nonjic

I have seen the buffer cylinders (buffer pistons) on quite a lot of hammers. They tend to be fitted to 'stamping' closed die hammers, as once you are off the foot treadle and onto the trimming press the ram is going to reciprocate back up to the top on its own.

I have seen them on 'Erie' , Chambesburg, Huta Zygmundt, various Russian & Massey closed die hammers. I can only recall seeing them on Erie open die hammers.

Don't half make a clang when you smack the ram piston into them! Basically they are just a deep disk with piston rings round the diameter, and a smaller diameter that the other piston head smacks into. Sometimes they are seated on a cone face. The ones ive experience of have a permanent feed of air to them from the top.

Ive got a video on my phone of a 6000lb erie open die we rebuilt 'topping out' into the buffer - Ill throw it onto youtube later when I get a chance.

My thoughts are if you go to the effort of having a big mass of concrete, the hammer has got to be very firmly tied to it, or you may as well not bother !

Ive seen them throw the dipstick ! It should be a pretty tight fit in the filler cap (earlier hammers did not have the stick at all)

Ive seen lots of CSPH's with a modification to hold it in place (screw and tab, or whatever)

The treadle guards can be a real compromise. They were a retrofit to earlier hammers, then become standards, after a 'slip squish' accident. I find them to be quite handy for dropping tooling on, most people take them off !

 Very neat job ! seems odd not to cast the anchor bolts into it though.

10 out of 10 for effort..........................

Ive got a 6000lb & 4000lb Erie in the shop ;)

John L - when I get a bit of slack at work I will scan the technical documents on how a Clear Space hammer works and shoot it across to you. I was first introduced to them 22 years ago, and to be honest Ive only got a shallow knowledge of the actual working of the valving, its very complicated, Still a lot of head scratching at times ! *

Phil is right on the money - A CSPH has an internal resovoir at about 40 psi that the compressor piston pumps up. This is used for the single blow operation. The earlier 'slides' hammers can do a single blow like in the vid above, but it has no 'whump' behind it !

* I can diagnose, fix, build and troubleshoot them, but the actual air workings are still a bit of a mystery sometimes!

Here ya go John L !

Shot a slightly clearer vid showing the single blow (steam hammer'esq) control on a 3 cwt we have just overhauled. Cant give it a proper bump up and down in auto working as it is barely pinned to the deck, and the 'anvil' is just a loose block !

The main thing I think we can take from this video is that I need a haircut, and could smile more :D

Hi John L !

Im devoting my energies to putting together a 'medium heavy' machine shop to assist with the forging machinery rebuilds, heres a sneaky peak for you ! :D

Well maintained they do go on for ever, which is a pita when you sell parts for them!

6' of packing tape if the box is worn, a valve disc occasionally and that's it !

Ive seen them do 50 years as 'dummy' hammers (pre form hammers) in drop forges and still work OK - they tend to go full pelt, all day when used like this.

There were lots of little subtleties in their construction that you would never know about. Cylinder material has a smidge of Nickel in the CI for example. Radi on the rams were hand mopped with compound and felt to remove stress raisers, I could go on for ages about it ! Im leaning all this from the old timers, and putting it into practice when we make spares (for the ones that haven't been maintained!!)

If I forge a rhomboid on the power hammer I just forge it back square by working a bit more biased on the corners.

When doing complex patternwelded stuff that has to be square for the next step of welding you find a way to make it right!

Ive heard a coupe of people say that spring hammers with loose guides are more likely to forge a diamond instead of a square as the top die has a slight 'see-saw' side to side motion.

Great work Phil - I never cease to be amazed what can be knocked out under a simple, smallish hammer, with flat dies in it and a bit of tooling and a lot of experience!

A piece of Fabreeka pad would be ideal !

shes a cutie !

Has anyone definitively worked out what the little square hole through the casting is for yet ?

Ive had similar when pattern welding every now and again ! just the metal reminding you to respect :)

I was tempted! Just not got the time to sort the logistics of getting it from the south coast to the north of Blighty !

Truth be told if I had bought it, it would have remained an ornament, prolly painted up nice on the way into the industrial estate..... If it was a Massey Rigby (not a Rigby Ross) that could well have been its fate!

Ill put up some pics of the 25 cwt Massey Rigby I stumbled across last week, when I get chance. Like new, really. That one is destined for a stay with me before I find her a home where she will get some work done, nothing sadder than a dusty hammer.

now that's achingly pretty :)

Could it be originally designed for raising dished ends ?

lots of places have sacked the maintenance to save money, and only call you in when something stops working altogether. To big a subject to get into.....

Its never my decision to fix, or not. That is the decision of the machines owners.

It is difficult when you can see the machines owner thinks you are 'scaremongering' to get work when you tell them what needs doing.

I spose what I am saying is 'dont ignore the knocks' !

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/crushed-legs-firm-fined-1-1024487

Hi Alan! I have seen hammers running with 1/2" clearance in the con-rod bearings and 'maintenance' teams that think its ok, 'just knocking a bit' ! A 40 cwt in a forge I worked in, (in the UK), was run in this condition. Great untill it threw the rod, which took off a balance weight from the crank, which took off the drivers legs.

Guess ive just seen the '**** it, it will be OK' attitude go wrong to many times now :) (getting old ?!!)

Not selling any small hammers still, most of our work at the moment is spares and break down repair work on large eccentric shaft type forging presses. TBH I forgot about the BABA ad !

I would have very grave reservations about someone who suggests 1/2" clearance is acceptable in crank bearings. Ive seen them knock the big end bolts loose, and throw the conn rod with much less clearance than than from the cyclical hammering.

what a nice simple idea !

With the current workload the refurb is going to take a very long time !!

Realistically it would be nice to get her running by Christmas,. we shall see :D

Late '60's / early '70's at a guess from the serial number. Quite a new one as these things go!

A bit of video of it not doing what it should be doing and Ill have a guess at the problem. Its usually (in order) air leak from stuffing box, sticking or broken valve discs or springs, or the most worrying one, someone has tried to 'fix it' and monkeyed about with everything :)  

Ive found the 2 piece hammers (separate anvil) to be much quieter than a one piece machine. The noise is more of a thud than a 'crack' when they strike a blow (which is much less offensive) Lots of concrete under it.

You can fit an exhaust silencer to a C-41 hammer. Block off the port behind the flywheel with some sponge or somthing, make a steel side cover with a 2" hole in it, and weld a 90deg elbow, short stack, and a truck exhaust to it. This will remove 99% of the idling noise.

I think angle grinder noise etc will be as much of a problem as a well set up, heavy hammer.