kpotter

I want a drop hammer any one build one before. How is the hammer head lifted?

I guess I need to look closer at it thanks.

Could it be used as a toggle just like the little giant.? You would have to attach the top middle hole to the flywheel it couldnt have the straight adjustable shaft that little giant uses. Do you think it has too little flex or travel for a hammer.

I was at a trailer equipment shop yesterday and I saw a part that looks like the toggle linkage on a little giant hammer it has a urethane rubber piece instead of a spring but it looks like it would work great for a hammer. The parts are all forged and they are cheap the whole part costs about 50 bucks, they are sold in pairs so about a 100 for 2. I have been thinking of building a mech hammer and thought this was a neat piece. I dont know how to post pics or links but it comes right up on google.

I have used that method before to get stuff back, I have paid the criminal who took it to tell me where it was sold and then bought it back from the place that bought it. Then call the cops and they all get butt slammed by the law. Greed is a powerfull tool they wont be able to resist the thought of a couple hundred bucks.

I saw your videos a while back and have been in the process of building my press. I have a 100 ton h frame that I have used for forging but it is slow and not designed to forge with. I have the frame built out of 10 inch 1/2 inch wall square tube and I have the cylinders they are 18 inch stroke 5 inch diameter 2 inch rod cylinders and for the pump I have a 10ph 3ph motor with a 16 gpm pump. I should have it up and running in a couple of months. I have been thinking of using the frame for the oil sump I could probably get at least 30 gallons in it. I dont want to overheat the oil. Does your press get hot.

Great video. Which hammer design works the best the helve or the toggle? I just sold my air hammer today and plan on finding or building a mechanical power hammer.

I have done a little research and it seems that anvils have never cost less than they do today. In the past they were several months pay for a working blacksmith. A descent anvil still costs about a months pay for a new one. A months pay for the average worker is about 2000 dollars. You can get a nice anvil for less than that. I bought a peddinghaus and it was not that much and it is a pretty good anvil.

My nephew made this professional video. It is of me making t-stakes using my machines. It's pretty neat, so I thought I would post it. It's got lots of machine tool porn! Enjoy Kevin Potter

If you have never run a real belt grinder it is hard to compare what you have with what is out there. Having poor tools can be frustrating but learning skills is what is important. If you get a chance find someone local to give you a hand and maybe you can run their grinder. I built a 5hp belt grinder and I call it the meat rake since I tend to shred my fingers on it occasionally

I get a bad case of hammer envy everytime someone gets one of the those nazels it means that there is one less out there for me to find. Nice hammer I will live vicariously through your videos.

I was doing alot of forging in my house until about a week ago when I moved to an industrial shop. I had no trouble with neighbors and I was running a power hammer. I think you should consider propane just because it is cheap and easy. You might want to look into a hydraulic forging press they are quite compared to hammering. If you are just going to use an anvil I dont think the neighbors wil XXXXX they are not as noisy as you might think. Once you start up the angle grinder though, all XXXX will break loose.

peddinghause they are sweet. I have a 275lbs one. It comes down to this, do you want to use an anvil or hunt for an anvil a new anvil is great I do have some old ones but it was pure luck in finding them. If I had waited to find an old one I could still be waiting.

If you are going to go to the trouble of making your own tools you should make them so they are good. The right kind of steel will be a huge step in that direction. Labor is far more expensive than steel. Steel is only a few bucks a pound. What can you buy that is only a few bucks a pound? Hamburger costs more a gallon of milk costs more. S7 and H13 are air hardening I have done them in a forge and in a heat treat oven, with good results.

I am going to be using it for press forging my silversmithing stakes. I would also like to take a stab at making some hammers, I have been machining them from bar but would love to press forge them in a die. I have the dies for the stakes ready to go I carved them in graphite by hand and had them edmed at a mold shop. I have a bunch of die shoes that I will set up for forging chasing tools, I have been forging and grinding them by hand this should be faster and better. I still have to get it off the trailer, a fried with a back hoe will move it on Tuesday. Thanks to Harold I didnt have to squish my truck getting this thing to the shop. I will post some video of it soon it will be up and running mid week hopefully. Thanks again Harold

Nice anvil, did you use a mill. What kind of steel is it. I would defintily put a base on it or a foot.

No trouble. I will be getting this thing in a few weeks. It works well no leaks and it is pretty fast I will be putting some of my open faced press dies that I use to make stakes with in it. I have been using my 50 ton press and they work well but a few extra tons never hurts.

I was at a machine shop yesterday helping to appraise it. The place was full of the most worn out beat down junk I have ever seen but sitting in the middle of the room was a massive press they said it was 10 ton but with a 12 inch ram and a 20hp pump you dont get 10 ton. We put in a bid on the stuff and will get it mostly because I was begging like a 5 year old at christmas for the press. I have been making a 50 ton forging press but now I will have 2 of them. I ran the 100 ton press and it is pretty fast, at least I think it is 100 ton hard to tell since it is so dirty and it was a shop built machine. The posts are 4 inches around and the platens are 3 inches thick.

S-7 or h-13 would be best they are designed for that type of work. They are both air hardening and are shock and heat resistant.

I have a 200lbs Buddin and a 275lbs peddinghause. I bought the peddinghause new it works just as good as the buddin. The only reason to buy antique anvils is because you like having an old anvil. Mine sits in the living room looking pretty. I wouldnt pay a ton of money for an old anvil thinking they are better than a new forged anvil.

I have a K&T universal mill with the thread milling attachment and the dividing head with the outboard power takeoff to sycronize the feed and the cutter so that you can mill threads like this I have made one and it was a big pain. I think you should forget this and move on with your life. This is a tough job for even a very skilled machinest let alone a hobbiest.

I have a shop full of old WW2 machine tools that I use everyday I have been in all of them and have worked as a machine mechanic for a number of years. It is real hard to find old machines in good shape. I would love a nazel I think they are beautiful they were made when people actually cared how something looked. The pattern makers were artists. Now with modern steel cutting technology the days of beautiful cast iron are gone everything will be fabbed from plate the costs are much lower and the strength is far greater. I just wish they would put a little thought into the appearance. China will be fabing stuff soon as it is more cost effective.

If you want to be a metal worker you should do it but remember if you have one shred of common sense such as, what about retirement what about health insurance what about starvation then you should not do it. I have been a metal worker working for myself mostly for 22 years and it has worked out ok but I have been blessed with a lack of common sense. I am willing to bet the farm at every turn but luckily I married above my pay grade and my wife is paranoid so we have never been homeless or gone hungry due to my bad decesions. I still love doing metal work and even with the down turn in the economy I have been fine.

I have spent alot of years working on old machine tools and the thought of buying a tool that is 70 years old that hits itself scares me. The amount of worn and broken stuff in that hammer could be insane. Production shops that run these things usually run them to death and replace them or at least they used to. I have worked on large machine tools that have come out of factories and they have been run 24 7 for decades and there is no useful life left in them. If you have access to machine tools and can remake the parts then getting one of these hammers might be ok but if you have to pay someone you will be in for a shock. I have thought about building a power hammer, I have built a beefed up kinyon but I am thinking about building a serious hammer but in the end I think you would be better off with an iron kiss or something like that.

I am making a couple I have done it a few times just for fun but it is not worth it from the money standpoint. I have a video of me cutting the top of a piece of steel on my shaper, I had the chunk burned out and I am going to just weld a tool steel plate to the top I have done the top with hardface rod before and it worked well but it cost more than a production anvil. the one I am making is not for heavy blacksmithing so I dont want to hear about how it aint gonna work, I know it wont rebound I am making it for small jewelry type work and a way to hold my stakes plus it will look real cool.