peacock

I finished the dovetail on the 25#. I'm pleased with the work, not very often you get to see this nice a dovetail on a 100 year old machine. This is an expensive fix but it saves a frame. You have to buy one like this cheap or you will have too much money in it.

A friend brought me this 25# LG that he had cut the frame off because of a broken dovetail. He sawed it off with a porta-band. I mouned it in my shaper, squared it up. In the coming week I will cut the dove tail and build a sow block. I am putting this dovetail 90 degrees to the die so we can align the dies without shims. this the first time I have done this change.

Dodge Its the first machine on the left with 2 guys with tongs holding a big bar they have just bent. Look on the conecting rod type link coming from the large bull gear and you will see Bulldozer on it. Think of bulldozers as a huge horizontal punch press.

I agree with Basher there is no follow thru with a anvil. Golf, baseball,even splitting wood the tool continues pass the impact, the anvil stops that of course. Trying to get effect from follow thru takes away from the advantage of rebound. I try to relax and let the hammer contact the work without my hand/arm powering it at impact then catch it on the way up.
As far as putting my body into the swing that just causes me to move my other hand holding the work(something I have enough problems doing anyway). Now if someone else is holding the work and I am striking then I can create more power putting my whole body into the swing, however then my control suffers. The best I can do is raise my arm at the shoulder, this will give me more distance to generate speed in the hammer.

I would go for the make myself and send out for heat treat. I would try to match the broken spring as close as possible to the broken one. You can use the spring next to it to get the shape correct. Treat them as single pieces, you could not get a proper quench in a stack. The warpage will correct it's self when you rivet/bolt them back together.

I make both end conection by riveting a steel end on the strap with copper harness rivets. I use 11 ga. steel, drill 2 holes for rivets one for the attchment bolt or pin. 3/16 leather is fine. Check your local farm store or saddle shop for a piece of leather. Girth tie straps straps are made from latigo leather and will work nicely. If it is a saddle repair they may be able to do the sewing for you. If not I could be persauded to help you.

Beautiful work, but save your self alot of trouble and open up your clearence. When you weld, bolt and otherwise assemble the distortion you cerate wiil need more clearence. This is a hammer not a racing engine. If it binds at all it will slow down the cycle time at best, at worst it won't move at all. No one enjoys great machineing more than I do, But going back and redoing several times can take all the fun out of a great build like this one.

UHMW is a bearing material, don't think you would want to use that. I have built about 35 power hammer brakes and you just can't do better than leather in my experience. If you are not going to turn the flywheel in a lathe Do not use a steel backing use nylon strap ( seat belt material) so it can conform to the O D of the flywheel. I know you said you were going to grind it, I have seen that tried many times with limited results, Depends on how much patience and time you have.

Everything you have done looks good, but if you want them to use you've got a long way to go on that one. You need to build a new landslide, and it looks like the beam is sprung. It is also missing part of the hitch.

Looks like harrow teeth to me. A harrow is a ground tillage tool used to break up clods of dirt and level/smooth the ground.

Your not going to like what I have to tell you. Your motor needs to be mounted about shoulder high and the center of the motor shaft directly above the idler. the idle will then force the belt futher around the pulleys. The way it is mounted now you will not have much friction area on the drive pulley this in turn will cause you to need alot of treadle pressure and poor control. If the motor is in the proper location the belt should be moving from bottom to top on the side closest to the dies. That way the idler will be on the slack side of the belt and give much softer and better treadle control. Sorry to have to give you this news but several people have made this same mistake and are very unhappy. Improper motor mounting has sometimes given these hammers a bad repution. They are great hammers I have three and I love them!

I get $3.800 for a newly rebuilt 25# complete with new dies and motor. $4.800 for a 50#. I have paid from $300 to $1,500 depending on condition for "cores" to rebuild. Not trying to sell you a hammer just a reference from here in Missouri.

I think the vise is always better if it is mounted snug to the post. Others may correct me if I am wrong but I think the key/wedge mounting system is meant to pull the fixed leg into contact to the mass of the mount. The closer it is to the post the less chance for twist and flex. The wedge set up in the slots in the mount should pull the vise against the front of the bench or post before they bottom out in the slots.

I use 1/4 inch thick leather sewn on 1 1/2" wide .110 thick nylon webbing 5,200 lb. per inch break strength. The nylon is there to keep the leather from stretching. The back tension is just one of those accidents that turns out good. I used steel backing first but this takes less time and troube to make. I sew it up in pieces as long as the hide will yeild then just cut off what I need.

I do use leather sewn to a nylon backing, it's the best I have found. Oil has every little effect on the leather. If you have not turned the OD of the crankplate your brake will need more spring pressure. I do not use a treadle return spring as such I use the spring for the brake to return the treadle. If you want to do this you should make sure to remove all the slack you can from the treadle linkage. I try to get more than half of the OD of the crankplate in contact with the brake band but half is good. I also like a small turn buckle between the band and the linkage so I can tune the brake for best function. This will let you release the brake just as the clutch engages.

P.S. If the nylon on the back of the leather is sewn on and is new nylon it will gather when sewn and cause the leather to curl back towards the backing this makes the band release from the OD of the crankplate all the way around instantly. also much easier to fit the curve than a steel backing.

Sounds like a great excuse to buy a fly pres That is what my wife uses mine for.

Beth, Not used as decoration. This style chain will slide very easily thru the rings as the mule moves side to side as they do the work. The twist makes it run flat the double link reduces the gap that the ring can catch in making it slide without hanging up. Get a ring and a standard chain run each chain thru the ring and compare them. When animals were used for hard work everything was about function and nothing about pretty. Now as we see animals used for pleasure some of us begin to see the beauty of the function of the past. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Frank, if you look at the center of the chain I think you will see more wear on the outside of the links. The links near the ends should have more wear on the inside where they hang thru the other link. I can't tell from the picture, I just thought it might be interesting.

Frank, Thomas, those chains are breast chains On some styles of draft harness. They go from a ring on 1 hame to a ring on the other hame. There is a ring that they go thru on the neck yoke which in turn holds the end of the wagon tounge up. It is also part of the steering and stopping mechanism. The toggles on the ends go thru a 1.2 inch ring end ways then turn side ways and can't pass back thru easy and fast to do and can be done with gloves on. This style chain was often used on mules under harsh conditions as leather would not hold up well with out alot of care. Thomas they were used in conjuction with trace chains instead of leather traces.

You do know you will need a large air compresser to run that hammer don't you. May be the compresser is included you didn't say

I clean that kind of stuff first by folding up paper towels soaked in vinegar and lay them over the rusted ways, then put plastic wrap over that so it don't dry out, let it set a few hours and alot of that rust will wipe off. It won't take off anything good just the crud. Use some grease to dam up where you don't want it to go. Parts that can be removed can be soaked in a tub. Be sure to rinse it off well and oil to prevent re rust. Were you at the RMS conference in August? The 25# that I had there was cleaned up that way after setting out in a hog lot for 30 years. Gald you got this piece. With your talent it will be very useful. I'm thinking Zipmax tooling etc.

I have 15/16 oz. leather. In the US each oz. is equal to1/64 th inch or.0156 so that would be .250 for 16 oz. I have had some bull hide that was 3/4 tich over the shoulder but it thins out as you go down and back on the hide so most is spilt to a given thickness. 17 oz is the thickest listed by my supplier.

As for making tendon tools, It is quicker for me to forge them than try to drill them. weld some blocks on the hairpin, heat it up place a rod the size you want in between, hammer it together with the power hammer, take another heat with a larger rod in the groove made the first time hammer lightly to relieve the corners. Now take the first rod and true it up. you may have to do this a couple of times to get what you want.
you are trying to get a football shaped hole. This gives the metal a place to move into and not make marks from the sharp corners. Cliffton
Ralph showed me how to do this years ago. It takes me longer to type it than to do it. If you use this method you don't have to open it up
to use a grinder on the tool and then try to line it up again after you are done.

My first monkey tools I made by drilling the threads out of hex nuts and welding them to a piece of pipe. I have some old ones my
Mom's uncle made by rolling a piece of flat into a tube and then dressed the end with a file I think. He died 40 years before I was born so I'm guessing about the file.

I use cold rolled or stressproof shafting.

If you want to fix this hammer the best you can, build a new shaft. Take good measurments of this shaft, then saw it off on each side of the crank plate
and pulley, Center punch as close to the center of the shat as you can, then step drill out the old shaft. This the only safe way to remove the shaft without damage to the castings. With that done make a new shaft, use it as the mandrel for the bearing pour, then install the castings and put it together. You will never regret the extra work