KjZitur

This is one way of doing tenons. 3 stage tool to forge tenon and upset with a monkey tool in a zip gun and finish with monkey tool by hand........it's an old video but it might give you some ideas... tenon.wmv

The belt I am running is the old reinforced smooth rubber belt that was on the hammer when I got it. I also tried a solid rubber belting that I picked up at the local Mill's Fleet store. One side is smooth and the other side is a "raised" pattern. The side with the pattern would not slip at all and the smooth side would work until things warmed up and then it would squeak like crazy!

make yourself a tumbler. I made one out of a scrap 250gal propane tank but I have seen them made from an old cement mixer . Tumbling takes of all the millscale off and eases the edges a little and leaves a somewhat texured finish.

. The boxcar spring I got from a neighbors scrap pile. It is about 8" long, outside diameter is 5-3/4" and is made from 1-3/16" wire.

. Here are some pix of the toggle arms and linkage. The toggle arms were forged and fabricated out of 1" x 4" bar stock and some DOM tubing. Welded with some 7018 and normalized. The toggle links are grade 8 bolts with DOM tubing welded on the end and the extra link on the end is 1" x 1-1/2 cold rolled. If I missed anything let me know!

I will see what I can put together for some dimensions and such and get some close up pix of the toggle links and toggle arms. As for the VFD I bought it used from a place in the Twin Cities (Phil Azow 952.495.8199 ) and there is also a place here in St. Cloud that sell used VFD's. (Electric Motor Service)..............ken

I run my 150 in the 220'ish bpm for most of the things I work on but sometimes crank it up to the 250-260 speed on heavier material where I am not using top tooling.

I originally bought this hammer to forge bale spears for a local manufacturer of aftermarket bobcat equipment. The small spears are made from 1-1/2”round x 30” (1045) with a 4-1/2” taper and the large ones are made from 2” round x 40” (1045) with a 16-1/2” taper and are used in an attachment for moving big round bales of hay. The Fairbanks in its original state was taking way too long to forge out these tapers, it didn’t seem to hit as hard as I thought a 150lb. hammer should hit. One night I called Clifton Ralph to see if he could offer any suggestions and he said that the Fairbanks was a good hammer but that they were too choked up. That started me on my quest to improve my hammer. I don’t remember what the forging time was in the beginning, but after I made those changes I could forge the 4-1/2” taper in the 1-1/2” rd in 22 seconds and the 16-1/2” taper on the 2” rd took about 90 seconds (one heat).

This is a video of some of the changes I made to my 150lb Fairbanks Hammer. Made the hammer hit harder and more user friendly when using top tools.

Here is a video of a little demo I did at our Central Minnesota Blacksmith's meeting this last weekend.....

my hammer has a 12" stroke but I believe the linkage can be adjust to run a cylinder with a 10" to 14" stroke. I am currently testing it on a 10" stroke cylinder...

here is my KZ100 Power Hammer in treadle hammer mode.........

Thank you for the compliment Grant and yes, the control is 100% with the motion valve. And yes, I have watched or should I say have studied this video(actually most if not all of your video's) a least a few dozen times!!

I thought I would answer a few questions about this valving system. First, this IS steam hammer valving. The linkage you see on my hammer is a scaled down and somewhat modified version of systems used on steam hammers. As you can see in this link http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:A_Dampfhammer_uf.jpg it shows a steam hammer with a rod connecting the head and the linkage. I did not find too many hammers set up this way! Most had the a sword or wiper contacting a roller to actuate the linkage. I did make a sword style linkage for my hammer but found it not as adaptable the the frame style of my hammer. I got the linkage to function on my hammer but it seemed more complicated than what you see on my hammer now. The linkage is connected to a single valve which directs the air flow much like you would find on a steam hammer. As far as operating as a treadle hammer all I have to do is slide the adjusting lever in toward the pivot point and the head will follow the treadle. By this I mean that if you step on the treadle half way the head will go down half way. Let the treadle up a little and the head goes up a little. If you push down on the treadle slowly the head comes down slowly. You can also achieve either soft or hard blows with a little practice. To answer the question about the laminated anvil, I don't seem to have any problems with it. As Grant pointed out it is banded and capped. It really can't go anywhere. And it is a lot easier to find 1x10 or 1x12 flat than it is to find a large piece of square stock. Yes, the linkage can be turned around on the mounting plate if you need the linkage on the other side of the hammer. And lastly please contact me directly about the cost of the retro kit or check my website.

Hi everyone, first off I would like to thank Danger Dillon for starting this thread and for all of the comments. I have been working on this hammer on and off over the last 3 to 4 years trying to make a hammer that responded like the steam hammer that I operated when I was a blacksmith for the railroad. I would like to invite anyone that would like to try my hammer to stop by my shop, we can get a fire going and do some forging! I would also like to point out that yes the linkage is adjustable. Moving the adjustment arm inwards towards the pivot point makes the hammer respond more like a treadle hammer where you have to step on the treadle each time or you can just ease the head down by gently stepping on the treadle. When you move the pivot point outward the hammer reciprocates faster and hits harder. For general forging I run the hammer with the linkage in the middle of the slot. When set this way you can go from the 8" or so forging height to 0" to single blows to clamping all without adjusting anything. I can assure you that I am not making any adjustments to the hammer in either of my videos. Thanks again.........

Depending on the type of joint and the material thickness and you can try tig welding the copper. Cut some small strips of the copper you are using for filler rod...........ken

and they work great to hold a door open!!!!...............

Here is something that I saw years ago at a chuckwagon show in Colorado. I like to display it along side my copy of "The Village Blacksmith" ..............ken By Dean Alfange My Creed

That Had To Hurt!!!!!

Fredly, how about cutting the chain into 4" to 5" lengths and putting 4 of those into a billet. You might find that it will be a little easier to get a good welding heat and to manage the welding on the anvil.....good luck.............ken

I think that these points are very important for the beginner. They were taught to me when I was a beginner and they were taught to all the smiths that taught me when they were beginners. These smiths were hard working men and they knew how to keep 15 coal fires going all day for 8 to10 hours a day 6 days a week. They all might not have been able to do the fine work of George Dixon but they could make everything from rivets and bolts to tongs and tools of all sorts to every component that fit on a boxcar, caboose, or snowdozer( and they outfitted all the buildings with Suffolk style latches and hinges of all sorts!) . They were gracious enough to share there thoughts and experiences and talents with me and I felt the need to pass some of it along.……………….ken

sandy creek, you are absolutly correct with placing your iron in a cave type fire. I was refering to the many smiths I've seen using the "trench" type fire that just stick there iron either straight in or stick it down towards the bottom of the firepot...........ken

I was thinking that with all the interest there is in getting started in blacksmithing some random thoughts for the beginning blacksmith would be in order. -Make anvil height and forge height the same. It

Your right Woody, thats Roy alright! I will tell him you say hi.........ken

Hi Tubal, If you would like to check our group out our next meeting is going to be held on January 13 at my shop which is just a little north of Avon. We will be finishing the crowbar (check out the pix in the gallery!),forge welding some billits and generally having a good time.......ken