monstermetal

On a Champion hammer the die runs perpendicular to the guides and the die mass is always in the center of the die (unless the dies are installed out of center on the head)... Unlike a Little Giant... so working on one end of the die or the other has no side load affect on the guides.. only front and back loads which are over much greater surface area... This is one of many reason why I really like the Champion design....

On a 35 lb hammer I would to combo dies for sure although 2 x 3 doesn't sound like much die area I thinks that's pretty big for a hammer that small. Nothing says they have to half and half either you could do 2" of fullering die and 4" of flat

I wont get into the bad stuff... seems pretty well covered... just one additional tid bit.... The fumes produced are caustic to bare steel... I have on many occasions set a plastic bucket out front of my shop to do just as you did.. and the fumes have greatly attacked the piles of metal several feet from the bucket.... Oh and one other thing... don't ever forget and leave anything you care about in the acid to long.... i turned a hard to find chain into a crumbled pile of bits by leaving it overnight on accident....

I cant tell you anything about it other than I saw one that was incomplete and rusted away at a local swap meet..... It was nice to see your pic to get an idea of what it was suppose to look like!

to darn cold to get much work done... I have the weather on my phone and can pick out locations to check... so I put my home town in southern Idaho on there and every time I feel like its to cold to work... I check the temp there... They got up to 9 today, first time its been above five deg this week... low tonight of 7 below though..... Makes the 26 deg in Auburn seem balmy... On a side note.. one bad thing about a big shop with high ceilings.. It never does get warm... I burned 10 ga of propane today through a 200,000 BTU heater and the shop never got above 38 deg...

That is a beautiful old torch... If you decide to part with it id pay you ten times your investment I am not 100% sure but my guess is its from a laboratory or other similar environment. Typically "shop" items where not nickle plated but rather left in raw brass. Not to say everything was like that but more often than not. I would also say that it was most likely natural gas and compressed air at very low pressure.... Again more of a mid heat (less than 1000 deg) heating utensil.... But like I said, that's a guess...

I'll second that Bill! I'll also add that not only is Dave inspiring (I took my first class in Daves shop). He is about as rock solid and good of guy you will ever meet. Dave works his tail off promoting the craft and our local NWBA his wife Andrea is also a full time smith and together make an outstanding team. Glad you stuck your head in brother!

One thing I am a firm believer in is using sanders, not grinders for wire wheel applications... Your typical peanut grinder spins 10,000-12,000 RPM and has no overload protection (the new Milwaukee grinders do have electronic overload so if your using it with a cut off wheel or wire wheel and it gets bound up it will shut down) But Sanders only spin 6000 RPM and many are variable speed. Or Polishers can be even better (if you can find one that is powerful enough) because many times they have triggers that control the speed, rather than a dial. Sanders have soft start typically (they slowly ramp up to speed) and so you can kind of have a variable speed situation by feathering the trigger on and off as needed for your wire wheel... Personally I think its must if you do much wire wheeling. Grinders with wire wheels are a very dangerous thing. I used to work for a crane builder and we would buff big "I" beams with 9" wildcat grinders and 6" cup wire wheels prior to paint... I saw a lot of hamburger made from forearms from guys wearing there flannel shirts with the cuffs unbuttoned.... Anyway next time your in the market for a new wire wheel grinder, try a sander instead... After you do I bet you never go back to a grinder...

I wasn't very specific about the condition it might be returned in.. I just promised to bring it back.... I think the owner will be pleased... Unless that is tomorrow someone comes in and ask if they have a 4 1/2" fine thread bolt tap....

Well.. as for your "how much" question, by the numbers, no... Based on my calculation figuring 65,000 PSI tensile and using a 1" radius on your upper die... it would take 199.2 tons to bend 6" at a 48" spacing on the lower.... How do i know? Well because I cheated and used this calculator there is a formula that you can do the math manually, you might be able to find it in Machinerys handbook It gives tons per foot... so your chunk being square would be half a foot thus 50% of the given answer.... Press Brake Tonnage Calculator — Jorgenson Machine Tools As for how strong the table is... My first Metal Muncher had the table broke in two just under the ram... It was that way when I got it and I have no idea how it happend... I ground it out did a full pen weld and then plated over it with 1" ... never had any other problems, but obviously it is possible to overwork the table

It was a grave yard smash! It caught on in a Flash?

Yeah that is some really great stuff... I visited his web site and his over all style and look of work is outstanding... I really love whimsical ironwork!

The press is 210 ton. Not sure what it would really take but it didn't grunt much. That is one heat and one push and I could have squished it half again more if I would have wanted to. I find knowing when to say when is as important as anything under the press

I have a couple of Makita cordless grinders and use them all the time. One is set up with a 6" cut off disk the other a flap wheel. They are handy for deburring and cutting tack welds. They are not however a substitue for a corded grinder.

I have a oversized 60 ton ( the 18" deep punch station model). Metal muncher. I wish I had a 100 ton. Greatest ironworkers made. Anyway yes I think you need to worry about side loads. I have a 4 foot brake that goes in mine and figure if you keep the part centered it's not too bad. I had a 50 Edwards ironworker that I destoryed by using the punch station to forge with. Put so much strain on the pins and parts that it lost the ability to stay true to punch a hole. The metal muncher is direct force from the ram so that load will all be taken on the rod. If you have guides that will work I would put them to use. I have found that punch press die "sets". The little spring loaded plates the dies go in, are great for cold forming operations. I have a couple for making offsets I use all the time. They are self contained so they are quick to set up and can be bought cheap. I have got several small ones on eBay for Around $20 and found a big one ( 2" top and bottom plates about 15" x 40" with 3" bearing guide pins) for $200 at a local surplus shop..

I have been searching for a big tap to smoosh for some time….. I finally got the owner of Pacific Industrial to let me borrow one that they have had at the counter there for some time. It’s a 4

The Chambersburg is actually on a cart that I use while the hammers are being worked on so I can roll them out and get some elbow room... But yes... both are one peice hammers and I run them on a wood skid unbolted to the floor. My feeling is that you loose a certain amount of performance without having a substantial foundation. Mass under the hammer is important... Previous smaller hammers I made substantial performance gains by adding steel and lead to increase mass in the anvil triangle (everything within a 30 deg pyramid from the lower die) But I have a rented shop and the expense and permanence of having a foundation I don't think offset the performance I would gain for my application... Keep in mind that the Nazel is steel.... Not just steel but 4140 (as per the Nazel literature) The one peice hammers where designed and sold for "light duty" applications where foundations where not practical.. My understanding is most went on Navy ships.. Thats where mine came from.... If someday I can build or buy my own shop I'll pour foundations for the hammers.. But I dont have any concerns about running them without... Now I would not run a Chinese one peice without a foundation... I would worry about busting the base... They claim to be "Semi-steel" I think that's just another way to say low carbon percentage cast iron..... I have worked on several other 300lb range hammers and my 3B does not have quite the blow of a two peice 300lb Chambersberg.. but I have great control... in all fairness The 3B is not really a 300lb hammer either... The ram weighs 265lb and the die around 35... in a Chambersburg the ram is more like 295, the die brings it up in the 330-340 range... As a side note I never really intended to run them unbolted to the floor... I got in a hurry when I moved the 3B once and ran it just sitting on some timbers... I found it rock solid... she stays put.. so I figured what are bolts really going to do? I wold like to find a chunk of 2" plate just bigger than the base of each hammer and bolt that to the underside just to add mass someday... see what that does...

I'll have to measure it, but its not very big... I would guess two feet by 6 feet?

Well Jesse.... Thanks for the kind words on the sportys, They are both my bikes but 90% of the work has been done by my shop mate Joe Cooper.. He is self taught but is hoping to go do a workshop with Fay this spring... I really think he is a talented kid and I have been trying to do everything I can to get him started, including a year and a half in my shop rent free... The deal on the bikes was Id supply the parts and he would do the work and we would split what ever we got... I just got him into his own space and I think he is going to do well... I dont think its a great time to be a no name bike builder but his heart is in it 100% and I think he is willing to do what it takes ... Here are some pics of the Pettingell taken with my phone... I can take some better ones if there is something specific I should be looking for... It came from your back yard... Up in Irwindale... It belonged to a friend of my Dads who wanted to set it up to run with a old single cylinder farm engine... He thought it was a blacksmiths hammer.. Anyway my dad is somewhat a collector of sheetmetal tools (as well as old steam and gas motors other old iron... I'll attach a couple pics of a few of his big tractors and an engine or two) and coughed up enough cash to convince him to part with it... Ive had it for a few years and now that Joe is doing some paying sheetmetal work it might finally get put together... I got a P5 Pullmax earlier this year and between the two I think Joe will have plenty to play with.... I'll see if I can get in touch with Mike on the 4N... It might take a bit to get some pics of it but I'll start working on it... And my name is Larry Lee Langdon but around the local blacksmith group Im just known as "the kid with all the tattoos".. My shop is "Monster Metal" The Monster part originated from the two monsters I have tattoo'ed on the back of my hands... They are there to remind me that If I dont keep them in check, They might just take over... Most people think I ripped the name off from your show.. Which is fine too.... Larry

Nope. But it is contingent on me being able to buy the "other" hammer I got my eye on. If that deal goes away then I won't part with the lil green meanie

Both! She is 5 foot nothing so that gives you a pretty good idea of size

thanks. Yeah the shop is running and working the hammers. The shop is Graham ironworks in Provo. Roger is a talented smith and a nice guy. Both those hammers started life at the Geneva steel mill

Well I can tell the best small grinders made (IMHO). Are the Flex 5" 13amp long handles. They have as big of motor as all 7" and some 9" grinders. They are light weight variable speed and have soft start. I own two and and love them. My next fav is the Milwaukee 5" 12 amp grinders. Out of the 20 or so I own those get the hardest use. Neither of those are cheap. The Flex is around $200 and the Milwaukee $140 but compared to the home owner low amp tools they are really tough and powerful. I spend 10 hours a week with a grinder in my hand so it is important I get the most from them. Best advice I can give is find one that fits your hand well. The switch is easy to use. At least a 4.5 in and at least a 7.5 amp motor

. I resemble that remark! One thing I learned that I find quite funny. If you own 4 hammers... You will always have the right hammer to do the job. But when you have 50 you can spend 20 min looking through them and never find quite the right one...

One thing you need to figure out is what you primarily want to do. A press that is built to forge with is not well suited for most other things. If you want a "shop" press you need tonnage and slow speed, and ram guides are not important... If you want to forge with it you speed is more important than tonnage... If you can only take one bite before the dies suck out all the heat its not an effective way to forge.. and it is really important that there are some kind of good guides to control the die position You said you want to use a porta power pump.... which is 10,000 psi for most systems.... They give alot of tonnage for a small cylinder but they are not designed to work all day and they are slow when you get into the bigger tonnage cylinders... and they are much more expensive than 3000psi systems... as for the sweet spot.... for forging I think you would find with about a 4"-5" cylinder with a pump that will do 8-13 gal/ min is where you want to be I think you will also find that most of the time you will never get over 1500 PSI when forging unless you are doing a real deep detail on something.. many two speed pumps will move that kind of oil with a 5HP motor at 3450 but when you get past like 300psi (any load) they kick down to like 2 or 3 gpm... which is fine.. its the dead stroke that causes problems to get that flow with a single speed pump your going to need 10-15 HP