Astro_Al

Owen, for what its worth they have some at presstrade in Germany - might be worth asking for a price, they are much closer. Cheers, Al.

GNJC - I can recommend Sandawana Castings Ltd near Oxford. They are doing some bits for me as we speak (type). Last time I was there, one of the guys showed me around the plant. They're not fussed about doing small batches or one-offs for sensible money.. Why forge the mould? Just get a lump of wood and sand / carve / grind it out to shape. Smooth it off conscientiously afterwards, possibly using a resin or filler, and you're good to go. Shrinkage isn't an issue as you can either factor it in when you make the pattern (do it slightly oversize), or just accept what comes out of the foundry, since it is arbitrary anyway. Good luck, Al.

Just buy a ring roller (also known as section bender). I have a BPR bender, sold under the name Eagle in the States. Look up Trick-tools / van-sant Ent - they sell them over there. Good quality machines. There are plenty of good makes out there, Italian or Scandanavian seem to be best - Roundo, Ercolina etc etc. there are also plenty of Chinese copies which I would try to avoid. You can roll a complete length of stock into a spiral of the right diameter, then just cut them all apart for an easy way to make a lot of rings. Cheers, Al.

I agree - find something, somewhere that'll give you some experience before you commit to something you are guessing you'll like. Don't try building a forge until you know what you need and why you need it. Best of luck, Al.

Yup, that's her. Was about 3/4 done when I saw it - came out great! I should pop round and see what she's up to now... Al.

John - who did the head? I think I saw that half finished when I was buying a tool from someone in my village... Al.

Hi guys, I am making something in mild steel and I'd like to rivet it together using aluminium bronze, or some other alloy (strength requirement is negligible). The item is to be situated outdoors. I'd like to galvanize and paint the majority of it (the mild steel shapes) and leave the rivets in their natural finish. How can this be done without either damaging the paint / coating on the mild steel or ending up with paint all over the rivet heads...? Any help much appreciated. Al.

Kyra, as far as advice goes, I think you need to do some forging before you know if its really what you want to do. Why not try a weekend taster course or something? Try to find any opportunity to give it a go. Secondly, try to set up a forge in a shed or wherever you can - it needn't be big, and can be done cheaply. There are a million things you can do by yourself to get into it - the net has more info than you could ever read, just start bashing and start asking questions! I'm just up near Winchester. If you start trying to put a forge together, let me know, I have a spare leg vice that is sitting around. You can come and pick it up for nothing if you're passing. (Quite a small one, but its a start). Good luck, Al.

Thanks guys. Yes Dave, exactly right. Although I've been looking for quite a while now and I really need to find something. The price is ok on it, but even with some negotiation its not exactly a steal. I'd rather put it into a larger hammer - it may be fast at drawing down smallish stock, but it can't cope with the variety of materials I want to work. It is located in the south of England, if anyone is interested, let me know. Cheers, Al.

So tell him. I can't get a reply out of him. Maybe he's on holiday, or busy. Al.

Thanks guys. So it is similar in operation to a little giant, for example? I was using a Sahinler 50kg hammer the other day and thinking how I wouldn't want anything much smaller... I probably better pass I think. Interesting hammer though. Cheers, Al.

Hi guys, as my quest for a powerhammer continues, I have been offered this hammer. I'm told it is a 1/2 cwt Massey hammer, running on 3 phase - that's all I know. I can't find any info on the net about them - I didn't even know Massey ever made mechanical hammers. Has anyone got any experience of these - any info on how they perform? I was anticipating finding a 1 or 2 cwt pneumatic hammer somewhere & that is all I have experience of - is this hammer a big step backwards? Any info much appreciated! Al.

You can make a giant sieve for your coal from an old oil drum and a bit of steel mesh or punched sheet in the top - load a bag in, jiggle it about and voila - dust-free coal. Al.

Hi guys, I was wondering how you commercial smiths represent you ideas to customers graphically? My drawing skills aren't so great, and I think it lets down the impression I make in the preliminary stages of a project. I find it hard to get onto paper what I have in my head - its always hand drawn sketches, I find it especially hard to show texture or details of shape - such as out-of-plane shaping, joining methods (rivets etc), and generally how it will look when finished. What do you all use to show what you mean, and how did you get better at it? What works and what did not work in your experience? Many thanks, Al.

Wow - not sure how I missed it on ebay, still, sounds like it found the right owner in the end. You think? I find it much easier to find hammer in the USA than here... Good luck with it. Al.

Very nice! I don't know how you find them, I've been looking for aaaaages and I can't find anything for reasonable money. Want to give me any tips on sourcing these good quality hammers??? I'm only an hour away - got anything else you need rid of?! Enjoy it! Al.

I don't know about youngdylan's - hoping he'll post up with what he did. Matt - haven't seen the ka150, is that made by the same guys as the ka75 (no reference to it on their page?). Cheers, Al.

Hmm, that's what I suspected Monstermetal. Could you flesh out your response a little in terms of situation, size of bearings etc & how long they lasted? So you would suggest using a bronze alloy or plastic-based solid bearing surface instead? I wasn't sure about the dimensional accuracy of cold rolled stock (in terms of running against a bearing surface) - if I don't need to find some ground & hardened bar stock that'll help considerably. Macbruce - I suppose there will be non-axial loads on the bearings due to the off-axis location of the ram in these machines. Cheers, Al.

Hi guys, I'm just waiting for a Massey to become available, but need something 'small' in the meantime. I've been looking at the KA75 and figure it'd do just fine for what I need. I need something I can stick together fast & easily. Being in the UK, I'm not going to buy one. So I looked for threads of similar builds. All I could find was one (very nice) completed hammer (by Youngdylan) and an idea for a hammer by Sam Salvatori(? - sorry, can't remember exactly). Does anyone know of any similar builds / threads I can find info in? I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been imitated more often. My over-simplified idea is a 7" solid round column and a single ram, double acting. I know it means more air, but that's not a serious issue. Any benefit in running the raising stroke of the ram at lower pressure to save air, or not worth the bother? My only other real quandry is the guides - I take it regular linear bearings would last about 30 seconds in this application? So what is the best alternative - bronze bushings and ground / hardened bar for the guides? Thanks for any pointers, I just need to throw this together over the next few weeks for a job starting in April - simple is good. Cheers, Al. P.S. - how do I find the threads I'm 'watching'???

Guys, thanks a lot. I really appreciate the great ideas / info you guys are putting my way. Just to pad out the description / situation a bit; this is for a 'group' to which I belong, and have done for nearly 20 years. I'm more than happy to give my time and effort for free. We figured on around £10 per medal just to cover some kind of metal disc (not a precious metal!) and maybe a surface treatment. I'm not doing this to make any money, it is to help out a group to which I belong. I can get steel blank discs in inch / half-inch sizes very cheaply, so I figure 3" will be about right for a typical medal (the type you hang on a ribbon around someone's neck). I'll just stamp a simple logo type design into the centre, and maybe separately do some kind of texture / pattern around the edge. Hopefully my press has the horsepower for that (frame built for 60 tonnes, current ram good for about 20, but I can always upgrade it). John - I agree that ali and anodizing is the obvious choice, but it feels cheap when the disc is too lightweight. I'd love it to have a more 'quality' feel from having more mass. Can you anodize any heavier metals? I know its fussy, but I have a while to figure this out, so I'd like to investigate all the avenues... The obvious thing would be to use steel discs and an equivalent surface treatment. There is a place nearby that does zinc passivation (typically 'gold', but its not exactly smooth). The engraving idea is good - just pattern the front, and custom engrave the backs or a void on the front or something. I've seen pantograph engravers on ebay, but no idea how they work...! If they rely on steady-freehand operation, I'm screwed! I guess what I need is a site or list with all the various metals / surface treatments / colour options and how hard-wearing they all are. I don't want these to deteriorate as I'll still be in touch with the recipients! Thanks Thomas - I'll check out that link. Thanks for people's suggestions of sources of metals etc, but I'm in the UK. Cheers, Al.

Thanks for the inputs guys. Thats basically what I thought. I had planned to spend a decent amount of time making the dies, then just cut discs on the bandsaw (or out of sheet), throw them in the forge then squeeze them in the dies on the hydraulic press. I may need to do a batch annually, so I could keep the front decorative die constant and change the rear face one which would be pain except for some script giving the event / date / position info, each time. I wondered about doing them all in regular steel then having them surface treated to 'colour' them appropriately, but I like the idea of different materials. I'd need to be sure that with plenty of sweaty fingers on them etc they didn't start oxidising though - especially the copper... Big foot - I know what you mean about the charm of old coins, but I fear if I don't reproduce these accurately, people won't 'get it' and it'll just look like I've messed some of them up. John - the logo is yet to be decided, as it the shape and size (roughly 3 to 4 inch and round-ish). I figure the challenge is getting the different colours in a way that won't 'wear out' and with an efficiently repeatable technique. Its not for the olympics or anything, so I need to keep the cost to an absolute minimum. Cheers, Al.

I have been asked if I can forge some medals - about 60 in all, mostly in the usual gold / silver / bronze categories, plus a few others. The budget is very small (its basically a favour, with a bit of materials money thrown in). Has anyone ever seen/made a hand forged medal? What would you use to differentiate the gold / silver / bronze, given that those materials are way off the scale? There is about £10 or $20 per item. Interested to hear people's thoughts. Cheers, Al.

Hi, I'm in the same situation. What changed the quote? Was it the presence / lack of oxy-fuel kit? That normally doubles the quote in my experience (limited). What exactly does that cover? Is your shop insured against theft too? Did they want to come and inspect it? I had a guy from NFU come over to quote, but they want to insure your everything - car, house, workshop, life & underpant elastic or nothing at all. So that was a no-go. Cheers, Al.

Right, I'm back on this again. I have the press torn down to its constituent parts, after no small amount of heat & slugging with a sledgehammer (got to love scrapyards who keep nice old tool out in the rain). So, it all looks pretty straightforward - most of the work has been done for me. I have a couple of questions at this point: 1. The part which slides up and down has an odd flat plate integrated into it (see pic) - which I will cut off. I need to know how long to make this piece. For that I need to know when the top tool should strike the stock in terms of the pneumatic ram's travel. I know it depends on the stock being worked, but a guide would be good. Is the best bet to get the top and bottom tools to 'strike' (interfere) at about 90% of the ram extension? If not, what do people use and why? Presumably I want the strike at the point of max velocity (kinetic energy being proportional to the square of the velocity). 2. Again in the pic above you can see this odd press had a kind of Massey Clearspace hammer approach - a hole in the base for the 'anvil' to sit. So any inputs on how people would make the anvil / lower die mount? I'll have to raise it up on a frame / 'table'. I have some 10" x 10" I-beam sitting outside, so I could make a vertical support for the anvil from that down to the ground. Can I use a flat plate with the press sitting on it as an anvil? How much of the presses weight in this case would be considered 'anvil mass'? Half? the tup will weigh about 100lbs when cut down to size. The whole press is a tonne. 3. Given the fairly large flat plate style base, how far above that surface would people have the top surface of the lower die/tool? I guess for access having it raised up is going to be a good thing. 4. What are your opinions on the wear to the slides using this as a powerhammer? Its going to be a lot busier than in use as a flypress, should I line the ways with something to take the sliding wear? How about lubrication for these surfaces? Drill through for a grease nipple? I can see the ways have a groove 'cut' into them - looks like a kid did it with a crayon. Thanks for any input. Getting excited about this now, and I think I may need it soon... Looking at this thing, I'm quite surprised no-one has started selling a kit of parts to convert a flypress into a (small) powerhammer - it's basically just the ram, tooling mounts and pneumatic components you need. Cheers, Al.

Great job! Looks like you saved yourself quite a few bucks. Will you make more former as and when you need them? As for mounting it - it'll have to be fixed to whatever your heaviest object is. Would it be possible to brace the workbench to a wall to stop it shifting? Cheers, Al.