Fullering denotes the preliminary roughing-down of the material
between tools having convex edges; swaging, the completion or
finishing process between swages, or dies of definite shape, nearly
hemispherical in form. When a bar has to be reduced from larger to
smaller dimensions, it is laid upon a fuller or round-faced stake, set
in the anvil, or, in some cases, on a flat face (fig. 1), and blows
are dealt upon that portion of the face which lies exactly opposite
with a fullering tool A, grasped by a rather loosely-fitting handle
and struck on its head by a sledge. The position of the piece of work
is quickly changed at brief intervals in order to bring successive
portions under the action of the swages until the reduction is
completed; the upper face, and if a bottom fuller is used the under
face also, is thus left corrugated slightly. These corrugations are
then removed either by a flatter, if the surfaces are plane (fig. 2),
or by hollow swages, if the cross section is circular (fig. 3). Spring
swages (fig. 4) are frequently used instead of separate "top and
bottom tools." Frequently swaging is practised at once, without the
preliminary detail of fullering. It is adopted when the amount of
reduction is slight, and also when a steam hammer or other type of
power hammer is available. This process of drawing down or fullering
is, when practicable, adopted in preference to either upsetting or
welding, because it is open to no objection, and involves no risk of
damage to the material, while it improves the metal by consolidating
its fibres. But its limitations in anvil work lie in the tediousness
of the operation, when the part to be reduced is very much less in
diameter, and very much longer, than the original piece of bar. Then
there are other alternatives.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
Upsetting.
If a long bar is required to have an enlargement at any portion of its
length, not very much larger in diameter than the bar, nor of great
length, upsetting is the method adopted. The part to be enlarged is
heated, the parts adjacent remaining cold, and an end is hammered, or
else lifted and dropped heavily on the anvil or on an iron plate, with
the result that the heated portion becomes both shortened and enlarged
(figs. 5 and 6). This process is only suitable for relatively short
lengths, and has the disadvantage that the fibres of wrought iron are
liable to open, and so cause weakening of the upset portion. But
steel, which has no direction of fibre, can be upset without injury;
this method is therefore commonly adopted in steel work, in power
presses to an equal extent with drawing down. The alternative to
upsetting is generally to weld a larger to a smaller bar or section,
or to encircle the bar with a ring and weld the two (fig. 7), and then
to impart any shape desired to the ring in swages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account