Hi All
A while ago I bought a bêché 75kg hammer. The hammer itself is in good condition, everything is there. It is mounted onto a big steel plate with avarage dimentions of 2,5meter by 1,3meter, 5cm thick.
This big and heavy plate replaces the concrete fundament that is normally used. On the picture you can see that there is a towbar welded to the plate, and in the middle there are two blocks welded to it as well, in which two big heavy wheels of a forklift can be placed, so the entire thing can be moved. The total has a weight of 4 to 5 tons. The way it is set up now it can be used right away, just plug in and work.
My workshop is in an old industrial building, and is made from very thick concrete structures with brick walls. My workshop is in the basement, which has a thick concrete floor.
I was planning on putting the hammer straight onto some 1,5cm thick rubber slabs to ensure even weight distribution on to the basement concrete floor. I hope that, considering the weight and surface of the big plate on which the hammer stands, that this will not cause problems for the concrete, nor will the concrete structure of the building suffer from it.
I was wondering what other, more experienced blacksmiths here think of this plan. Do you expect problems caused by vibrations of the whole? Are there solutions, other than rubber slabs, some kind of vibrant reductions that are commonly used for power hammers? here are some pictures of the exterior of the building and hammer itself, and a picture of a priction press I got recently, where you can see the structure of the ceiling of the building in the background.
Thanks, and have a nice Cristmasday :)
wolkammerij_googleearth.tiff
