a trip I had planned over to Guildford to go to my mates comissioning ball at Sandhurst. I also wanted to visit my parents and girlfriend in East Sussex, so on the way I wanted to drop the trailer at the galvanisers so I could pick it up on the way back, therefore saving twiddling my thumbs on the 3-4 day turnaround.
This timeframe was unfortaunately just too tight and while I worked time after time into the wee hours of the morning to get the thing done, I had to admit defeat at the 11th hour. After an encouraging chat from my good friend Billy that I needed a break I set off for East Sussex anyway, and left the trailer behind. I think I did need a break from all of this…
I had a wonderful and relaxing time seeing friends and family, let off some steam getting sloshed at my friends comissioning ball at Sandhurst on free wine and even managed a visit to some old friends in London on the way back home. Even my van blowing the exhaust in two on the way down and sounding like a chav-mobile didn’t dampen my spirits by the end.
With a clear mind I managed to tackle the job I had been conciously/unconciously putting off for a while – the brake system.
Obviously I would like the trailer to be road legal and, carrying the contents of a blacksmiths workshop, be able to stop down a hill. So i didnt want to do this job half arsed. After a break this job seemed a whole lot easier to tackle.
Just one of the many checklists to clear some space in my wee pea brain.
So now without a harsh deadline looming over for getting it galvanised I spent some time going over everything and planning out what needed to be fixed onto the frame and getting all those details finished ready for galv. Turned out there was quite a bit that still needed to be done. Unfortunately when I rang to organise the galvanising it was just before Easter holidays, so all the galvanisers were fully booked which was a kick in the teeth for me because I was counting on a one-day turnaround to save on travel. The closest and cheapest I could find that would do it was in Hereford and only a week before the first festival. Things were getting tight now – It was booked in the day after my van’s MOT (which it failed) and I also had to fit my new exhaust and give the van a service before the massive amount of miles I was about to put on it. Some things I could get done over these four bloody bank holidays in which I couldn’t do anything else in I suppose… I was seriously running out of money by this point too, and still haven’t made any stock or any other preparations for the festivals so panic was setting in. First day after the holiday I went straight to the breakers for the exhaust and fitted it then frantically carried on with finishing the trailer for galvanise. Nearly directly after the MOT which I had to cycle 10 miles back and forth from I finished up the last details on the trailer, hitched up and set off for Hereford at about 2 in the morning getting there around 4am. Parked up outside the galvanisers and crawled into the back of the van for a few hours sleep before my 7am slot. Woke up and set about taking off the axles and tow hitch, then as they craned it off I buggered off for another power nap while they galvanised it.
It was never going to be that easy. Got a phone call saying some of the metal still had old paint which we couldn’t get to to clean so the options were sand blast it – another week turnaround, or burn it off in the acid tank – another £200. While I contemplatively sat in the van and cried, my lovely parents decided to loan me the money. I love them dearly. Were back on!!
The trailer would be ready by the next morning so I decided to head up to my old abode, a small campsite just outside of Hereford and hung out with my friend Mary and went mushroom picking in the woods, ate some lovely food and sat and chatted about nice calming things.
My life seems to go from great lows to wonderful highs…
So now I have a fully galvanised trailer frame guaranteed to last 50+ years J happy days.
I have a week to assemble this mass of objects and materials I have partially cut/fixed/organised and guesstimated at into something resembling a portable forge. It took all my mental strength and the full capacity of my organisational skills – the best way to appreciate this is a time lapse in quick succession:
Just time for oneheavy load down the scrappy to clean up the mess I had made at Billy’s and a bit of well needed extra cash in my pocket to help me on my way…
…then all that was needed was to chuck everything I could remember that I needed into the trailer, which still had no real internal structure, packed all my supplies for a month on the road (turned out I had only brought 2 pairs of pants) and in the same afternoon set off for Birmingham to pick up my fair lady who will be joining me for some of these festival stop offs.
I understand this sad story doesn’t show my professionalism in the best light but I do believe that them powers-wot-be havn’t particularly liked this idea I’ve had of building portable forge. But I went down kicking and screaming under a pile of reclaimed materials and debt, then got back up again, put it all back together and drove it to Scotland.
…with that I finally hit the road after 3 or so months of stress, financial abuse and bloody hard work, and so what I am calling ‘Chapter Two’ begins…
simonbushelldrawnsteel 