jason0012

I used to have one. used it for punching 1/4" holes in thin aluminum. asside from that, I never found any application that it had sufficent power for. i sold it cheap at SOFA about 15 yrs ago. I had it in my shop about ten years and still wonder what they are good for????

I have this old forge that is not complete. I have done some research but have come up blank on the missing parts. All I really have is the pan and pedestal. I have built a Bob Patrick firepot but wanted to inquire one last time if anyone can explain what is missing in enough detail to replicate them. I am also torn between trying to recreate the down draft system with a good blower or use a more conventional chimney and side draft hood

P20 should make fair hammer dies. It heat treats like a spring steel. As long as they aren't too hard they should be great. P20 is used in injection molds were a really high polish is needed, the phosphorus makes for a tighter grain and better finish. I have never seen it in hammer die sized chunks, but if I had some I would give it a try.

Clinker is not much of an issue as it pools below the air vents and actually seems to reflect a lot of heat back into the fire increasing its intensity. With a side draft it isn't much of a problem either. Clinker interferes with a fire by obstructing air flow and choking it. Wit this forge as with a side blast that is not likely. Now my air pipes at pretty well burned/rusted away, this is an old forge. About 18-19 years ago I made a lot of damascus in this forge and ran welding heats for 6 to 10 hrs a day without cleaning it out. The next morning I would pull a football sized Clinker out, it always had air holes in it. This is the only time I have used the cat litter and it seems to do ok. I hadn't burned coal in a few years and was a bit short on cinders when I set it up this lest time. I am on my phone and typing is kind of a pain. Here is a rough description of the plans- about as detailed as the originals.

Here is my forge empty so you can see how it is constructed. I think the above suggestion of a side blast forge might be a good way to go. they are easy to build and use and very adaptable. I built this before I had ever encountered one, as you can see it has seen some use. the other two are the forge in the process of packing the bed. Here I am using a mix of old cinders and cat litter, with some fire bricks to fill in big spaces. I think the plans were in the fall/winter '89 Anvil's Ring.

I have used a forge built from plans in The Anvils Ring circa 1990 or so by Mitch Fitzgibon for around 24-26 years. It is a variable firepot that can give me up to a 40" fire or as narrow as 6". It is very rare that a really huge firepot is useful, but when you do need that oddball heat it is nice to be able to do it, I will try to find the plans.

I haven't heard from him in over 10 yrs. Anybody know what Maurice Ellis is up to these days? If you want to build one there are plans on Larry Zoellers' website for a similar hammer. This would be about half scale from Larry's hammer.

I found a few photos,sorry they aren't the best. This was Quad-state around 94 I think. The frame was 2x4 tube I believe and the ram was 1 or 1.5x3 or 4 inch. His hammers were pretty simple but worked well. The air system was just a scaled down Kinyon.

Maurice Ellis built several small air hammers.The one I got to use was I think a 9 pound and ran on a little pancake compressor. It was probably 300 pounds total or less-one person could reasonably move it around. It wasn't a huge powerhouse but it would eat up 1/2inch square stock

There was a 250 pound LG on e bay about a year ago listed for $65,000! I don't think it sold. I just paid 7,000 for one that was about on my doorstep. That seems a tad high for a little giant but well within reason. The Chinese hammers just hit a price point that is way too attractive, and I am shocked that the mechanical hammers haven't fallen in price as a result

I have had a few who seem to go through a lot of hand wringing over price. After redesigning a project completely 5 or more times for one client, to try to hit some ill defined price point on a 3 million plus house he still refused to give me a budget to work around. Had to just walk away from that one.

I love mechanical hammers. I have used about all of them in a wide variety of sizes. Bradley, Beaudry and Fairbanks are some of the best. Little Giants and their variations- Moloch, Murray, Meyer, ect are easy to repair and have good control, but arent as heavily built as the others. Air hammers and steam hammers are a big step up. Steam hammers are the absolute best in terms of power and control, but they are also the most expensive to set up and run. Steamers are power hogs, and while they can be run more ecomonicly on compressed air than steam, the CFM required is truly alarming. Air hammers are a compromise. I have not gotten to use the Anyangs but they look like a good deal given that they are still in production and retail is about one tenth what Chambersburg was quoting at the time of their bankruptcy. As for old machines, in the US the two important ones are Chambersburg and Nazel. Both are absolutely the best hammers you could hope for, provided they arent totaly worn out. Air hammers tend to be way more expensive, but more versatile than mechanicals. My preferance is for Nazel hammers, not for any good reason, but I like the 19th century styling. Size is a big consideration too. A hammer of 25-50 pounds is a good hobby tool, a proffesional shop needs more and should be looking for a hammer in a 100 pound plus size. There is an upper limit too, and hammers over 300-400 pounds tend to exceed the operating cost limit on a small shop. I would recomend avoiding the home brew "utility type" hammers such as the Kinyon. While they do work ok they tend to be a bit slow and under powered, though a huge compressor (15-25 hp) can help.

I contacted Grizzly and they sent me a new wheel. Problem solved, but I still would like to know why it took a crap on me suddenly like it did.

have you checked with Bob Bergman?

I can identify the problem as being the 10 inch wheel. I see no visible damage. There are no tears, bumps or holes in the rubber. The bore looks ok and there isnt any build up on the hub anymore, but still it vibrates terribly. The dial indicator shows no out of round or wobble. Could the rubber have embedded with metal shavings I cant see? It does look somewhat worn, after less than 2 months, but not to a point where it looks ragged. From the begining both wheels seemed very soft. I wonder if it may be possible to replace the rubber tires? Is there an ideal durometer for contact wheels? Is there a good product for this? My next step will be to turn an arbor for the lathe and see if I can sand the face a smidge and smooth things out. Then to build a balancer...

I have a Grizzly 2x72 that has been running fairly well. About a week ago it developed a serious vibration that got proggressivly worse. I checked the contact wheel and shaft for run out with an indicator. It showed only .0002 so that doesnt seem to be the problem. I removed the 10 inch wheel and installed the 8 and - no vibration! I ground about a dozen blades on the 10 inch before it started doing this and it has no visible damage. I have just started a new job so havent gotten to try switching back yet. Any Ideas what is wrong? Could it just be dust build up?

It is a 1918. I think it was the second year for the 250? The guide is similar to the smaller hammers, but rather than holding a front/back V, it catches the corners of a somewhat square ram.

Once I get it I will document as much as I can

It is a wrap around guide like the smaller hammers -only different. I have found very little information on it. Sid responded to my questions today and he says they had trouble with adjustments on this model. I have seen several in folks shop photos, but nobody seems to want to comment on using one????

Got it paid off Thursday! Now to find a place to put it...

Behemoth? Why its just a little peanut. I wish I had pictures of the 6000# Erie I got to play with in Tulsa.

here it is. I have worked on a few newer 250s and 2 - 500# but this style I have only seen in photos. I did own a 25 old style years ago and assume they are similar. I will likely need a few parts from Sid, and hopefully will not need to rebabbitt bearings of this size.....

I am waiting to call Sid until I have the thing in front of me. I got to look it over about a year ago and it is all there, but at the time it was going to someone else so I didnt spend too much time on it. Given its age , I am sure it will need some work.

In the not too distant future I should be getting a 250 pound little giant- a really old one (1917). It is the old style with wrap around guides. I have no experience with the old ones like this, and have a few questions for any of you who have worked on them. Are the link arms toggled into the ram like they are on the smaller hammers, or do they pin in like the later ones? How big of a die can I squeeze through those guides? How much of a pain is it not having the vertical adjustment that later hammers have? If I dont get any response I guess I will find out soon enough...

can welds. My past attempts show good adhesion but seperate durring forging. I had 3/16 440 layered with 3/4" 5160 in one billet. The end result had the 440 layers still nearly 3/16 and the 5160 at around 1/2 at the point of failure.That billet became part of Billy Merritt's collection of pattern weld samples. The two just flow differently. I am thinking a harder higher alloy would do better