SGropp

I bought about 1/3 of a ton of mixed sizes and profiles from Skagit River Steel in Burlington , Wa. [1 800 869 7097]my nearest steel supplier. They got it from Ryerson Tull. It was a bit spendy but nice stuff, particularly in 20' stock It's an easy profile to make, particularly in shorter pieces;grind ,forge,or machine the desired profile in a block of steel, ease all edges , mount on a 50- 100# plus hammer , heat appropriate size stock to fill the void and hit with flat top die or tool, repeat .... keep scale out of the die cavity for a clean finish, straighten stock and trim flash ,reject mistakes and make extra while you are at it.

I set the dies on my 25# LG at about an 1'' at the bottom of the stroke. The 100# LG is set at about 1 1/2'' at the bottom of the stroke. This seems to be a good position for drawing and general free hand work on stock up to 1 1/2''. If I have to do a lot of spring swage work, I raise it up a bit. I don't do a lot of top tool work with these hammers other than fullering, side sets, flatters and v-cutters. I use a 90# treadle hammer for most of the slitting, punching ,drifting bobbing etc. operations. The 1 1/2'' setting on the 100# is just right for forging long hollow tapers in pipe from 1/2'' shedule 40 up through 1 1/2'' shedule 160. Drawing diagonally across a set of big combination dies on a 100# hammer running slow and steady gives a long smooth taper without crushing the pipe. Right now I've got the 200# Beaudry set at about 1 1/4'' at the bottom of the stroke with the crank plate adjustment of the crank pin set at maximum throw. This gives the longest swing with the hardest blow. At this setting the dies hit hard at full speed. As I recall this was what Clifton Ralph recommended for a blow of maximum penetraion. Since I got this Beaudry up and running most of the work in the shop has been fabrication or sheet metal work rather than forging ,so I haven't had a lot of opportunity to really use and understand this hammer . The dual options of setting the stroke length at the crank plate and the height of the dies at the spring box give these Beaudry hammers a lot of adjustment. The important thing to remember on the little giant style of hammers is to keep the toggle arms horizontal or slightly up towards the ram while the hammer is at rest. If this adjustment isn't kept, thing go out of whack pretty quickly. This is just my experiance based on 13 years as a full time smith. I've never used any other hammer than the ones I have.

I need to replace the rollers at the end of the spring arms inside the ram of my #7 Beaudry hammer. The hammer runs fine as it is, but the rollers have flat spots from lack of lubrication in the past. My question is to anyone who has made new rollers for one of these machines: What material did you use? and why? and did you heat treat them? Also did you redress the ellipical track insde the ram at the same time? Any idea what the original factory installed rollers were made of? According to the Beaudry literature the ram itself is cast steel and the rollers were a'' hardened alloy steel'' Any help answering this question would be much appreciated. I'm trying to do it right the first time and get maximum performance out of this fine machine, with minimal down time

Thanks for the insight on the advantage of the grease cup. I put the original fitting back on the machine with a grease fitting in the screw on cap to make it easier to pack it with gresae without the risk of contaminating the grease with shop grit. I put a drip oiler on the oil hole on the main bearing so I can be sure that it is getting oil on a regular basis. I did the same with the top bearings of my Little Giants, a close fitting cap over the open bearing resevoirs with a drip oiler feeding a steady flow of oil throughout the day . The drip oilers with a little spring lever that locks the flow adjustment seem to work best in maintaining the flow setting with the pounding vibration of the hammer. Everything else is lubed with oil through the weep holes twice a day. I usually use bar oil or way oil as it stays in longer. If the machine has sat idle for a while I run something thinner through for the first hour to flush out any accumulated dirt. I use kerosene or WD40 on the clutch surfaces of my Little Giants which really improves the smooth take up on the clutch. The clutch surface on the Beaudry is metal on metal. I figure any oil is better than none and oil is easier and cheaper to find than parts for these old machines. I use my hammers hard on a daily basis. They've already served for several generations and with care and maintainance should last for at least several more after I am done. I am constantly amazed at the mechnical ingenuity that the original designers and builders put into thier work. Time will tell if the current generations of new hammers on the market will last as long.

Thanks for the quick response to my spring tension question. As for lubrication, I'm curious if anyone else on this forum owns or has used a Beaudry like mine that was built with the mechanical clutch. I suspect these are relatively rare, I know Beaudry made a lot of changes over the years. My question is; does the clutch need to be oiled like the Little Giant? The only provision for lubrication is a grease cup [now changed to a zerk fitting] to grease the flywheel which is constantly driven by the motor pulley. The flywheel is engaged to the main shaft and crank plate by the movement of the clutch plate. Both the clutch and the brake are controlled through the linkage from the foot treadle; as the treadle is depressed the brake is released and the clutch is engaged, driving the hammer. With everthing properly adjusted ,the action is very smooth and positive. There is a roller on a bracket arm behind the clutch plate that I keep squirting oil on,assuming that is what it needs. I keep everything else well oiled. Does anyone know how Beaudry rated thier hammers? By weight of the ram or the combined weight of the falling parts below the pitman? This hammer seems to hit way more than twice as hard as my 100# LG. I'll try to post a picture of the hammer soon.

I've just finished rebuilding and installing a number 7 Beaudry Champion motor driven hammer. This is a 200# hammer with the original clutch and brake. The hammer hits hard with good control.Among many other things, I relined the brake with some kind of rubberized canvas belt material I had on hand, which seems to provide a good ''grab''. I am looking for some general guidelines for the tension on the spring arms. I have not changed this adjustment since I got the hammer. It hits hard and true as it is, but at some point I plan to replace the rollers in the ram and will need to reset the spring tension. As it is now the tension nut on the left is flush with the outside of the spring box and the one on the right is in about 1/4''. The Beaudry literature says they should be equal and no less than it was recieved from the factory. [?] Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks I have a set of the original Beaudry literature for both the motor driven and belt driven models, complete with parts list. If any other Beaudry owners need a copy,contact me. I also have the original motor and cast motor mount for sale or trade. The motor is an induction motor 3ph,550 volts 850rpm 5 hp about 500 #, comes with original switch