In our area, blacksmiths use old cycle tire rims (without rubber tubes) and connect to a fan buried side by side with the heating chamber (sometimes to the back side). The fan takes in air from the back-end and throws it into the chamber. The cycle tire is turned by pulling down a wire repeatedly that is connected to an L shaped fixed metal piece connected to center of the tire. This method provides continuous airflow with minimum efforts.
i'm using my old bike in a similar way but using the whole drivetrain of the bike (including gears), turned upside-down, the wheel (with tyre still on) drives a smaller plastic wheel on the same shaft as an enclosed impeller blower. more of a post-apocalyptic design rather than a historical one, but it works.
Yup. Sewer pipe. The traditional design uses a rectangular piston in a very precise wood box. This cuts the needed precision down to a comfortable diy level.
I've seen these before in various shokunin facilities, but i have never seen it opened up. Such a simple design, I'm surprised Western blacksmiths didn't come up with a similar one. Soo, when do we get to see the sword you've hammed out of that piece of steel? :D
Danielle Westerners have there own ways , doesn't mean one is better than another ever seen electric fans for forging and continuous hand wind or even just good old hand bellows they all work just what people use is a personal choice , Oh and by the way all country's have been taking each others ideas and making there own ideas off them for centuries nothing new .
I would guess materials choice was a driver. Cylindrical bamboo is plentiful in the east, in assorted diameters, but leather however is a lot more scarce, driving the choice to use the plentiful and round strong bamboo, and combine that with a minimal use of a leather valve. Piston from the natural bamboo joint, and the inside easy to make a good fit using minimal tooling, and bamboo rod for the handles. Glue would be easy enough as well, rice glue and reeds to bind parts together. West had almost no bamboo, but leather was plentiful, along with assorted woods that could be shaped and turned into planks.
Seems likely. Although many East Asian bellows designs are literally rectangular boxes instead of bamboo cylinders. Maybe derived from the original bamboo design?
Is bamboo smooth enough to make a good piston and cylinder? We associate pistons and cylinders with roundness because that's the easiest shape to make from solid material with a lathe or other rotary tools, but with simple hand tools (a plane, straight edge and square) it's probably easier to build a rectangular box with flat sides than a perfectly circular bore a foot across.
This style of bellows was never made from bamboo. However, there is another style from Indonesia that does use bamboo cylinders and a piston made of feathers. I'd like to make a video on it in the near future.
@@GoodandBasic perhaps calling this project a Japanese box bellows is a bit of a misnomer. It may be inspired by it, but it isn't a Japanese bellows. It is a really cool use of modern materials to make a bellows that functions the same.
Just came across your video. I think you skipped/skimmed over a very important part: the secondary chamber!! I would've liked to've seen that part from the inside. I think I can guess what you did, but it would've been nice to see it. Did you drill 1 or 2 holes for that part? I presume the holes (what size holes on all the valves?) were drilled & the leather valve covers were glued to the outside of the main chamber, then the 2ndary chamber was attached?
i had to laugh as i listened to you talk about technology and watch you beat a piece of hot steel with a rock lol . thinking you should make a hammer . lol . great idea and video buddy take care
Neat video, and a good tie-in between your two focuses of DIY simple technology and philosophy. My only criticism would be the audio levels could use some work (your narration is much quieter than the intro/outro music), and a suggestion: for the people who don't think in 3D a simple diagram of the bellows might aid understanding.
True. The box bellows is technically intermittent, since there is a pause in the airflow between strokes of the piston. The great bellows is truly continuous.
I have to say that, to me at least, the bird chirps in your outro are very uncomfortably loud compared to the surrounding video. If you're trying to grow your audience to include people more sensitive to things like that (like me) it will help if you drop that volume a fair amount.
hello I have a quick question as I am attempting to create this :) for the smaller pvc pipe where are the valves located and how are they positioned :)
In the smaller pipe, there are two valves, one at each end. They're on the outside of the big pipe over a hole drilled in the side of the big pipe naar each end. JB
@@GoodandBasic I see so they are attached to the big pipe so when air flows to one end the pressure closes the other forcing the air out of the exit pipe thanks for the info ^^
It's worth spending some time adding felt or something on the piston to make sure it seals. It's also a good idea to make sure that seal doesn't add to much friction. JB
@@driftersforge4962 I found mine at a construction site. I talked with the foreman and got a segment of their extra pipe. You can buy it new at irrigation and sewer pipe supply companies. It's horribly expensive though. JB
Great video, great philosophy at the end
Neat design, don't think I've seen it before in any blacksmithing stuff I've seen
Nicely explained and demonstrated.
In our area, blacksmiths use old cycle tire rims (without rubber tubes) and connect to a fan buried side by side with the heating chamber (sometimes to the back side). The fan takes in air from the back-end and throws it into the chamber. The cycle tire is turned by pulling down a wire repeatedly that is connected to an L shaped fixed metal piece connected to center of the tire. This method provides continuous airflow with minimum efforts.
i'm using my old bike in a similar way but using the whole drivetrain of the bike (including gears), turned upside-down, the wheel (with tyre still on) drives a smaller plastic wheel on the same shaft as an enclosed impeller blower. more of a post-apocalyptic design rather than a historical one, but it works.
Appropriate technology for the win!
Great, now I'm on a youtube tangent for tutorials on circular breathing techniques 😂. Amazing video as always
Technology shaping who you are ;)
Great... since you first showed us this in action, I've been eager for more details.
Yup. Sewer pipe. The traditional design uses a rectangular piston in a very precise wood box. This cuts the needed precision down to a comfortable diy level.
I've seen these before in various shokunin facilities, but i have never seen it opened up. Such a simple design, I'm surprised Western blacksmiths didn't come up with a similar one.
Soo, when do we get to see the sword you've hammed out of that piece of steel? :D
Westerners are better at stealing that coming up solutions to problems.
@@hardcase1659 ..lol what bs , your butt hurt and delusional looser lol
Danielle Westerners have there own ways , doesn't mean one is better than another ever seen electric fans for forging and continuous hand wind or even just good old hand bellows they all work just what people use is a personal choice , Oh and by the way all country's have been taking each others ideas and making there own ideas off them for centuries nothing new .
Such a cool design!
I would guess materials choice was a driver. Cylindrical bamboo is plentiful in the east, in assorted diameters, but leather however is a lot more scarce, driving the choice to use the plentiful and round strong bamboo, and combine that with a minimal use of a leather valve. Piston from the natural bamboo joint, and the inside easy to make a good fit using minimal tooling, and bamboo rod for the handles. Glue would be easy enough as well, rice glue and reeds to bind parts together. West had almost no bamboo, but leather was plentiful, along with assorted woods that could be shaped and turned into planks.
Seems likely. Although many East Asian bellows designs are literally rectangular boxes instead of bamboo cylinders. Maybe derived from the original bamboo design?
Is bamboo smooth enough to make a good piston and cylinder? We associate pistons and cylinders with roundness because that's the easiest shape to make from solid material with a lathe or other rotary tools, but with simple hand tools (a plane, straight edge and square) it's probably easier to build a rectangular box with flat sides than a perfectly circular bore a foot across.
This style of bellows was never made from bamboo. However, there is another style from Indonesia that does use bamboo cylinders and a piston made of feathers. I'd like to make a video on it in the near future.
@@GoodandBasic perhaps calling this project a Japanese box bellows is a bit of a misnomer. It may be inspired by it, but it isn't a Japanese bellows. It is a really cool use of modern materials to make a bellows that functions the same.
@@GoodandBasic The first box bellows I ever saw, about 30 years ago, was made of a section of bamboo, just as SeanBZA describes.
Just came across your video. I think you skipped/skimmed over a very important part: the secondary chamber!! I would've liked to've seen that part from the inside. I think I can guess what you did, but it would've been nice to see it. Did you drill 1 or 2 holes for that part? I presume the holes (what size holes on all the valves?) were drilled & the leather valve covers were glued to the outside of the main chamber, then the 2ndary chamber was attached?
That's exactly what I did. One hole each, a little over an inch in diameter. JB
now I have to make one of those
i had to laugh as i listened to you talk about technology and watch you beat a piece of hot steel with a rock lol . thinking you should make a hammer . lol . great idea and video buddy take care
Neat video, and a good tie-in between your two focuses of DIY simple technology and philosophy. My only criticism would be the audio levels could use some work (your narration is much quieter than the intro/outro music), and a suggestion: for the people who don't think in 3D a simple diagram of the bellows might aid understanding.
Thank you!
European forge bellows also provide a continuous supply of air.
True. The box bellows is technically intermittent, since there is a pause in the airflow between strokes of the piston. The great bellows is truly continuous.
I have to say that, to me at least, the bird chirps in your outro are very uncomfortably loud compared to the surrounding video. If you're trying to grow your audience to include people more sensitive to things like that (like me) it will help if you drop that volume a fair amount.
Well, at least he waits till the end. Most people are shallow enough to be done well before the birds chirp.
how is the glue holding up in 2021?
It's still functional. It has a little more friction than I'd like. But it works just fine. JB
hello I have a quick question as I am attempting to create this :) for the smaller pvc pipe where are the valves located and how are they positioned :)
In the smaller pipe, there are two valves, one at each end. They're on the outside of the big pipe over a hole drilled in the side of the big pipe naar each end. JB
@@GoodandBasic I see so they are attached to the big pipe so when air flows to one end the pressure closes the other forcing the air out of the exit pipe thanks for the info ^^
It's worth spending some time adding felt or something on the piston to make sure it seals. It's also a good idea to make sure that seal doesn't add to much friction. JB
@@GoodandBasic duly noted ^^
Hey good and basic, I was wondering, what kind of PVC pipe did you use for the large part of the bellows
I got it as scrap from a large sewer project. Inside diameter is about a foot. JB
If I were to look for something like that, where would I find it
@@driftersforge4962 I found mine at a construction site. I talked with the foreman and got a segment of their extra pipe. You can buy it new at irrigation and sewer pipe supply companies. It's horribly expensive though. JB
That philosophy at the end reminds me of reading Murray Bookchins essays on Dialectical Naturalism and Karl Marx's comments on human nature.
attach it to an air filter and now you have a survival ventilator
I mean, a little diy instruction would've been appreciated.
Good point. If there's enough interest we might do something more instructional.
Good and Basic yes a step by step would be awesome. I want to build one
This type of bellows is actually used by the chinese blacksmiths to mass produce cast iron arrow heads
on the soap box
Primitive technology-* hand shake *-diy
The double acting piston bellows was invented in China not Japan.
Really good info but it got really preaching at the end
Change the outro with the SCREAMING bird. Plz. Otherwise loved the vid
"Box"
Of course it better, it japanese. All the best stuff is made in japan. Its 50% more efficient than the western type.