nonjic

John, WHY CAN'T YOU BE THE U.S. REP FOR ANYANG!?!?!? WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!


That 33 lb is just downright ADORABLE, I can't get over how itty bitty witty cute it is! If I get one, I will have to paint it pink with polka dots

The new USA rep for anyang visited me in the UK for a meeting today, and all hints & tips for tweaking & feeding your Anyang have been passed on - these guys seem serious about providing a solid service, im sure youll hear more from them in the future !!

I would be looking at a way of either re-introducing the condensed steam back to the boiler, or using a heat exchanger to pre-heat your boiler feed water with the 'contaminated' steam exhaust.

If you do go the second route it will be much easier to seperate the contaminents from the condensate when it is back to ambient temperature.

This would save your company lots of $$$$ over a year, as well as doing your bit for the environment :)

a good test for control is removing the shell from a hard boiled egg, without destroying the inner ! - Our company used to do this on 10 ton ram double acting steam hammers!

The only way to correctly measure the energy of a hammer is either hitting a lump of pure lead of a known size and measuring the deformation, or using a velocity recorder (which we do), if you know the mass of the ram, and the actual velocity at the point of impact it is simple to calculate the energy of the blow. Assuming constants such as a 10x nominal falling weight anvil block 2 hammers from different manufacturers can be directly compared. Hammer efficency as a % can then be calculated by knowing the energy 'draw' of the motor.

Once you start to compare the difference on the forging (workpiece) of a high velocity, small ram weight blow of say 1000 ftlbs, and a low velocity heavy ram weight 1000 ftlbs it starts to get complicated!

John, I admire your service of shaking any bugs out of a new machine before it goes to the end user. Very thoughtful.

thoughtful, and good business sense for me!!!!!! a 2 min tweak to the machine in my factory, (because im very familiar with power hammers) might save me a full day on site to do the 2 min tweak at the other end of the country!!! ;)

just a quick note on the above photos of the 33lb anyang.........

The hammer in the photo is 'on test' as part of its pre delivery inspection, hence the temporary footlever assembly, lack of flywheel guard etc etc etc!!!!

obviously I have to pass a few damascus billets through them as part of the inspection though ;)

Hi david,

The 25 kg hammer is 3.5 kw. The factory can supply these with single phase 240v motors....... But, my vastly experienced electrician said I would basically be "making a rod for my own back" selling them, ie lots of problems down the line. (not sure if he was refering to the capacitor start on the motors, or folks overloading domestic supplies )

You can buy single phase motor from 'Wyko' (a WEG, very good motors) that would run the 25 kg , not very expensive, or they crop up on ebay often. The pullys & keyways on the chinese hammers are standard, so can be easily swapped over to a single phase motor.

Ill get clarification from the sparky next time I see him.

David, The best place for Rotary convertors in the UK is Transwave Power Capacitors in Birmingham. The biggest size they do is 10 hp 3 ph from 240v single.

From experience a 10hp rotary has enough shunt to run a 6 hp motor on a 'self contained' type power hammer. ( on a new 'tight' machine, a worn old one will require much less starting torque)

Remember that the 3 phases generated by a convertor will be out of plonker, so will upset alot of welding sets - Transwave will be able to advise (they are very helpfull)

This is intersting, but has some limitations. It does not take into account 'controllability' , or the blow rate (bpm) of the hammer which has a significant effect on the work that can be done in one heat.

However, full power is a performance measurement, so I will run the tests on the 15kg, 25kg and 40 kg Anyang hammers, as and when I get chance (I sell them in the UK, so if someone wants to do it independently let me know)

I didn't realize that folks run their hammers at 175 PSI , over 100 PSI in the shop lines and I start to get nervey !!

The Stiker & Anyang are basically the same hammer, just made in 2 different factories. Both are copies of the Beche as far as I can tell.

I would like to verify the often made claims that the Striker hammer is superior to the Anyang, and where the supposed extra weight in the machine is. I had a good chuckle that a german WW2 design of hammer, made in China was granted American 'OEM' design status

It certainly has a more western name, which some folks find comforting

Alot of folks rate John Larsons 'Ironkiss' very highly.

The Anyang / Striker hammer are very compact (small footprint) compared to the fabricated frame hammers from Turkey.

ahhh, its sweet, like a little woodpecker! - I wouldnt be able to resist painting a face on it :)

John B. Im free with advice and help on hammers, but have to make a living. I sell them for more than I buy them for, simple as. (so the price is inflated) For the extra money you pay when you buy from a dealer you get recourse.

Its nice to help folk out but its not always possible when you have a mortgage to pay, and employees families relying on you making their wages every week!

Have you got a link for the guild?

Devon blacksmith, PM sent.

is this the devon blacker hammers owners club forum

I sell small used hammers occasionally but the supply of half decent used bargains has pretty well dried up in recent years. When I get them it will cost quite a bit more than a private sale, but you know it will be right!! (none in stock at the moment)

The chinese ones I sell are decent for the money.

Ebay ones tend not to be so cheap now, as the sales are usually well publicised over the blacksmith / bladesmith forums etc.

Keep an eye on the BABA monthly newsletter, some good ones crop up there every now and then.

Looks good, I like the low layer stuff, you can really see whats gone into the pattern.

the anvil will have a higher residual value than all the other items mentioned. If you calculate the cost of the anvil (or any major item) on a cost per day of ownership taking into account its residual / disposal value im sure the cost of a new anvil is next to nothing.

Dont ever do this calculation on your car though, you will be depressed for weeks :)

In a nutshell, they are expensive!, and pretty complicated, especially if you need 'control' (automation) on them for large batch, small parts like your doing.

If you post some sketchs of the parts (where is the raised crown , end? middle? ) someone may suggest a good way of making them thats 'scaleable' for production volume.

From your description so far it sounds like a punch operation, and then a dedicated, small custom axial / radial ring roller might be the most economical way forward.

This thread is getting very close to 'work' (day job) for me now, so ill bow out good luck with the project

on my gasser ive got a flexy propane hose connected to the burner, like you.

My venturi burner is pointing into the forge a '3 o'clock' position. the burner is ice cold when running, but on switch off the heat radiates up the burner. I allways disconnect the flexy rubber pipe when I swith off for the day. It will de-nature / melt in short order if not (with obvious consequences if it goes un noticed). check yours doesnt do the same!!

The end of my burner gets to forge temperature eventually!, even with it at 3'oclock, and pulled back into the lining.

Onr of the tricks to a good gas forge is to have as much of the gas combustion taking place inside the forge! , excess dragons breath (caused by the flame 'bouncing' out of the forge is very wasteful) - A little combustion outside the forge is desirable as it proves the forge is 'rich' (oxygen / air lean) which reduces scaleing and helps welding.

If you can get the flame to swirl around the forge a bit you get the most from the combustion heat before it exhausts the forge. your original burner port is well positioned to create the swirl.

ive done quite a bit of work with GFM's and they are pretty complicated. I wouldnt fancy trying to minaturise one.

Hi mike, the check valves I fit are spring loaded, though I dont know how necessary it is. I think I would go for the 1psi spring loaded. (havent a clue what the ones I fit are, with lube stuff I am usually just happy if I manage to get the right fittings etc, and the jobs not held up for a missing 5/16" olive !!)

Some 33 lb hammers take a while to warm up. In my opinion this is because the piston rings are tight in the ram bore, and the ram does not have enough mass / inertia to overcome this friction until the hammer is hot and 'loosened up'.


I modify the piston rings on a belt finisher to change the external profile. I leave a 'land' in the middle that is still flat & thus proves the pneumatic seal required. If you are going to do this do it 'little by little' until the hammer feels right. There is a knack to removing the piston rings. I forge the ends of a few nails flat on the anvil and use them as little 'tire levers'! - its still easy to stab a screwdriver through your hand removing them (yup, I've done it) so be careful! - hopefully the sketch below makes this clearer.

This photo shows the modification I do to the lubrication system on the Anyang hammers,

The 15kg (33lb) Anyang hammer only has one oil feed pipe, but the principle is the same,

The factory 'non return' valve is in the connector where the oil pipe enters the cylinder of the machine, just remove the ball and spring from this.

With the new non return valve fitted the oil flow can be set exactly, with a very consistant 1 drop every 10 seconds, or whatever is right for your machine so the ram is slightly oiley in use.

When you fit the valve check that the oil is getting past it, ie the spring is not to heavy in the non return valve. This is easy to check on the later hammers with clear oil lines. It is easy to convert the earlier copper piped hammers to clear lines. 5 min job!

I make this modification to all hammers prior to shipping to customers.

Hope this helps some folks!

There are one or two people in discussion about picking up the USA distribution I know of, be patient and im sure there will be news in a couple of weeks or so.

I will post some pics of the oiler (well, non return valve) mods, and the way I crown the rings off, they are on my works computer, so might be a day or 2 (im pulled out busy at the moment), jobs that pay the mortgage are having to take priority!!!

Ive sold a lot of the 33lb hammers, and I test them all before they go out. some require a warm up , some dont. Air hammers all have an individual 'signature' , and no 2 are identical. I was taught this by time served 'Massey' hammer engineers. It is to do with subtle differences in the casting for the air ways etc inside the machine.

To cut a long story short the ones that take (in my opinion) to long to warm up I relieve the piston rings to reduce the friction area between the rings and the ram bore.

heres a photo of a chunky billet being welded up on the 33lb at Owen Bush (bladesmith) recent sword forge in event in London UK. This is my 'demo' hammer that I lend to forge ins for folks to try!

Hey guys, I sell the little fellas in the UK (thats a link to my site!) The oilers are fine, its the non return valve thats junk. If you take the ball and spring from the cylinder connection, and fit a decent one just above the oiler they work perfectly.

They do take 5 or ten mins to start making full power, if they take any longer than this the ram piston rings are tight in the ram bore. It is a 5 min job to ease them (crown them off) slightly.

The dies should not work loose, Ive never had this problem with them - I keep talking to my customers after they buy from me and its never been reported back. The hammers use an industry standard 1:100 7 degree key arrangement.

I run them all before shipping to my customers in the UK & Ireland and 'iron out' any potential niggles (like the lube system). All in all I think they are a decent little machine (90% of what I do is industrial forging machinery, so know a bit about hammers

feel free to ask me any questions about them - Ill have a shot at answering them !

edit. the page is from my site MasseyAnyang

my main website for hammers is index

one more edit ...... Last week I lent a 33lb anyang to a 'forge in' event in the uk, heres a photo of it in use. FERRUM - Daniel Gentile- powered by SmugMug

The people who used the 33 lb hammer ( aka 'the woodpecker') are posting their thoughts and reviews in this thread on the forum 'britishblades.com' thoughts on the wood pecker ? - British Blades :: Custom Knife Making

disregarding the history of chinese metallurgy, I still maintain there are a billion people there, and a decent percentage of them must be metalworkers. Cast steel makes a nice anvil, and there are many hundreds of thousands of tons of steel poured in china every year (or month, I have no idea of the actual total foundary output, but its vast). They must make a 'block' that is suitable and efficent to forge against with a hand hammer, in bulk, and very cheaply.

On fork tine anvils, the second you haul that to a waterjet cutters, pay the minimum setup fee for the cut (if they will do it, which most wont), haul it back and fabricate it into a working tool you could have bought a very nice 'commercial' traditional style anvil, and had some change. might be good for a novelty item, but commercially not viable for 99.9% of people, IMHO

if I dont post for a couple of months ive joined the 'darwin awards' hall of fame the bus bars are 'open' at one end (cut) - the old DC factory circuits can be funny at times (sometimes go live from an a/c feed accidently let into them) so as a minimum ill deliberatly try to force a short across them to earth, might even get the multimeter out! - its the 40' drop that will make it intersting (dont worry climbing harness!!)

adrenalin - one of the best drugs :)

good link to the calculator matt, thanks. theres 2 of these bus bars so according to the calculator thats