- Joined
- Oct 15, 2020
- Messages
- 208
Gentlemen,
It has been a road - longest single self-imposed project I have completed. My new Power Hammer - Sweetie named her "Hamela Hammerson" because, as I have said quite frequently, all machines are female.
The Photos now, story after:
So, a couple of years ago I finally got an anvil and a little propane forge. I set about drawing out a piece of rebar and within ten minutes I decided that my health required a power hammer (excellent excuse, no?). The Little Giants are out of my price range, and there aren't any around anyways (except for the one that showed up at the scrap yard when I was halfway through with this one - for 6 grand!!)
I began with a cookie of steel (the crank) and some 1" pillow blocks. I had a spring left from my vice build (blacksmith vices are as rare here in CO as Power Hammers and Shapers) - it's a porch-swing-suspension spring from Lowes. I began building the toggles - beginning with some 1/2" eye screws into which I welded some 1" cookies bored to 1/2" to accept pins to hold them in the hammer head. I bent the toggle-arms in my little forge - and broke my new vice doing it (cast-iron was a poor decision from the screw manufacturer - but I've got a chunk of cold-roll to re-make the screw head for my vice).
The head is half of a nasty piece of hot-roll that I've had as a book-weight since my days at the tool and die shop. Most of it is blue and straw colored chips on my shop floor now due to having deliberately chosen the hard way. I machined dovetails into the sides for the ways, and a dovetail for the upper die (made of some FX2 that I've had for as long - got another piece to make drawing dies)
I decided that I wanted to do this project the complicated way; isn't that why we do hobby machining anyways?
For the sliding-dovetail things, I welded some 1/2"x3/16" cold rolled to some larger bars, then put UHMWPE tape on them to create some rather slick sliding ways.
The clutch/flywheel is from a Volkswagen dasher/rabbit/jetta (just happened to find it on Ebay for a steal) - I took the main spring out and added in a tapered roller bearing in a spider-block configuration to press the plate where the spring used to. Got the starter pinon and had to anneal it (ish) to drill and tap for 1/4-20 set screw to hold it to the shaft of the motor. The flywheel is cast-steel (tested with a drill - made chips, not dust) so I could weld a square that I bored and pressed a bearing into to hold it fee on the shaft.
My original motor was from a swamp-cooler (that I got for free on CL because the goober thought it was dead - they had just never lubed the squirrel cage!) - it was 1/2 horse @ 1750- RPM. This was too slow, so I found another 3/4 HP @ 3600 RPM and it seems much better now (Though the head is rather light for what this setup could move). That original motor may well go towards the rolling mill that I decided to make, halfway through making the power hammer
The frame is in two main parts - the anvil is one giant chunk of solid that I cut in half lengthwise, then welded together on the long-grain. The spine is hollow 1/8" tubing that I filled with cement (1pt cement-lime, 2pt fine sand, 1pt sika acrylic fortifier and enough water to make it pour) - it has no ring to it. The base is a big heavy chunk of solid. The machine is HEAVY and nicely solid - though welding the tubing to giant chunks of solid was hard, and my welds broke more than once (I failed to pre-heat the solid chunk first, as I don't really have a big torch, and no acetylene.) Added some gussets to make it more footy.
I machined a dovetail into the lower die-shoe, and made the lower die from some off-cut from the chunk I used for the anvil. Again, I've got another chunk so I can make a drawing die - two sets of dies total: flat and domed. I was not confident in doing tapered dovetails and wedges like how the Little Giants hold their dies, so I drilled-and tapped for 2 1/4-20 set-screws; works great (all they have to do is not slide while in use - the tails are nice and tight, and they butt into the end solid so there is no slop).
Random pieces parts to make the foot-pedal, and I insisted upon Zerks for all the pivot points because grease is greasy, and stays put better than oil - and I think this is rather what Zerks and grease are made for in any case.
Simply put, I am so very satisfied!!
It doesn't hit as hard as it might, and I still have the other half of that giant piece of hot-roll that I used for the head, so I can make some weights to hook and bolt to the head so as to make it customizable - not that this is all that great, but hey - why not!
I didn't do the adjustable pitman arm like the Little Giants either, the Dupont Toggles seem to cope just fine with different stock thickness, and I'm not likely to be doing huge work anyways.
Flat-black spray paint covers a multitude of sins, and all the deadly-bits are glossy-red because, why not?
It's smacky, it's fast, and it's mine!
Say hello to Hamela Hammersen!
Thanks for reading and looking
I am very happy!
Now, to finish drawing out that piece of rebar from more than two years ago...
YAY!!
It has been a road - longest single self-imposed project I have completed. My new Power Hammer - Sweetie named her "Hamela Hammerson" because, as I have said quite frequently, all machines are female.
The Photos now, story after:
So, a couple of years ago I finally got an anvil and a little propane forge. I set about drawing out a piece of rebar and within ten minutes I decided that my health required a power hammer (excellent excuse, no?). The Little Giants are out of my price range, and there aren't any around anyways (except for the one that showed up at the scrap yard when I was halfway through with this one - for 6 grand!!)
I began with a cookie of steel (the crank) and some 1" pillow blocks. I had a spring left from my vice build (blacksmith vices are as rare here in CO as Power Hammers and Shapers) - it's a porch-swing-suspension spring from Lowes. I began building the toggles - beginning with some 1/2" eye screws into which I welded some 1" cookies bored to 1/2" to accept pins to hold them in the hammer head. I bent the toggle-arms in my little forge - and broke my new vice doing it (cast-iron was a poor decision from the screw manufacturer - but I've got a chunk of cold-roll to re-make the screw head for my vice).
The head is half of a nasty piece of hot-roll that I've had as a book-weight since my days at the tool and die shop. Most of it is blue and straw colored chips on my shop floor now due to having deliberately chosen the hard way. I machined dovetails into the sides for the ways, and a dovetail for the upper die (made of some FX2 that I've had for as long - got another piece to make drawing dies)
I decided that I wanted to do this project the complicated way; isn't that why we do hobby machining anyways?
For the sliding-dovetail things, I welded some 1/2"x3/16" cold rolled to some larger bars, then put UHMWPE tape on them to create some rather slick sliding ways.
The clutch/flywheel is from a Volkswagen dasher/rabbit/jetta (just happened to find it on Ebay for a steal) - I took the main spring out and added in a tapered roller bearing in a spider-block configuration to press the plate where the spring used to. Got the starter pinon and had to anneal it (ish) to drill and tap for 1/4-20 set screw to hold it to the shaft of the motor. The flywheel is cast-steel (tested with a drill - made chips, not dust) so I could weld a square that I bored and pressed a bearing into to hold it fee on the shaft.
My original motor was from a swamp-cooler (that I got for free on CL because the goober thought it was dead - they had just never lubed the squirrel cage!) - it was 1/2 horse @ 1750- RPM. This was too slow, so I found another 3/4 HP @ 3600 RPM and it seems much better now (Though the head is rather light for what this setup could move). That original motor may well go towards the rolling mill that I decided to make, halfway through making the power hammer
The frame is in two main parts - the anvil is one giant chunk of solid that I cut in half lengthwise, then welded together on the long-grain. The spine is hollow 1/8" tubing that I filled with cement (1pt cement-lime, 2pt fine sand, 1pt sika acrylic fortifier and enough water to make it pour) - it has no ring to it. The base is a big heavy chunk of solid. The machine is HEAVY and nicely solid - though welding the tubing to giant chunks of solid was hard, and my welds broke more than once (I failed to pre-heat the solid chunk first, as I don't really have a big torch, and no acetylene.) Added some gussets to make it more footy.
I machined a dovetail into the lower die-shoe, and made the lower die from some off-cut from the chunk I used for the anvil. Again, I've got another chunk so I can make a drawing die - two sets of dies total: flat and domed. I was not confident in doing tapered dovetails and wedges like how the Little Giants hold their dies, so I drilled-and tapped for 2 1/4-20 set-screws; works great (all they have to do is not slide while in use - the tails are nice and tight, and they butt into the end solid so there is no slop).
Random pieces parts to make the foot-pedal, and I insisted upon Zerks for all the pivot points because grease is greasy, and stays put better than oil - and I think this is rather what Zerks and grease are made for in any case.
Simply put, I am so very satisfied!!
It doesn't hit as hard as it might, and I still have the other half of that giant piece of hot-roll that I used for the head, so I can make some weights to hook and bolt to the head so as to make it customizable - not that this is all that great, but hey - why not!
I didn't do the adjustable pitman arm like the Little Giants either, the Dupont Toggles seem to cope just fine with different stock thickness, and I'm not likely to be doing huge work anyways.
Flat-black spray paint covers a multitude of sins, and all the deadly-bits are glossy-red because, why not?
It's smacky, it's fast, and it's mine!
Say hello to Hamela Hammersen!
Thanks for reading and looking
I am very happy!
Now, to finish drawing out that piece of rebar from more than two years ago...
YAY!!
