Salem Straub

OK, here we go! More progress from the last couple of months, posted up here at once with present tense narrative since it's copy/pasted. 26 feet of 6x6" H beam, dragged home to fabricate a motor tower. Finally torch cut the old dovetails off. Major accomplishment, though a rough cut. 60 psi oxygen through a 3/8" hose to a #7 cutting tip will freeze your reg up! Big doin's... cutting 6" H beam for hammer motor tower. One evening of furious fabrication and loud music later, the drive tower is roughed in. It will be additionally guyed to the building frame on each side to eliminate side twist. Total height of machine is now 10'-8". Top axle is more or less plumb to hammer axle. The 45 joint in the tower will get an added gusset brace welded inside the corner for good measure. The hammer frame had bolt holes in it already, so I mounted to those with heavy channel and build up from there. The H upright bolts to the flat channel in back. Cut at 22.5, flipped and welded back together for a 45 miter. Flat belt path looks good... Put all 860 lbs of the sow block onto my friend's big CNC mill table. Ripping it down flat with a 2.5" carbide insert face mill, .100" at a time. That's a chip guard around the workpiece. Side 2 face milled nearly flat. Lots of blue chips everywhere. Dovetails are next! The guy wires were not enough alone to eliminate twist under simulated belt load, so I fabbed a brace, lagged it to the rafters, and welded it down to the tower frame, with an intermediate bolt plate should disassembly ever be necessary. Roof brace plus guy wires and main standard = solid AF!

Beaver's drawing looks promising as far as a workable way to get it in and then be able to tilt it up. What I would say is, don't be afraid to take your building apart some if that would provide access. My big hammer would not fit through my garage door either, so I unscrewed the skin of the building, took the door header out to get another 6" of clearance, disconnected the door and jacked it all the way up to the top end of the track and clamped it. The hammer skated in under that with less than an inch of clearance, the forklift about the same. In the end it was quite preferable to having to try to tilt that 9' tall 5400 lb. chunk of iron up inside the building. I had already poured the block for it, then used the hammer to drill down through to locate the bolt holes. By the way, congrats on the hammer- that's one excellent machine and a serious weight too!

According to original company literature, Beaudry Champion hammers, Bradley compact hammers, and DuPont Fairbanks hammers all were listed as requiring a 5 hp. motor for a 100 lb. model. Little Giant was the odd man out, requiring a 3 hp. motor for their 100 lb. hammer.

Those pics came from this thread... http://www.metalartistforum.com/maf/index.php?/topic/7195-power-hammer-technique-dvds/ In which they are posted as a comment with photos, not in connection with any particular DVD. Just a poster sharing his dies... The thread is entitled "Power hammer technique DVD's" but the discs discussed in that thread are Clifton Ralph's and Toby Hickman's power hammer DVD's. Hope that helps.

Hundreds of CFM at 100 psi for sure. A huge amount of air. You'd need to replace the steam seals with tighter seals o run pneumatic. I would assume it's never been converted. As far as weight, I'd start with 15,000 lbs as a minimum guess. Hard to say more, not knowing the size of the hammer for sure.

10 hp VFDs are quite cheap now, from China... I know people that have run hammers off them with good results. Nice thing about 3 phase is your wire can be smaller and amp draw is less.

No, mine does not have that. That's a good idea to mark the key for a sight reference, thanks. The key is not fitted quite all the way yet, I ground the taper in rough but have not blued/hand fitted it yet. It has about an inch to go yet to fully cover the dovetail. I've been collecting heavy steel for the motor tower, and have pretty much everything I need now. I'm just finishing up a few knives before putting that together. Went up to my machinist friend's place today with the sow block for him to look at, he said if I can cut the old dovetails off to reduce weight somewhat he'd give the machining a go. His big CNC mills might not like the weight, the tables on them are rated for up to about 700 lbs and this could be a little bit more. We'll see. I have to break out the torch and burn it real soon though.

Fatties! Nice amount of wide surface area there.

How big are the surfaces on those dies? I have flat die faces of 4x11" on my big hammer... would love to throw some bloom between them some time.

Awww yeah! Keep 'em coming!

We already had a talk... I told him I'd still run him a lot for shape forging and light drawing, but that I'd be delegating the rough use to a younger bigger beast. He enjoys an emeritus position now, if you will. Some of my machines and vehicles are girls, but the hammers are dudes, no question...

Anvil set... 18" long bolts, one end threaded 1-1/4" x 12 tpi, remaining 14" roughed up and set into concrete with Simpson AT-XP anchoring adhesive. Sucker ain't goin' nowhere! Now the hammer can be set over it next. Major day... the hammer is inside on the foundation. Now its true presence and bulk can be truly appreciated...Big, big thanks to my neighbor Michael Danielson... a man with a 6000 lb. forklift that BARELY fit in the building, and a hell of a steady hand with it.

Awesome! Congratulations! May it serve you well, and sooner than you hope!

After looking at the surroundings, that clump of juniper, and the timbers under it which look like four by sixes to me, I think it may be smaller yet, perhaps in the neighborhood of 400-600 lbs. tup weight, when compared to the Erie chart above. Anyone else care to "weigh in" on that?

Oh BABY!! Whatta beaut. I guess a 1000 lb. In Oregon, eh? Hmm...

I like Beaver's suggestion... after reading this thread this morning, that was my thinking too, perhaps hydraulic with pressure relief. A spring would not be right, as it doesn't have a ram being "thrown" per se, so the built-in safety device would have to provide more resistance than the actual forging you are normally doing could overcome. You'd set the pressure relief to a point safely below what the frame could take, if you could arrive at that number. The cylinder could perhaps be mounted below the bottom die perhaps, as there appears to be some room for it there. The ability to change working height with a hand pump is something I'd not considered, an interesting idea.

Less hassle, in my situation, to place the hammer and drill through, then set epoxy bolts. I don't want to risk any misalignment of the bolts, it being a two piece hammer with the anvil bolts inside the frame, and I don't have a forklift readily available to pick the hammer and set it on a plywood bolt template. I've seen a very good installation indeed recently, of a Chambersburg 3CH with timber pad onto big block, using epoxy and drilled in bolts and that made my mind up.

Foundation poured for the Beaudry... 3-1/4 yards of six sack mix with super plasticizer. Signed in the corner by my boy, with his feet and hands and I added his name and the date!

I tied a fair amount of rebar in my early 20's... whaddya know, it came in handy again! Cage built for hammer foundation. Hoping to pour on Friday.

No turning back now... sawed a hole through the shop floor, 3.5' x 6'. Now there's some digging to do.. Your average, garden variety, four foot deep power hammer foundation hole.

Man, traded a 25 LG for a 75 lb. Beaudry, that's a xxxx good trade for you! Congrats.

No paint... I like the dark gray brown of once-rusted iron, wire wheeled and oiled. To me, a machine like a hammer that gets super oily in use doesn't much need a paint job indoors, it would be cosmetic only but as I say, I do like the color of iron!

Right on. I was just hoping your project was not languishing... too cool of a hammer! I feel you on waiting for funds, I just keep making knives until I can afford the next thing my hammer needs. I'm set to rent a wet saw and cut the foundation hole in my floor though, this Friday. Best of luck to you!

Any update on this?

A bit more... I ground the top die nice and flat, and softened the edges just a bit with an angle grinder, then did the same to the bottom die... Then took measurements of the ram dovetail, and found some stock the right thickness for a key. Here it is blocked up on the grinder mag chuck, machining 1/8" taper per 11" off, 13" total key length. Top die, 1/8" shim underneath and die key rough-fitted. I drove it in about halfway with a deadblow, it will be finish fitted with blue dykem and selective grinding. The ram looks good with that die in it, though!