imagedude

The dies are from a Samuel Platt Goliath hammer, they will work ok on my Blacker.

I made my dies for forging the male tenons slightly oversize to allow for scale, shrinkage and metal loss due to finishing with a grinder when the tenon when it cools down. I make my punches to the exact size as the amount of loss due to scale is countered by contraction upon cooling.

Got me some tooling for the powerhammer:

Hope all goes well with the surgery. Bob.

I could make just about any type of powerhammer die or hydraulic press die on a shaper. I could do the same on a mill easier but would need to spend more on cutting tools. A shaper is a versatile tool for performing 'one off' operations to blacksmithing levels of accuracy.

Simple gear cutting Cutting internal and external splines on driveshafts Fettling operations on castings Machining rack and pinion gears Cutting shoulders or making deep grooves T-Slots Dovetails You can even machine curves if you are clever. There's a good reason that many machine shops have a dusty shaper in a dark corner, they do jobs that mills can't and you can make your own tooling without the help of a cutter/grinder.

Shaping machines are probably the most underestimated machine available to the blacksmith. They can perform many complex machining operations and will happily use homemade cutters.

Flypress screws are made from impact resistant steels usually rich in Nickel. In Europe the steel used would probably be EN24. The steel is probably not far removed from L6.

Is it still running at the usual BPM? Slipping drive belts is a common maintenance issue on some of the Kuhn clones.

Possibly cast iron?

Cromwell tools

Here's a photo of my large anvil, the face is 8 inches wide x 29 inches long. The small anvil on the left is 4 hundredweight.

2lb ball with wooden handle.

I've got about 4 feet of rail track in my scrap pile. Would this be suitable for making fullering dies for a powerhammer? Would it require further HT? I was thinking of using the upper part of the rail only i.e. the half round(ish) section.

I'll be replacing both and keeping the surviving arm as a spare. There was only one new arm in stock so I'll just be fitting one for the moment. The 2 new arms should outlive me.

Presses larger than size 6 are best used with 2 man operation but remember they you can work small stock with a large press but working large stock with a small press is a pain in the rear. Here's my size 4/5 press working 45mm stock.

Ordered a new arm today. cheers Bob

I'd suggest that you get a size 6 or larger.

Correct, one end has a machined taper with a hole for the wedge, the other end has a ball joint with a hole for the retaining pin.

I paid the equivalent of $900 for this 11" Harrison 140, I'm sure there are similar machines available on your side of the pond. Buying a used lathe can be a lottery but there are bargains out there. It is important that you get the tooling with the lathe e.g. 3 & 4 jaw chucks, steadies etc as these can cost more than the lathe if purchased seperately.

I can see fractures running for half an inch in each direction hence my reluctance to attempt a welded repair, even though my father is a coded welder. The plane of the fractures is at 45 degrees to the holes drilled to accomodate the retaining pin for the hammer head.

It'd be a brave man that tried to fix this with a weld, the metal is too far gone!

I managed to break my hammer today, a Blacker model C. The lower parallel arm broke, you can see from the oil that had penetrated the initial crack that it has been starting to break over a long period of time, hardly surprising given that the hammer is 70 years old: I'll fabricate a temporary replacement from strips of flat bar, I'll then forge a new bar. You can't simply use round bar as it tapers considerably. If both arms had busted at the same time it would have been interesting.

Finally moved my Blacker onto its plinth today:

Are they your little hammers in the conferance photos, John?