monstermetal

Dave are you chasing similar issues with your 3B?

I find it amazing how mysterious hammers are. I have been into enough of them to have a basic understanding and know basic principals but when there is a issue like this I am out of my league. I have read through Mark Krause's book several times, studied the Nazel literature thats available and spent more than a few days trying to get my head around what diverts the air to provide the cushion to keep the ram from stroking from limit to limit under light treadle and cant seem to grasp it. It seems to me that the hammer should do just what its doing, making long strokes in time with the compressor piston. However that's not what happens normally in a correctly running hammer, you get that sweet short tap tap tap stroke which is what I lack

I don't know how you would...

So in the nazel where and how does the air come from that limits the upward stroke? I pulled the cushion tower and ram today to check the ball checks (which are working). The cushion plug is sloppy, maybe .025 when it should be .002 but during light treadle the ram should not be engaging the cushion plug anyway (I am building a new one regardless)

Nope, balance valve in the compresser is tight, holes all clear.

This is a mechanical (air getting someplace it's not suppose to or not getting it someplace its needed) issue. Slowing the hammer down will not change the nature of the blow which is the issue. I should not be getting 15" of ram cycle when trying to maintain light squeezing taps. I have replaced the pinion effectively reducing the speed by 20%, no change in blow reciprocating length, still full travel under minimum treadle

Wow... Mine has never got hot enough you couldn't hold your hand on it...

Yeah... Dont be confused... Renato is a heck of a blacksmith (and a great guy) but this is not a blacksmith tool. These hammers have a very short stroke and a very high cycle rate ( that one is pretty big and I would guess is 1200-1500 blows per minute, the smaller hammers can hit up to 4500 times a minute) The heads are light, 15-20 pounds and the spring has very little "spring" actions, not like a blacksmith hammer. The spring is stiff and the leather belt is where most of the whip action takes place. The spring is there to keep the thing from destroying itself... If you want to build a blacksmith tool look for something else to look at, this will just send you down the wrong path... I should also say that this is a much more expensive tool than a blacksmith hammer... Last I heard Renato got around 20 grand for one of these....

It does look like a pretty nice machine. I always wonder how well the modified linkage hammers work (its all about how good of job was done and how it relates to control) Also that looks like a set of smallish air hammer dies that have been shimmed to fit... Not what I would do as you lose tooling height and you could have a lot larger flat usable area. I dont know that the price is out of line. You can buy a "good" Beaudry for $3500-$4500 that is not turn key and by the time you figure out dies a motor and fiddillybits be into it close to that and not figure anything for your time. I wouldn't pay that kind of money but on the other hand I would want something approaching that if I sold my #9 in turn key condition.

Use them for material. Probably 1045-1050 which makes good thicker section tools. They dont have a ton of value for there intended purpose. The top one is a standard 1 1/4 shank breaker bit which is a $15 item new and the only common tool in the bunch... It looks like the ones below that are "Macho" shanks which will work in a spline drive demo hammer. That is a common shank for rental company's but the coski style replacement ends are obsolete. The clay spades with the Macho shank you might ask a rental outfit. They are pretty spendy new ($40-50 ea) and might be worth trying to peddle

I am self taught and happen to agree with your opinion. Unfortunately my professional career got in the way of an apprenticeship and now it simply is not an option (although I would love to spend several years working with a master smith) By the time I realized I really should work with someone skilled for an extended period I had already been running my own successful shop for years and it seems pretty silly to say you should close up a shop that's doing a few hundred grand a year worth of work to go learn the fundamentals. I do tell every aspiring blacksmith who asks that my biggest regret was not seeking out a master to learn from early on and that If I had it to do over that's exactly what I would do. Self taught is not a death sentence, it is just adds decades to the learning curve.

Beautiful. I always think its strange what constitutes "heavy" in a persons mind and its all relative. My perspective is a bit skued. My "light" table is 3500 pounds, the "heavy" being over 8000 and I know of shops that my "heavy" table would be smaller than there lightest light table. I was At shop once that had a cast iron table that was 30' x 5' and 12" thick... Forman said it weighed 70,000 pounds, it had its own foundation ;-). Since then I always smile to myself when someone claims to have a "heavy" fab table... Sorry for the silliness, fantastic looking work station that is sure to improve your life.

Well.... As a blacksmith with hands tough enough to hold red steel with only minor discomfort I just reach in the pan and turn my bacon with bare fingers... But for lesser souls I suppose they need an implement which to fondle there food.. :-) Clever idea...

I gave up reading about half way down so I have no idea what has been covered... My solution for "adjustable" kiss blocks is I built a holder I can slide a chunk or chunks of 2" wide flat bar in and secure with a welded on bridge clamp.... Its got a 2" wide groove so the shim bits dont move around.... That holder drops in my die saddle.... I know a picture would be better but its just like a normal kiss block with a sq shank to drop in the die saddle but I can quickly slid anything 2" wide in there and use it as a kiss block... I have a pile of parts... 1/16, 1/8/ 1/4 and I can mix and match to stack them up to get what ever thickness I want...

Yeah "Air Hammer" is a pretty broad term.. Technically a Nazel is a Electro-pneumatic air hammer.... A steam or converted hammer as long as its got lots of oil I dont think water would hurt a bit but I dont think that is what he is asking.... On a utility air hammer that uses a pneumatic cylinder and pneumatic valves I would sure bet you would want to keep the water out... Water does not compress and I would guess would make everything sluggish and gooky when mixed with oil... John is the expert... ( Sorry John, I was talking about the other John but your a smart fella too) His comment about cold weather and stuff freezing makes sense to me

No, It means I would like to get the hammer running after spending 15 thousand bucks trying to bring it to life, especially since it cant come to my home shop... I am trying to figure out what I am doing and making plans assuming that this spring I will have to move... If things improve I'll stay in the shop

Well my shop is just over 80 ft X 80 f about 6500 SQ/FT And it is too small. I also have about a half acre of outside fenced storage two 40 ft containers and a 20 footer all buried with stuff I dont have room for anything, I really need less stuff, not more space but still as it is I dont have any room

Nice score...

The ram repair, swapping compressor pistons, shimming the guides, foundation, dies.... Pretty much done... Now that the thing moves under its own power I am trying to dial it in. If you have run a air hammer you know that the stroke of the ram is relatively short and it goes higher and lower while cycling in that short range... Well for some reason I am getting full strokes of like a foot rather than 4" no matter where I am in the cycle.... Its got to be a valve issue but I dont know what to look for. I have pulled the bottom valve, checked the timing marks under the check valve.... Not sure where to go from here.... As it is there is no fine control... you come down to the work and you cant tap tap tap.. just hit hard... Any ideas?

So have you done any work yet or you just going to stand around and look at them awhile...

There is no oil on that compressor piston... It should have a film of oil... Are you sure its getting oil? That is first thing to verify

Man I would say thats way too cool to turn into a forge... Nice find

Yikes.... I guess if you could buy it for $1000 and use the frame to build a "real" hammer?

The short answer is yes they ave concave and the real issue is getting them to match the profile of the roller... And to keep the rollers turning so they dont make groves in the ram...

We need a bit more info... I have my doubts that any press that is under 600 bucks will be fast enough to be a "good" forging press....