SGropp

Go legit and above board all the way, licensed, bonded, insured , resale certificate , the whole thing. Charge fairly ,at the going rate, pay your taxes or get out.

Hey Grant , Thank for the heads up on the fly press counterweight. I just rigged one up on my #6 press and it is nice that the ram stays put where I leave it. Definitely much easier on the up swing as well, which is where the most of the effort is anyway. I'm not sure how much the counterweight is, but it is quite a bit. I welded an end on a 16" length of 10" pipe, made a chain bridle to hang it from and filled it up with steel punchings and trimmings from the ironworker. I haven't put it to the test yet for forging, but I've got about 100 railing pickets that need two exactly located hot countersinks bobbed in. This is a job perfectly suited to a fly press, with both the depth stop and an end stop to locate the countersinks. Another modification I've made to my press is a longer handle with a rolling grip. The handle screws into the flywheel and hangs down even with the bottom of ram. This puts your operating hand lower at an easier work position, which makes a difference on production work. The rolling grip is a piece of 1"iron pipe slid over the 1" solid rod handle with a washer welded on the bottom to hold it place. An occasional drop of oil down the pipe keeps it rolling smoothly.

There's been a lot of discussion on making your own flypress across the street at anvilfire.com. The general consensus was that there was actually a lot more to it than a frame and a big threaded rod and a frame . The thread form of the screw is pretty specific both for speed and power. The frame and screw must be very strong and yet sufficiently elastic to absorb the very high pressure spike generated. Flypressses seem deceptively simple, but are actually quite sophisticated in how they work and the amount of power that can be generated.

It looks like it's got the metal on metal clutch. This is the same clutch style my 100#LG has although the hammer advertised is about 65 years younger. It does give a nice smooth action as long as you keep it wet with some light lubricant like kerosene or WD40 .

My guess is that the long guide bolts were to attach a cage guard around the front of the hammer. If this was coming out of a modern shop with employees , [subject to inspections] that would have been required by OSHA. Looks like a nice hammer ,well set up.

I bought 2 brand new 48'' x12'' cone mandrels with tong slots from Laurel Machine and Foundry in Laurel, Miss. Shipped to NW Wash. the pair came to about $1100 about 10 years ago. The cones were really beautifully cast ductile iron with a nice rim around the base to fasten it down with. Pretty handy tool, not just for truing up rings but also for the wide variety of curves available. The tip of the cane also makes a handy bucking iron for backing rivets on deep enclosed work. I'm not sure if they are still in business, Laurel also made some nice cast anvils , firepots and hand mandrels

So how did this hammer end up in it's present location anyway ? Did the former owner move it to this rather out of the way site with big plans in mind that never quite materialized ? How did they move it there ? None of this big stuff moves quickly or easily so there's got to be an interesting story behind it.

Post some photos of the hammers from different angles to give a sense of their condition.Then you might get some advice on what they are worth. Beaudry hammers are considered by many to be the Cadillacs of mechanical hammers. If the price is right and the condition is good and/ or rebuildable, then you should have no trouble selling them here. I think the #8 is a 250 lb hammer and the # 12 is a 500 lb hammer.

Post some pictures of the lifting and moving if you can , This is history in action. Good Luck!

Hmmm, cutting a 5'x8' hole through a triple thick concrete slab poured 80+ years ago. That sounds like fun !

Jim , don't quote me on the weight, that was just a guess, but it's probably pretty close. Andys' old 50# Little Giant ended up as a mooring for the Indian Point dock . His son found it and raised it after 30 + years underwater. It was just the frame and lower die, however. I'd inherited the shaft, flywheel, clutch spider and bronze pitman and they're with the hammer now .Although there are stilll a lot of parts missing, maybe that hammer will work again someday.

Jim, My guess that the Champion #0 weighs about 800- 100#, maybe on the lower side in that the motor and drive are separate.

Hey, thanks for doing your part in saving this beauty from the scrap heap. Once these old machines are gone for , they're gone for good. It will be interesting to see where this ends up. Do you know any of the history of this hammer ? From the photos it doesn't look like it was presently in an industrial setting.

Hey Jim @ Northbayforge, Glad the hammer deal is working out for you. I've got combo dies on my 25 and 100# hammers and love 'em. I occasionally put different styles of dies on the hammers but those are usually back in for general work. I've also got a set of new combo [1/2 and 1/2 ] dies for my 200# but have never put them in , keeping flats in for swaging and top tool work The combo dies on my 25# LG are 2''x4 ''with about 1 3/4'' fullering on the left and 2 1/4 '' flat to the right . The drawing portion is pretty sharp, about 3/4'' wide with a fairly flat top with radiused edges. The flat part of the die has a generous radius [ about 1/4''] These dies are good for quick drawing and getting close up to a necked portion on a piece. The flats are good for smoothing out and are big enough for some light top tool work although I don't use much tooling under that little hammer. On the 100# LG I have a set of custom 3''x7'' combos with 3'' of drawing to the left and the rest flat, all well radiused. The drawing portion is to the left [open side] of the hammer so I can come in from the side to spread the work. With this proportion of drawing to flat , there is a big enough flat section dead center for using clapper tooling. In both of these sets of dies, the die is straight in plane across the top, side to side so work can be straightened across the length of the dies. Smoothing tapers diagonally across a set of combo dies, with the fatter end of the piece at the left [ drawing side ] works really well . This goes quick after you chew it down rough straight in on the drawing side. Some people say that combo dies put a lot of lopsided wear on the guides, this is probabily true to an extant, although I haven't seen it on my hammers. Mine are old style with the wrap around guides .The guide set up on the Champion is even better in that respect. Even so, I try to keep the work as close to center in the dies as possible. Good luck on getting your new baby across the Channel.

So is the fact that you can basically cut the rail by scoring and snapping supposed to make me feel better when I watch those long trainloads of liquefied propane or chlorine gas rolling through town?

I'm trying to imagine how loud a 3B would be ,that was bolted [presumably] to a steel deck ,inside a steel ship.

Monstermetal, Are your big hammers just sitting on wood cribbing, unbolted to the floor? Is there a separate foundation for the hammers ? How's that all work out ?

If you can provide accurate measurements of your sow block and ram dovetails , either Sid at Little Giant or Bob Bergmam at Postville Blacksmith Shop can machine and heat treat new dies for your hammer at a fair price. I've had good luck from both places.

The top and bottom dovetails on my Beaudry #7 have a 1/8" per foot taper in the ram and sowblock. The dovetails in the dies themselves are parallel . Both keys drive in from left to right [ facing the the front of the hammer ]

That's a stout looking press. The guides look like they can be adjusted to take up any wear. The lack of as stop nut on the screw is a disadvantage as the ability to press to a predetermined depth is on of the great advantages of a flypress. It looks as if the position of the operating handle can only be adjusted by removing it from the top of the screw and resetting to a different position, rather an inconvenience if you do a broad range of work. This looks as if this was set up to do one type of production operation. I would guess that you could safely remove the long bolt for all but the heaviest work. As others have said, check carefully for hidden cracks or damage . I wouldn't hesitate to offer at least $500 or more for it. The stand is worth something in itself. Bolt it down solid or it will walk whenever the tool bottoms out. Wear a hard hat and watch out for that heavy ball when it comes round.

I've read that towards the end of the war, the Germans were adding sulfur to their steel to speed up the machining of armaments. This had catastrophic consequences when they invaded Russia . They had terrible problems with equipment cracking in the extreme cold of the Russian front.

Wow ! nice shop. What do you make mostly ? Ignore the previous post ,I can't seem to figure out how to insert an image

How's this for a couple of forged ''hockey pucks''

Oh boy ! Can we all come over and play hockey in your 10,000 sq.ft. shop ?

If you're a professional, the right tools make money and the better and more expensive ones make more money in return faster. The way the tax system is set up [ at least in the US ] there is the real incentive to reinvest profits in tooling and equipment, both as a means to increase productivity or expand capability and as a deduction from income instead of paying more taxes. As I read it there is no way to write off ones labor in designing, building ,repairing or upgrading equipment in house. The material and parts ,yes but not your own labor. Is this correct? I'm wondering from the point of view as a sole proprietor of a corporation. I make a lot of my own tooling, but if it is available it is usually more economical to buy it outright and use it on the paying jobs. Blacksmiths are noted for spending half a day to make a tool that will save them a few minutes. Frequently, that is just the way it has to be to get what you need to make what you want.