Kinyon hammer countdown.

[Torin]

I was thinking about doing the drilling and then the slabbing off, but 2 things worked against that. 1, the time to be able to use the saw came up faster than I was going to have time to do the drilling. 2, I'm going to want more than 1, or even 3 sets of dies, so I figured I would go ahead and just try and do a good job of drilling from a template. Plus the drill press I have only has about 3" of travel, which makes drilling deep holes really hard if I also want to get any precision as well.

I also appreciate the heads up about only needing 2 bolts. That will let me make sets of 45° dies. I was planning on moving them 90° for long stock, but 45° would be nice as well.

I should get some drilling done tonight, and I'm waiting for a call-back on a quote for plasma/flame cutting the pass-through on the U-channel and the 1 1/2" diameter hole for the air cylinder rod to pass through. (Figured it might be cheaper than buying a 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" drill that will fit my press.)

Still tentatively on track for being done on the 30th.

[PeterDE4]

When I cut the hole for the air cylinder to pass through, I used a magnetic drill press with a 1 9/16" annular cutter. If you can hook up with someone who has access to one, it'll do a nice, clean job in no time at all.

[arftist]

You can also cut some serious holes with a holesaw, even with a hand held drill-motor

[ornametalsmith]

Originally Posted by PeterDE4

When I cut the hole for the air cylinder to pass through, I used a magnetic drill press with a 1 9/16" annular cutter. If you can hook up with someone who has access to one, it'll do a nice, clean job in no time at all.

Couldn't agree more......these drills make a project like this.....almost easy. The first hammer I built....all I used was a drill press....the next few a friend rented a magnadrill and I was a "done deal". It is Soooooo much easier to take the drill to the Huge metal parts....than the other way around. AND.....those cutters are FAST. They aren't that much to rent, I'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking about fabbing with Large metal components.

[jeremy k]

I have built 2 Kinyon style air hammers - on the top plate (IIRC it was a 3/4" plate) I did not have machining capabilities or a drill bit big enough for the cylinder rod pass through. What I did use and it worked just fine (a little slower but it worked) was a hole saw at slow rpm with coolant. Done deal and cheaper than buying a huge drill bit. - JK

[Dodge]

Todd,
Looks like you're making great progress. I can't wait to see the finished product I'm a little envious. A good deal of the excitement in building machines, at least for me, isn't the thought of getting to use it, but the build itself. There is some indescribable satisfaction and pleasure in being able to say "I did it my self!" (Not to mention the potential cost savings )

[Torin]

Well, this weekend has been one stumbling block after another. Mainly dealing with trying to borrow a tap wrench from work big enough to tap the 1"-8 hole for the cylinder rod. Well, that is done now, and in a few minutes I'll head back out. Boy it takes a bit of effort to hand-tap a 1" hole.

I think I'm going to use the big cut-off wheels used with a die grinder to cut the pass-through for the 4" ram. The pass-through is so I can take the ram off once it is all assembled. Without it, I'd have to weld things so they wouldn't be removable. But I'll drill the corner and then use the cut-off wheels to connect them. Also, for the cylinder rod, I'm going to go with a 1 1/2" hole saw. I've been using a lot of cutting oil already on this.

The ram guide is drilled and tapped an ready to weld in place, though I'm going to wait until I can mock it up in place to make sure of the alignment.

Well, I'd better get back out and drill some more.

Thanks for the interest everbody.

[Torin]

Well, the drilling is going well. However, the belt on my cheap HF drill press was wearing out. It was literally about half gone. And my experiences with ordering spare parts from HF meant it was probably going to be at least six weeks for a replacement. But I was able to find a replacement belt at a nearby auto parts store. Even though the staff was sure they didn't have anything that would work. Drill isn't really slipping anymore. However, I'm working my way down on hole sizes. The 1 1/2" hole is done and I'm just about through with the 9/16" holes. Then I've got 27/64 for the 1/2"-13 tapped holes. Plus whatever I need to do to drill out the corners for the ram pass-through hole. I'll be cutting it with 3" cut-off disks using a die grinder.

Amusing fact of the day. Home Despot will sell you the disks, but they don't have an arbor for it.

Also, just called and the local air tools place has 3 of the 4 parts I ordered in. They are still waiting on the 5-way valve.

[Dodge]

1.5" holes with a HF drill??? Wow there's hope for mine yet LOL. Or, are we talking about a 1.5" hole SAW? Otherwise, where did you find and inch and a half bit to fit in a chuck?? BTW, Really enjoying the chronology, Todd.

[Torin]

Originally Posted by Dodge

1.5" holes with a HF drill??? Wow there's hope for mine yet LOL. Or, are we talking about a 1.5" hole SAW? Otherwise, where did you find and inch and a half bit to fit in a chuck?? BTW, Really enjoying the chronology, Todd.

Hole saw. And I got it most of the way with the HF press, and then moved on to a regular electric hand drill to finish with the saw so it wouldn't mark up the table. I should be getting a few picture tonight to update with.