Anyone in the northwest who works on Self Contained hammers?

[monstermetal]

I know this is a long shot but thought I would throw it out there. I have a Nazel 3b that I bought as a basket case. Its really pretty solid but had a broken ram that I have welded back together. Really all it needs is the ram checked to maker sure its still concentric and re machined a bit if its not, a new ring and put back together. I took it in to a hydraulic shop that said they could do the work 8 months ago and it is still yet to be touched. Its not an easy task just to move the thing around and I really don't want to move it very far. (its sitting on my equipment trailer at the moment). Anyway I want to make the thing whole again and would be willing to pay someone who knew what they where doing. Any help out there? I am just south of Seattle. If money was no object Id sent the thing back to Bob Bergman but I could just about buy another hammer for what mine is worth in scrap plus the shipping both ways!

Thanks much
Larry the blacksmith

[djhammerd]

Why not just ship the ram to Bergman?

[monstermetal]

Well...... My understanding is that the two really need to be fit together in order to get the clearances right and thus the maximum control. Maybe that's something I should investigate. I talked to Bob several times about the hammer a couple of years ago when I bought it. At that point I was trying to locate a used ram. I couldn't say enough nice things about Bob. He was more than helpful, sent me Nazel shop drawings of a ram free of charge. Anyway I have not spoke to him since getting the ram back in one piece. I'll put that on my list of things to do on Monday.

[chyancarrek]

Hey Monster,

Are you a member of the NWBA or contacted anyone from there? Some of the members have Nazel's and they might be able to point you towards a good resource for getting what you need.

Good luck!

[monstermetal]

Yes I am a member and have spoke to quite a few helpful people. Grant Sarvers probably has forgot more about powerhammers than I'll ever know and I have picked his brain on several occasions. He has has done a bit of work on this hammer for the previous owner but does not really have any interest in working on it now ( I think he would help with any info he could but done not want to actually put his hands on it) Don Kemper talked with me about it a bit and so have several others. What the biggest hang up is (in my opinion) is that there is some critical stuff going on the front end of the hammer and some not so critical stuff. Someone who knows a bit about whats really happening would be able to say "this is going to give you problems or This is not a big deal" My fear is that since I am neither an expert on air hammers nor a machinist that If I just take the part to someone and tell them "Do this" that I might do irreparable damage. The guy who's shop its at now is a air cylinder guy and know a ton about how pneumatics work. I was hoping that was enough but I think one of the reasons its sat for so long in his shop is he has fears about how it will work.
The front cylinder of my hammer has been sleeved and is not truly round (its as much as .020 out in places). The plunger has some scaring. The ram has been machined for a cast iron ring (it originally only had oil grooves to seal) The inside of the ram has been bored and sleeved and now the sleeve has been welded into the ram. What affects are all these things going to have on operation? How good does the seal need to be in order to have good control over the hammer? In my opinion if the hammer does not have superb control then its not worth even putting back together. If it wont do what you will it to do then you might as well have a drop hammer..

My other big issue is I have plenty of paying work to do. Its hard to set aside time to work on my own projects when I am so far behind. I really feel like I am better off to pay someone to work on it. If I am billing $100/ hour to do what Im good at then it seems reasonable to me that paying someone $100/hr to work on the hammer is a good trade. They are going to get allot more done in an hour's time than I could hope too (they should anyway.. since 80% of the time I spend is just spent second guessing myself and trying to figure out what the heck it is Im trying to do) And I really don't have the capacity to do the machining and such even if I did have the skill and the time...

My problem has been that there just does not seem to be "that guy" who is knowledgeable AND willing to do the work that is with in a 1000 miles... Anyway... Its sad to see such a beautiful piece of machinery that is almost usable sit out under a tarp. I would guess its been 6-7 years since the thing last ran and most of the people I talked to when I bought it said that buying a torn apart hammer was something that almost never ends well. Well I'm stubborn and maybe a little slow but I am bound and determined to see this thing workin iron before I die.

[chyancarrek]

Hey Monster,

Sounds like you really have made the rounds, the names you mentioned all represent some serious smithing knowledge so it's too bad that "one guy" hasn't raised his hand yet!

I hear you on wanting to see this thing through. A friend of mine recently bought an "Old' Ironsides" 60's era planer from the furniture shop I used to work at (it's also the planer I used in my HS shop class!). The worm drive for the stock feed was completely munched and he had to go to about 4 different shops to get the specialty work done (including a hot-rod shop that did the bearing work) in the end he had to have a new worm gear machined out of bronze, special mounts made for the bearings and a number of odd-ball operations done. He stuck it out though and ended up with a machine that runs smooth as silk and even after he put the money in it, it's still worth a fair piece more than his total investment.

Good luck to you, I hope you'll be able to find a solution to all this!

[monstermetal]

Well... I am breaking down and sending the hammer back to the Postville blacksmith shop. I hope Terry and Bob can fix her up right.

[chyancarrek]

Let us know how it goes!

[monstermetal]

Will do..... Its already a losing proposition, shipping is about $3500 round trip... $500 less than what I paid for the hammer... But I figure it I can have a good running hammer for less than about 12 grand I wont be in too bad of shape.

Thanks