peacock

I'm pretty sure the sheet you speak of is the one Sid makes available. I agree with this sheet. One thing I would suggest is make sure all the oil holes are open. I have found that many times one or more holes will be pluged. A combination of scale, oil, dirt, and time can cause these holes to plug up so hard you need to drill the crub out of them. Of course you will have to take it apart to do it. Thomas, thanks for the comment, I am really nothing more than storage for the knowledge many others have shared.

1920 is the year it was made. Die opening needs to be about 3/4 inch more than the stock thickness. Start with the spring adjusted so the toggle bolts are about level. The ram should move easy by hand when you try to move it up and down. The drawing die is pretty short but it may work for larger stock. Make sure the toggle bolts don't hit the wrap around guide adjusting the pitman really won't fix that problem. If you are not sure if it is hitting wrap some tape around the toggle bolts, run the hammer with something thin between the dies, shut it off take a look to see if the tape has a hole where it hit the guard. If it does you will need a taller die stack. Die stack = lower die + upper die + stock thickness. What ever you do don't cut the edge of the guide away to get clearence.

Listen to what Grant is telling you. My Bradley hammer use slack belt drives. Properly setup they are the most reliable of all. The cone clutches for line shaft may not work as you think . They are not designed to slip as the clutch on say a little giant does. It may not be worth the trouble to set up.

Sorry about spoiling ya'lls fun. Next time I'll let it run a few days before I mess it all up. On the other hand PCB's are no joke. If you want to know more google them

Jimmy is right on the money. Old refig. compressor. I have scraped thousands of them. It's old enough that if any oil is left in it odds are it contains PCB's. Be careful if you decide to take it apart. The fittings are most likely 1/4 inch steel tube, no threads. Inside you fine an electric motor and a small compressor made of cast iron and some valves.

Larry I agree, It's pretty remarkable that several of us use are useing 100 yr old hammers on a regular basis. I have very little experence with old air hammers but I have rebuilt 30 some mechanical hammers. The newest one was 40 years old. Most of these were running hammers according to the seller. Many of my customers paid more to get the hammer rebuilt than they paid for it. I am pretty sure in industry the lack of skilled operators caused hammers to be setup with tooling that became a subistute for hammer control. That added to the constant push for production, resulted in a lot of trashed hammers. Yes they were working, but most times wide open, full treadle, with little lube and no maintaince. When they did break poor repairs caused even more damage. I have owned a Tom Clark 50 kg for about 10 years no trouble yet. Tom and I often wondered what they would look like 100 years from now. I have 3 Bradleys, 2 Mayer brothers (not little giant)and 2 LGs all made before 1920 I think they will make it another 100 with proper care. The 25lb Lg I demo with is a 1946 model. All the parts except the babitt, spring, motor, belts and pins are original. I said all that to say this. If you have an old quality hammer, air or mech. and have the ability and cash to properly rebuild it you will not regret it.

Matt are you Kate D.'s friend that I talked to a the Bam conf? Anyway to answer your question. I built my phase converter 20 years ago used a 15 hp motor. Total cost then was less than $100 if your a good scrounger can be done for around $200 now. I run 7 1/2 horse and under with no problems. I have drawings to show you how it's put together. The big advantage is you can buy lots of other 3 phase equipment cheap. Vfds are expensive and can be finiky and if I'm not mistaken you need one for each machine. You've taken on a huge project. Let me know if I can help.

If the base is flat and you have a good concrete floor I have had some success with 2 or 3 layers of tar paper. Needs to be new and sticky. It won't keep it from jumping anound but it will help from walking across the floor. When you find out where you want it the clips are a great idea.

Garment splits are real good bellows. It has a smooth finish, the proper amount of stretch, and plenty tough. 3 to 4 oz. is the weight you want that means 1 square foot will weigh 3 or 4 oz. Each ounce also means 1/64 inch thickness. I buy from Weaver leather in Ohio cost about $3 a square foot. I don't think they sell retail, you have to be a dealer, and establish an account. Sides will run around 20 square feet. Sometimes they have double shoulders they are 11-12 sq. ft.

In the past I used a hot cut and hammer and I liked it very well. Now I use a very thin H13 hot cut in my flypress, half the heats and effort

You will get along good with Little Giants babbit. Where ever you get it use a softer grade. ASTM 10 is good, pours at 630 degrees F. try not to exceed that temp too much. It will not shrink and pull away from the shell as bad as alloys that pour at a higher temp. Also you want a softer babbit so dirt etc. can embed in it rather than score the shaft. High tin content is too hard. Stick with a lead base some thing close to lead 80% antimony in the mid teens tin 2 to 5%.

I have had the same problem many times. What I do is attach the leaf to the stem with a tiny mig or tig weld. Build a small spring swedge in the size you need. Then heat, flux, and weld right over the weld in the swedge. the mig bead will help the heat from the larger piece keep the smaller piece hot. With a little practice this will get easy. Do not make the spring stock too big so it can twist around and align it self.

You really cannot do better than the dovetail and wedge system that is original on the hammer Get the dovetails in good shape, correct dies and proper keys(wedges) & it's the best there is. Nothing is quicker or more secure than.

That should solve the problem if you can move the idler to the other side of the belt. Please tell me more about how to move the idler. I know Bradley has provision to move the drive pully to the other side of the hammer but I didn't know you can move the idler.

The small die is just fine. the other half of the dovetail is the key. 25 and 50 pound LGs use this system. If you get a new die from Sid it will be the ssame setup. If I wanted to match up those drawing dies I would measure to see what I had then see if Sid had a top or bottom that would match one of them. I have gotten a new upper from Sid to match the bottom and ground it to the same profile as the lower. That set of dies are for sharpening plow shares, ideal for that job.

I split all mine hot with a thin chisel in the fly press. 1 heat for the top cut & 1 more for the lower. Also I don't over lap the cuts sometimes, resulting with no hole in the center. Just something different.

Matthew I don't have any of those bolts extra. I guess I could make you one. Please donot try to install the helve with the helve brackets in the machine. take the top caps off the trunions and lift the complete helve assembly out of the machine then put it together out of the machine then install it as a unit. When finished you will still have your sanity and all your fingers.

I move my hammer around alot, several domos a year the best thing I have found is as follows. I bolt my 25# to a 30x48x5/8 plate. Drill and tap, put belting between the hammer and plate to make sure the draft on the bottom of the hammer does not pull the outer edges of the plate up. When you want to move the hammer pry the edge up put some 3/4 round under it and on a good floor it will roll with ease. When you haul it the larger footprint makes it much more stable.

Go to the drug store and buy a can of Prid. I open the area with a needle put some this Prid salve on a band aid put on the finger, most times the offending object ( wood, metal whatever) will be on the surface the next morning, Some times takes a couple days. I have had my can for 20 years and wouldn't be without it.

The early sow blocks were solid. The later (new style) are hollow. It's easy to tell the hollow ones as they have a hole thru them from front to back. I think Little Giant now offers a solid replacement for some sizes. The early one piece frames without sow blocks are also hollow in the anvil area.

You assumed right. The line shaft is great wished I could see it. If the shaft is high enough just take the belt off the lower pulley, give 1/2 twist and put it back on if the belt is long enough now the hammer will turn the correct direction. If the belt don't want to stay on the pulley take it off and twist the other direction. If it still won't track you will have to move the pulley on the line shaft.

If you want to fix that hammer all you need to do is change the rotation of the motor. I'm guessing it's 3 phase so all you need to do is switch any 2 of the wires going to the motor from the motor starting switch.

David E.: I have the mules to pull it. 4 16 to 17 hand mules should have no problem. I have had them hitched to a limber and cannon a few times didn't seem to mind the gun fire if they could see where it came from. Mules had a much higher rate of survival in battle than horses.

The most important thing about experience is to know enough to listen when someone with a lots of it wants to share it with you