HammerHoyl

Thank you guys for all your replies! This is excellent information and advice. Naked anvil, thank you for the explination of the lower balance valve in the rear compression cylinder. This information is not illustrated well enough in the Krause publication. I stand corrected. My "flap" valve does not flap at all. It is a stationary forged steel disc on a stem that bolts to the exhaust stem. Sounds like I may want to hinge the disc. The check valve is in perfect working condition. It has a new spring and valve. I cannot hear leakage.

Good idea about the tubing. I was using 1" square tubing to make an easy to understand point about the amount of weight needed for the bleed off valve. All gaskets, piston rings and bushings were replaced by Bob Bergman & Co. I have tried soaking the machine with excessive oil. I even bought a quart of Marvel's Mystery Oil and dumped it into the front piston to ensure the lower gasket was soaked and making the best seal possible. This machine is air tight.

Naked anvil, Thank you for the correction in my atmosphere calculations. I was going off of Wikipidea data... To answer your question, yes, the supercharger would mount to the exhaust stack. In reference to Mark Krause's publication Nazel hammers, It clearly shows that almost all of the air compressed and exahusted in the operation of the hammer, origonates at the exhaust stack (minus the effect of the balance valve, Of which I have little understanding). Therefore not only does it cushion the ram from hitting the top of the front cylinder as you say, it also supplies air to the compression cylinder in both its upward and downward stroke. Therefore a supercharger on the exhaust stack would increase the pressure within the rear cylinder (provided the balance valves are plugged). This idea has many drawbacks and I'm sure a few that I've not even thought of. 1) Cost 2) Noise 3) What to do about the balance valves in the rear cylinder? 4)construction of an overpressure valve that would match the speed of 210 cycles pr. min. I've thought of a fairly simple design for the supercharger. Essentially you would have a horizontal T section tubing with one leg bolting onto the exhaust stack. Another leg of the T would be the air supply from some sort of blower mounted elsewhere. Preferably outside(noise). The third leg would have a steel cap weighted to resist up to 5psi before "burping" exhaust air from the hammer. Assuming you were using 1" square tubing, you would need a 5lb weight providing resistance to escaping air. Once the pressure exceeded 5psi the cap would lift and expel the air until the pressure decreased. My fear is this process of pressurized air exhausting happens so fast that my design may not keep up. Thoughts?

Hello All, I am the smith who purchased the hammer that Rory discussed above. Primer: I recently acquired a fully rebuilt 1 piece Nazel 2b hammer from Bob Bergman at the Postville Blacksmith Shop. Having bought and run the hammer at a lower altitude I was able to establish a "standard" of various measures. These include: ram travel during operation, strength in blow, number of compressions for the ram to "park" at idle etc. After falling in love with the quality of workmanship that Bob and his boys performed on the hammer, along with its amazing performance, I brought it home to 8,500ft where the hammer has been installed. Having finished the installation and run the hammer for a prolonged period of time I have made several observations that have led me to conclude that the hammer's performance is being effected by altitude. Observations: 1) When turning the hammer on it takes approx. 30 seconds for the hammer to "park". At sea level the hammer performed this operation within less than 10 seconds or within several compressions. 2) At maximum blow the hammer does not hit as hard. 3) The travel of the ram is less than at sea level. 4) Once the hammer finishes forging and returns to the idle position, it is unable to push enough air through the lower valve to raise the ram into its park position. The result is the top die taps the bottom die lightly. This causes quite a problem as one could imagine because you have to "sneak" your workpiece in between blows. Altitude: At sea level there exists a consistent atmospheric pressure of 14.696 PSI. This unit of pressure is referred to as "standard atmosphere". With every 1,000 ft elevation gain, you loose 4% of atmospheric pressure. This is because there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that pressure decreases with increasing elevation. I live at 8,500ft. That is a decrease of 34% of atmospheric pressure. That means I am loosing 5PSI of compression within the cylinder. A significant loss. Solutions: My main problem is the ram wont park. That causes considerable difficulties when trying to forge anything. At full blow the hammer does quite well. Well enough that I am satisfied with its performance during that phase. I am in communication with Bob Bergman the leading expert in Nazels. We have come up with several possible solutions to get the hammer to park. 1) Install a "flap" over the muffler. I have already done this and it works. Because of the way the air distribution works during the "idle" phase of the hammer, the back pressure limits the exhaust of the air and causes the ram to increase in travel. It also helps the ram come close to parking. A great temporary fix, but does cause a bit of noise and does not help the hammer during full blow. 2)Bore out the valve and corresponding sleeve where air travels during the idle phase. This would increase the quantity of air traveling below the ram and lifting it into a park position. I pulled both the valve and sleeve to make sure that maximum air was flowing through these holes. They matched perfectly and no increase in their size was possible. 3) Make a taller bottom die and smaller top die. Thereby decreasing the weight of the ram and making it easier for the limited amount of air to lift the ram. I am doing this currently, and hopefully it will work well enough that I don't need the exhaust cover. 4) Plan B... Plug the balance valves and make a supercharger that fits over the muffler. It would need to be a blower that exerts enough CFM to create an extra 5PSI. It would also need to have a 5PSI "Blow off" valve that allows the hammer to exhaust any pressure that is more than 5PSI. 5) Plan C... Get a S&*T load of duct tape and expandable foam, along with a giant blower and pressurize my entire shop.... Pipe Dreaming again. So that's the story. Rory, I think Smaller top die and larger bottom die solution may work best for you. Or, it may be that the supercharger solution could work well. I don't know much about the air distribution systems in those Turkish hammers. But it would hinge upon where the hammer intakes air, and if it has balance valves within the compression cylinder. We should talk.