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Finished My Calibration Rig And Tested Some Steel


Tim71

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Okay, I've been working all day on building and testing my calibration rig to get my method in line with the numbers Eric got. I'm learning a lot about how much the position of the chains and every little thing makes a difference. I finally got my method down to where my numbers were close or the same on some pieces that Eric had cal'd back when so I thought I'd post a few results.

8mm CRS @ 7 inches. This calibrated for me at 431. This is the same steel that Eric calibrated at 425 for the steel slayer's list back in 09.

19/64 CRS @ 7 inches. This hit 380 for me. This is the steel I usually cut to 6.75 to work my way up.

Spiral Red nail bought earlier this year. I tested a few of these and they all hit 445 to 450. I'd say that's about right compared to the 8mm.

My 5/16 CRS @ 7 inches. I only tested one of these but I could tell early on it was harder than the red. It hit 471 pounds.

Now I couldn't resist testing the Gold Nail. Wow!!! 606 pounds to what I thought was 30 degrees. After I pulled it out of the rig and measured it, it was probably 29.5 so I put it back in and took it up to 610 and that sent it past 30 degrees. If I measured a few, it would probably average 605 to 610. This is not the spiral one by the way. This is one serious piece of steel.

I have a new respect for Eric's work and because this is much more time consuming than I would've thought.

Off to bed now.

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Yea dude it sucks. Cutting, grinding and calibrating is just terrible work. Just out of curiosity how far in are you tightening the u- bolts on the steel you are calibrating?

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Sounds good Tim!

I bet it's a pain in the rear to load up that rig!

It'd be nice if you could get some of the DR that Mike K. had calibrated in the past and see how that compares to your rig also.

Are you looking at selling some calibrated stock in the future at all?

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Sean, definate possibility.

EJ, not sure what you mean. Do you mean how tight am I tightening the bolts or how far in from the ends of the bar am I placing the U'bolts?

I'll play with it some more tonight and post more in detail.

Edited by Tim T
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When I built mine i did a beefy tall loading pin and used the engine hoist. I could get up to around 900# before running out of room for plates that I had at the time. Was scary enough doing those weights I would wear safety glasses and steel toe boots.

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Yeah Aaron I bet that was kinda scary. I've been thinking about the safety glasses and may have to start doing that.

My calibration rig is much different than any before as it's my own design. It uses as scale mechanism and not weights. I sunk alot of money into it as it's been state certified and calibrated for accuracy but hey, it's something I've always wanted to do.

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Sean, definate possibility.

EJ, not sure what you mean. Do you mean how tight am I tightening the bolts or how far in from the ends of the bar am I placing the U'bolts?

I'll play with it some more tonight and post more in detail.

Yea sorry, how far in from the ends?

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Did some more testing tonight and I think my numbers are accurate.

First I calibrated 2 of the "mutant" 60d sivacos that Eric calibrated at #440. First one hit 440 and the second hit 430.

Second, I calibrated a JH green G5. These have always calibrated right at 400 and this one hit 400 exactly.

Next up, a triangle G8 from the same batch that calibrated at 495 for the steel slayer list. 500 pounds.

Next up and kinda disappointing, my 11/32 crs at 7 inches hit 500 exactly. I may have went kinda fast on this so I'm going to try another piece and go a little slower.

Finally, the 23/64 CRS at 7 inches hit 602.5.

I also calibrated my 5/16 stainless but I forgot to write it down and I can't remember it. It was in the mid 400s though, I remember that.

EJ, I've moved the clamps out 1/8 inch further to the ends. So basically the center of the clamp is at 5/8 inch instead of 3/4 that Eric used. With my "non weight" setup, this is matching his numbers. If I put the clamps at the 3/4 mark then the numbers were a little high.

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Tim, I'm gonna come out and say I'd love to see a pic of you, your rig, and perhaps even a video of you bending something :cool.

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Tim, when I started calibrating not all of my plates had been weighed. Nearly all them are heavy, and only one ten pound plate is light. So, a good rule of thumb is to add about 5 pounds to my figures. This means you are even closer to my figures on a lot of this.

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Eric, that's great to hear. I'm pretty proud of the "calibratinator" as me and the kids are calling it.


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Eric, that's great to hear. I'm pretty proud of the "calibratinator" as me and the kids are calling it.

Lol. Love the name!

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Yeah, I might even let them put a cool paint job on it.

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3 more calibrations tonight.

5/16 stainless by 7 inches - 460 pounds

.319 (41/128) CRS by 7 inches - 455 pounds

11/32 without rushing this time - 515 pounds

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I just checked my notes from when I helped Mike K, we went 3/4" in not 1.5". I should have been thinking 1.5" total inches not 1.5" per side. But with a Weighted set-up we wanted 5.5" between the u-bolts or clamps.

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That's the same that Eric used. I started with that but the numbers were a little high so I moved them out a very slight ammount and now we're matching. Not sure why it would be different but maybe with my digital setup it's that much smoother.

I'm also trying to take little breaks to mimic the time it would take to load more weight onto the loading pins. This actually makes quite a difference as well.

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How heavy can your set up go?

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3 more calibrations tonight.

5/16 stainless by 7 inches - 460 pounds

.319 (41/128) CRS by 7 inches - 455 pounds

11/32 without rushing this time - 515 pounds

Tim, if you had any interest I could give you a login for the management interface where I add the Steel ratings figures for the website. That is if you are interested in adding your own figures to the database.

- Aaron

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Aaron, that sounds great. I'd be happy to add to the figures.

EJ, my winch has a 2000 pound capacity but right now I need to get a better connector for the end connection. It moved a little on the Gold nail but I've got a few ideas. I've already strengthened it some but I need to practice with the heavier U-bolts to get the placement right on them. I think I could easily go 700 pounds right now but when I get everything right, 1000 pounds up to 1500 should be no problem.

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2 batches of 1018 CRS tested tonight.

3/8 by 8 3/8 (gold nail dimensions) 470 pounds

3/8 by 8 3/8 batch #2 435 pounds

I now have an even better appreciation for the gold nail. These 2 batches of steel were not the box store stuff but good 1018 steel from a steel supplier.

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Just got a new shipment of steel and calibrated a couple of very interesting pieces.

11/32 1018 CRS at 7 inches - 615 pounds. Wow. I was hoping this would be a little tougher than my other batch but this is some serious steel.

21/64 stainless at 7 inches - 655 pounds. Whew. This one really surprised me as well.

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Also, tested some smaller steel I bought for my boys.

3/16 CRS at 6 inches - 105 pounds. My oldest son Chris bent this unbraced in my thin suede show wraps. Not bad for a 14 year old but I think he can do better.

11/64 CRS at 6 inches - 70 pounds. My youngest son Eric bent this unbraced at 10 years old.

Neither one of them have great form but we'll work on it.

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Also, tested some smaller steel I bought for my boys.

3/16 CRS at 6 inches - 105 pounds. My oldest son Chris bent this unbraced in my thin suede show wraps. Not bad for a 14 year old but I think he can do better.

11/64 CRS at 6 inches - 70 pounds. My youngest son Eric bent this unbraced at 10 years old.

Neither one of them have great form but we'll work on it.

Where are you getting this steel? I have a 10 year old and and 8 year old...

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Sent you a PM jchap

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