BryanWillman

This is kind of 1/2 of a toggle press. In addition to needing the pivot to be very strong so you don't just shear it off, the lever (toggle arm/arms) needs to be able to resist the bending/buckling forces.

How is a stake plate different from a set of hardy holes? The stake shanks are like the shank on a hardy, yes?

Ka-ching - thanks ptree. one of those places where a torque wrench and some thought about how something works are in order!

A question - what's a "manway", and why is it never to be tightened? (And how is it assembled in the first place?) [A pointer to some document I should go read would be fine.]

HWoolridge - do you recall what this pressure measuring film was called, or where one might buy it?

By the way - couldn't you get some of the same effect by bolting the hammer to have Very Thick steel plate, which rested on some kind shock absorbing material?

Is the massey book that describes foundations online anywhere? Or available used? The "t-slot at the bottom" idea sounds brilliant. (Guess you need to pain the box though - otherwise it will someday rust, no?) I don't know about super deep concrete, but for the foundation for my milling machine, I was told to water it. (12" thick) This makes it stronger. You need just the right amount of water when poured (too wet -> bad), but once it has set (24 hours?) it makes it stronger to keep the top wet. Concrete is pourous, and cures very slowly. But apparently the big return is in keeping it watered and letting it cure for 28 days. By water it I mean literally - you spray it with a garden house, cover it with plastic, repeat every every day for 4 weeks...

At risk of stirring the pot... A HP is a HP if they are measured the same, which they almost never are, but it's kind of irrelevent anyway... In the real world where ships, cars, and machines don't run at constant speeds and constant loads, things like torque, inertia, acceleration, etc. matter. And even electric motors do not have flat torque or power curves, and how even the power is throughout a rotation can matter (hence the value of 3 phase motors.) And yes gearing helps, by getting things into the right part of the torque curve. But it won't change the shape of the curve. So both points of view ("a hp is a hp if measured the same" and "but in the real world big and slow is better for this") have merit. (And be very glad that you aren't trying to run these things off line shafts driven by gasoline engines...) As for the OP's project - start with the motor it has and see what happens. There's no law saying you cannot change the motor out in the future...

ironstein - "utility hammer" refers to a penumatic hammer which depends on an external source of compressed air. Iron Kiss being an example. A "self contained" hammer refers to one that has a "compressor" cylinder built-in - an an yang or some chambersbergs, nazel, etc. So a utility hammer has plumbing for air from a compressor, but likely no electrical connection at all. A self-contained hammer has an electric motor. Obviously, any power hammer or hand hammer has "utility"...

Bryan's Rule of Machine and Tool Evaluation applies: "If it works, and is safe, it is a good thing." How much gain (if any?) is there to a treadle hammer traveling in a purely straight line? (Seems like it's better, but does it matter in much hammer work? My arm doesn't work that way...) How much gain is there to the ram being guided? (One would think purely guided maximally straight is the bee's knees, but apparently helves work way better than a naive person like me would think.... )

I've been reading "pounding out profits" and it seems pretty clear that essentially all successful mechanical hammers had some kind of "spring" or "damping" to them. (As would steam hammers and pneumatic hammers when the valving is right.) Sometimes (apparently, Grant can comment) this spring arose partly out of some natural property of material - particularly wood, or leaf springs. Other times some elaborate mechanism was assembled. Grant, I don't suppose you have a drawing of that hammer?

How does that hammer work? Apparently crank actuated? Is there some kind of pivot beam?

Very Good to Know. re: stainless - Ah! Now it makes perfect sense. re: hammer base - yikes! OK, so a big hammer like that needs a really really really big base to not shake things....

Really good video. Questions: 1. Is the hammer sitting on a pad that is sitting on the floor, or did you dig an opening in the floor and pour the pad into it, such that the pad is sunk below the floor? It seems to my naive mind that pouring the hammer foundation over the top of wood or sand or the like, and maybe surrounding it with some isolating material, might work. Then again, I've run a power hammer for all of 10 minutes. 2. Uh, why forge 4" square stainless down to what looks like a pretty simple bar, rather than just buying a bar that size from the supplier?

So is this hammer going to live outdoors? Or are you going to build a building around it? Or??? What is the construction of the risers that eleveate the hammer to line up with the anvil?