ajclay

Those are some good looking mounts, nothing that would work with my odd ball gauge. The idea would work though... Thanks, Aj

Now that's a cool idea.... I'm going to think on that one. That's what I need, someone to kick me off of dead-center! Thanks, Aj

I agree with you guys on it may not live, but it sure does look cool up there. I may end up and lower it or something. It's just tack welded at this point. I'm open for suggestions on where to put it. Any ideas? Thanks, Aj

While my parts are on order, I'm kind of at a stand still. I had a pressure gauge that I picked up from a buddy, so I made a little bracket and tack welded it on the side of the hammer. Also made a mounting bracket to hold the big air dryer and mister. I kind of over did it on the bracket, ( to heavy ) but it will serve the purpose just fine. I've just got it propped up on the rear, I'm not going to mount things till the spool valve comes in and it's mounted. The spool valve needs to be mounted first and work down from there. Hopefully it will come in with in a week or so. Later, Aj

Now that you mention it, a buddy has some equipment he rebuilt thats a cream and brown. It would look classy... Thanks, aj

I wouldn't think that would be an issue. It's above my head by a fair amount and it's captured on both ends with a 3/4 bolt. I guess weirder things have happened.. I ordered the spool valve and the two pilot roller valves today. The spool valve was about $110.oo, but they were proud of the pilot vlaves... about $90.00ea. Sure doesn't take long to spend money. Even spent $30.00 today on a SMALL bag of 1 in pipe fittings for the air dryer and mister. My play money is almost gone again... Thanks, Aj

Thanks guy for taking time to comment. The interface with you guys helps keep my enthusiasm up. I may just have to paint it bright RED like Michael mentioned earlier too... Take care, Aj

Wow, 40 hour build... I can't do squat in 40 hours. That's the trouble I have. I'm all the time learning new and different procedures, then when I do the next project, I can't back up. I'm getting deeper all the time. As I continue in the trade, the more I learn.... the more things I realize I don't know. Alway more to stuff than meets the eye. Thanks for the kind words... Aj

It's kind of easy to have a smooth running shop when there is only one man and a half a helper. I've done a few projects over the past several years. The biggest was a CNC plasma table. I took that on to learn about how computers control machines. WOW, now that was a learning curve. I'm far more familiar with the concept but it's a DEEP subject to say the least. Took me two years to build and it's one of those projects that's never finished. If you have the time you can go to my website and take a look at it. awningandsheetmetalbr.com Having the plasma table has allows me to do small fab jobs easier, faster, neater than doing to old burn and grind..... I purchased an old CNC milling machine and changed the controller over to a PC and different motor drives. I've got a couple of DoALL bad saws I rebuilt. Those kind of projects are the easiest because it's more of just a repair/rebuild type job. Not really any fabrication. A few other little things here and there, but nothing major. I'm slowly building up my machines to give a broader capability on jobs that come through the door. Work is slow so having several different machines allows me to do jobs I would have to pass on otherwise. That's where the air hammer comes in..... My smithing is mainly simple scroll work I use in my awning business. My knowledge in that area is real limited. I have a great respect for the trade!! Thanks for the interest. AJ

Progress! I've got my second wind on the project. It's starting to look like an air hammer. Things went as planned pretty much. I fudged on the squareness of the 8in vertical tubing to make the dies plates parallel. Not having the anvil faced off, just band saw cut, along with all the other irregularities that stack up along the way, it was off about 1/16. Now after all was welded it's about .015 out on parallel. The temporary jack screws that were welded on helped big time to line up the anvil with the ram. I dropped a transfer punch down in the anvil bolt holes and lowered the ram down till it slid in the ram bolt holes. Moved the punch around in all the holes till I was satisfied on the alignment. It looked pretty good when it was all said and done. I must say I've got my fill on welding for a few day. I used 7018, 1/8 and 5/32 rods to put the pieces together. I skipped around on the welding and even cooled it off a couple of times to keep the base plate from curling up. It's 1.5in thick but when metal get hot, welding will pull more than you think. Once it gets a little curl in there it no getting it out. I had to put an air hose to the cylinder to see it move before I left today. I'll sleep good tonight to say the least. The next step I'll have to purchase the spool valve and start fitting up those parts. I did find a air/water separator, oil mister, and regulator from a buddy. It has 1 inch pipe for the inlet and outlet so there won't be any problems with cfm there... The price was right..... free.... Thanks, Aj

Well, the work ran out and I'm back on my air hammer project.. I'll have some new photos tomorrow. I welded the main spine (vertical 8in square tubing) on the base plate today and located the anvil under the ram. Tack welded it in several places and tomorrow I'm going to put the weld on it. The anvil was a problem to line up. I had to weld some temporary jack screws on the base plate to move it around accurately. It all went together as it should. Now it's starting to look like an air hammer. Thanks, Aj

This is one of the jobs I finished the last week or so. It's slow going building parts this heavy. 1/2in thick 8in I beam, material rack for a fabrication shop of all places... They were to busy to build it. Wish I had those problems..! AJ

Richard, you've gone way past my knowledge on spool valves and hammers. I'm going to follow Ron Kinyons lead on the design and parts. I believe you called it correct about the new design though. As for the whip in the spring... Ron hasn't mentioned anything about that in our e-mails. It's a short stout spring, it may or may not flex. I don't see it being anything other than a convenient spot to mount the air cylinder at this stage of the game, and I guess it really matters on how I'm gong to work it.. Getting more ram movement from a shorter cylinder stroke has to be some kind of positive advantage right ?? Thanks for the comments. Aj

Mostermetal called it right. I finally got a couple of jobs in the shop... thank goodness!! I made $500 in January. That tells the story on how slow my shop was. This month looks better but still not great. I ordered a 9.5 long cylinder and returned the 12in long cylinder I purchased a while back. I just received the new cylinder this past Wednesday. So next week I'm going to check the mounting position again and hopefully it will work out this time. Ron Kinyon mentioned to me that he was using an 8in long cylinder 2in dia. The spool valve had 3/8 ports and operated without problems. There's so much talk about big ports, big spool valves, custom cylinders, modified ports, it just goes on and on. I'm going to use my cylinder with 3/8 ports and a spool valve with 1/2 ports - 1/2 air lines. I feel the bigger air lines has to be less restrictive. I may rub on the air cylinder ports a little to make things flow a little better, but I'm not going to loose sleep about it. We will all find out how this air hammer works in the near future. We'll know what not to do then. Good or bad I'll put a movie up on this hammer.... Thanks for the cards and letters!! Aj

I've got a little more information on Norgren parts. The "super x" pilot valves. This seems to be a common pilot valve used on air hammers. Download the attached document and look on the bottom of page "val-7-3" 1/4in 3/2 mechanical valves. "03 0611 22" seems to be the basic valve needed. Later, AJ Sec02SuperX - pilot valves.pdf

SGensh, thanks so much for the reply. When this subject is brought up, it's been talked about so much I believe a lot of guys are just burnt out on it. Any subject just gets old after a while. And too, they just don't want to get into a "heated" discussion about it either. Can't blame them.. Steve (that started the post) as well as I, need all the help we can get, and myself I'm relying on you and a few others to help get me going. Just a few pointers and comments go a long way. We all have to start somewhere learning about how to build our tools and even more importantly, how to use them... Thanks again! Aj

Steve, Nice drawing. Easy to follow. Having an under-size cylinder for the hammer might be why some guys say putting a regulator on one side of the air cylinder makes a lot of difference. And others with a larger cylinder don't see a need for it. That's a good point you made and it makes sense to me. Those drawings I put up both show a regulator... Having a spring return on the spool valve.... any wants or needs there? I just got a little understanding of what's going on the last day or so, it seems just to be personal preference, and what operations the hammer is being used for. Also, how do you get a good single blow? Have you just learned where get the ram to, or stop it at for that operation? Thanks for helping out. Aj

I've been meaning to post the information on Norgren spool valves I got the other day. On the very last page it has a part number brake down that will tell all about the Nugget 500 series spool valves. Later, AJ N-500 APC-102.pdf

I keep forgetting to put this attachment up. It's a document ".pdf booklet" from Norgren. I got it from one of their tech guys. On the vary last page it has a part number brake down that will tell you about the spool valves in the "Nugget 500" series. The more we talk, and I mean guys on IFI, the easier things get. later, AJ N-500 APC-102.pdf

SGensh has some good points. I glad he mentioned about the butterfly valve. I attached another drawing I picked up here on IFI that's easy to follow. Just a hand drawn one. And another one that has a bunch of colors.... really wasn't much help to me. Also, these are for the old style kinyon.. Take care, AJ

A follow up about spool valves, spring/pilot verses the pilot/pilot design. The smith I'm getting information from builds and sells simple hammers and holds classes on how to use them. So I'd say he knows about "his world" that's for sure. Below was the second reply: The first hammers I built had the spring return on the spool valve. In general this configuration is simple and works fairly well but... I wore the spring out. The place where I buy the spool valve from said the spring was good for about a million hits. I figured that was about right and that was about 4 or 5 years in use of the machine. The second roller valve eliminates this problem, although replacing the spring was not a big job. (took much more time to travel to the store to get the new spring) The biggest difference was being able to control not only the size of the cycle, but where the cycle bottoms out. That is to say I can adjust the roller valves so that the hammer will run but the two dies don't touch each other. This allows for a very light touch for specialized texturing, or for using short punches and chisels under the dies. It really adds a level of versatility while prolonging the life of the internal parts. That is not to say that roller valves and spool valves won't need replacing at some point. I did find the spring gave out much sooner than any of the other parts. So the spring return will work. I just found it did not last as long as the double pilot, and the double pilot was more versatile. There you go.... Aj

That's one of those subjects / questions there doesn't seem to be a right answer because everyones skill level is different, and smiths use air hammers in different ways. There's a bunch of different ways to do it. From the simplest air valve to the most complicated setup that NASA would use. So you're in the same boat as I. That's the subject I'm on in the post "New Style Kinyon Project/Drawing" I believe it starts on page 8. I've been building one for a few months. Not operational yet... Your hammer.... is the air cylinder on top the ram or on the side as the "new style Kinyon"? That makes a difference too. Take some photos and post them. It always helps to see what we're talking about. Later, Aj

Below is an explanation a fellow sent me of how his hammer works with two pilot valves. It's an old style kinyon with the air cylinder mounted on top. When adding air first from the air compressor. 0 psi to line pressure 130 psi The hammer may cycle through up to 3 times as air pressure stabilizes on both sides of the cylinder. It will automatically trip the roller valves and the there fore the spool valve until there is equal pressure on both sides of the platen. Keep fingers out of the way. I also keep a small block of wood on the dies to prevent them from impacting cold. It may stop at any point in the cycle. As you release a bit of air with the foot peddle it will start to travel either up or down depending where in the cycle it is. (most often I find it starts to travel up) Once it activates the roller switch in its travel (either up or down) it reverses its direction. While running much the same happens. You take your foot off the peddle and it can stop anywhere in the cycle. If you need it in the up position and it stops in the down position, I just tap the foot peddle once or twice. This exhausts just a bit of air and the hammer head rises. This takes a bit of practice but only a little bit. If it consistently does a full cycle through when you tap the foot valve, I would tighten the guide bolts on the bearing nylon just a bit and it will slow it down a touch. I hope this helps. In short yes you will have to give a short tap to exhaust a bit of air if it stops in the down position to raise the hammer head.

OK, I've got the full picture of the spring/pilot set up. Now if we use a pilot/pilot set up... the only thing that will do for me, it would will allow me to stop the ram short of the bottom die if I wanted to put a drift or a tool on top of the work. I'd have to relocate the 2nd pilot manually. Am I trying to do something that most backyard hammers don't do with this type of simple setup? Me not having any experience with a hammer, is it really necessary to stop the ram short in that scenario? As for the ram moving to the top and holding.... that still hasn't be accomplished yet correct? Thanks again for you time on this... AJ