Dillon Sculpture

Rory, The copper is a nice touch, great tip on the plunger. I'm sure they will be very pleased.

This is getting exciting! I cant wait to see what happens next!

As you know its all about control. Walk up to the machine, dies are closed, try to supply just enough air to raise the ram, very difficult. Remedy supply air to the control valve, but where? The middle I am guessing. My biggest question is the linkage of the ram position control, what the hey? If you don't tag it down wont the ram push it back and forth? Thanks, I know there would be only two steam hammers with this set up but I swear I wont start make blacksmith tools, just want to pound big stuff.

Larry your dad has quite a collection! The one I sent you was a 150 hp two cylinder, how bout those smoke rings? Maybe you can post it. They also have a three cylinder, 75 hp each.

I couldn't take more than a 1/2" before I hit the pins that hold it together. Most likely I will jackshaft this motor, I have a 16" sheave, pallet full of bearings, plenty of shaft material, and I know somebody that can weld decent. A 12" on the motor should put me at 160 and if it's not right it wont be hard to change. No 5" billet aluminum laying around, probably would have pounded it out by now. Patrick I bet you have the 500# ram on yours, my dillon scale measured mine at 460 yesterday but I don't know how accurate it is. It measured my weight 40 pounds light and my die billet was 60 pounds off, I'll try again with something different. I have a set of flat dies at 6" x 12" right now, great for tooling! The new ones would be primarily for fast drawing since they are a little narrow to begin with at 4 1/2" x 10". For some reason I just feel more comfortable in front of the machine, seem to have a better view as well. My hammer was built in 29 still has the original beam, I am considering replacing, any thoughts?

Thanks again Grant, Any chance you can catch the Niles posting before it falls of the page? I'm getting ready to tear down an would like to make the adjustments before reinstalling.

Thanks Larry, 5" diameter 9" long, 1 7/8" bore and a 1/2" keyway. This is a leather pulley, stacks of leather donuts riveted together through the ends of the pulley. Patrick, The pulley is a 6 1/2" same as in the literature, hammer speed of 150 to 175. Odd thing is they list your hammer with the same pulleys, same motor speed but a higher hammer speed 175 to 190. I wonder who was writing this stuff? My friend has the 200 we bought and it has a 6" motor 22" hammer pulley and they list it at 225 hammer speed, go figure. WOW! 460 lb. ram, I am going to have to weigh this one of mine, any guesses, maybe 650? I have a 4 1/2" x 6" billet of chromoly I would like to get tested, PM the address? Also what do you think about turning the dies 90 to the dovetail? I am thinking 10" top and 12" bottom total width of the dovetail is 4 1/2". Michael

All right, I would like to try the 5" pulley but is there any suppliers? I looked on Thomas, modern equipment is all I could find. I hate to modify the one I have, anybody have a source for leather pulleys? 5" diameter 9" long 1 7/8" shaft with a 1/2" key

I know its not yours but what is the count on power hammers you have had? I'm at 6, cant wait till Grant chimes in.

You are a hammer moving machine! You going for a 6 month record? I still need to move my steam hammer.

Oh Grant..... Now where did he go....

I will attempt to balance thinking to little and thinking to much. Thanks, Grant

Full load = stomp on the treadle with the hammer at rest, heavy hitting = ramp up slowly to full speed. I assume there is considerable friction loss on the motor pulley hence the slower speed, the belt never truly hooks up 100%. With a smaller pulley dont I run the risk of just smokin the belt?

Welcome fellow Southerner, youall need some help just holler. There is a wealth of knowledge here should be able to find and answer.

If your simple I definitely don't know JACK! Sorry to back up but, I didn't respond to one of your questions (At 150 you can probably get away with the existing 10HP 900 rpm motor. What diameter is the motor pulley and the hammer pulley?) The answer is 6-1/2" and 26" The source of my problem lay in the fact that this motor is spiking over 100 amps under full load, and 40 to 50 amps at a heavy hit! Overloading of the starter which is oversized to begin with. I bought a off the self converter and had a professional electrician wire it. (Again I don't know jack) Maybe I'm jumping to the conclusion that the motor is insufficient? Would I burn the motor at these amps or is the motor so big it can handle the load? Thanks for your help STOCK,

Grant, You seem to come up withe the simplest solution, can you complicate anything? Thanks,

150 to 175 Not sure what you saying, I'm not the brightest bulb...

Rats...time to boost the power, its always somem. Not sure if I'm even going to find a 15 @ 900. You think the 3400 will work on a jack shaft?

From my experience and the literature from Bradley the motor that came with it is under powered, 10 hp 900 rpm. In considering what I have on hand, a 10 hp 1755 rpm, 15 hp 3450 rpm and that my rotary phase converter is not sized for a 15 hp I was considering the 10 hp. The gained torque doesn’t compensate for a reduced hp when loading the hammer? Would a flywheel on the motor help? Thanks for your help.

I understand most of the time the jackshaft is used it is to control the speed, but Is there a mechanical advantage to help the load on a motor, (talking about a 500lb. mechanical hammer with a drive pulley speed of 900 rpm) Anybody running jackshaft on their hammer can you enlighten me?

Rory, Your works visual vocabulary is exceptional and the execution is flawless. How long you been smithing? Who does your design work and do you contribute some of your forging sensibility to your location? Pike must be a beautiful place to live and work. Have any photos of your shop setup?

Is that a Frisco tank?

Only if it includes a Monster truck rally and a tattoo vender.

3200 sq feet and runing outa room fast, moving big blu up the hill soon going to complicate matters further. (Big Blu steam hammer that is) sorry cant add photo, but you seen it before.

NWBA blacksmith 2010 Spring Conference April 23 to 25 Mt Vernon. Any more information?