peacock

They use dovetails and wedges because that is the fastest way to change a die. Done correctly you can't do better. Home built hammers don't use dovetail/wedge setups because most people don't have the machinery to do them them selves.

I think you will need more than 1 1/2 hp hit and miss to run a tire hammer. I had a 25# Meyer bros at the BAM conf. and my 2 1/2 hp throttle goverened was really not enough. Your tire hammer is most likely closer to 50#. It takes 2 1/2 gas hp to equal 1 electric hp.

What do you have? Bolt it to it. I have my demo hammer bolted to a 30x48x3/4 plate with 5/8 belting in between has worked pretty well for years. I have my shop hammers bolted to 6 inches of reinforced concrete with the 5/8 belting cushion. The later is noticably better.

blacksnakes are really effective.

When we were doing some precasting years ago we put about 5 degree draft on the inside form then put 2 1/2 inch pipes thru it. when we wanted it out we hooked up the air hose to the pipe popped it right out. A few hundred square inches at 150 psi gives alot of push.

Sam kinda hard to measure but it is a little over half way thru a standard 1/2 inch washer tried to get a pic but don't show anything.

When they are little hot don't mean anything till thet get a little burn. It sure is amazing how slow we learn from being told and how fast we learn when it's hands on.

It didn't come out wonky you just have not finished it yet. You can do several things to finish it, you could counter sink the screw hole with a large center punch then put some texture on the tab that will help blend the screwdriver slot so it doesn't show as much. Flare or round the top end above the screw hole, that will finish that end and draw the eye away from the screw. As John and Tom said you can take the bend out of the center section. If you would like to see what it looks like with the scroll the other way as Tom said just heat the round section above it and twist it 180 then reshape the hook. Round twisted is still round, let me fix alot of mistakes. Your work is a great start I just want you to know that the cool part of working iron is you can often rework it till you like it. When I work with wood when it gets to a certain point it is what it is you either have to use it or scrap it. You have made a good start on a long and satisfiing journey. No matter what you do with that hook keep it and look at it a year from now then 5 years from now and you will be amazed how much your work gets better. Get it hot and hit it.

I always split them hot. very little rag. If there is I rasp it off before I forge. Use a very thin chisel so you don't get much draw down. I put it in a good vise with 1/2 the stock above the top jaw, use that as a guide to get striaght line and both sides lined up then finish on the anvil

I've said it before and I'll say it again. A good Bradley gives up nothing to an air hammer or any hammer for that matter. Glad you got your hammer back running I know I would miss mine.

I have a #0 got it new. I like it alot. I use it for steel stamps, leather working tools, repousse. I added a counter weight ( Grant Sarver style) It is soo easy on my arm. With the right tooling can be quite productive. Puncing rivet holes in 14 ga. and thinner cold no problem. sorry about the size of these pics I don't know why they are so big this time

Any oil is better than no oil. I have even used vegetable in a bind. I am not a fan of grease, but some guys like it. If you have a hammer that is real loose grease is better than oil, but you really need to tighten up the clearance. Sometimes you just can't do that, then use grease.

The mount on the Bradley is not factory. Most factory mounts from Bradley mounted on a seperate stand bolted to the floor. I am not familiar with the rear pulley setup on the Fairbanks. Flat belt drives that have one pulley much smaller than the other work best with the center to center distance of the pulleys as log as practical. That will let the belt have more contact area on the small pulley. Vertical flat belt dives are less efficent than horizontial. Horizontial drives with some distance between pulleys will get quite a bit of belt tension just from the weight of the belt. That means if you are useing a horizontial slack belt system you need to keep the center to center distance a little shorter so the belt will slip till you tip the idler pulley in to tighten the belt.

Knots, Thats not a fairbanks thats a Bradley compact. They do kinda look the same.

That is very common in babbit bearings. All the Little Giants and other bearings I have poured have holes like that some are drilled but most are cast in. Be sure and clean all the old babbit out before you pour.

Put a double layer of new tar paper(roofing felt) under it and between the hammer and wood base. Thats all it took at BAM and here at the shop to keep it in place. Glad you like it.

Don't try to grind the dents out. Just pien the ridge around the dent back into the divot the steel is all still there now move it back to where it came from.

They would work very well for Grant Sarver mod to a fly press. Wish I had some I could use the 3 1/2 inch round that's currently doing duty on the fly press. I see them around but never thought about them till this post . Thanks.

I make flat belts and pulleys. What do you need?

I have never seen a Massey spring hammer but if it were one of my mechiancal hammers I would look for some thing binding up trhe ram. Could be lube but a squirt of an oil can should tell yo that real quick. I have had scale get in the guides, linkage pins work out bolts break or loosen up. If you can do it easily un hook the linkagage from the ram and see if the ram will move thru it's entire range without binding

Thats fine with me. I could also do demo on clipper belt lacing if someone wants to see that.

Macbruce I was lucky enough to meet Clifton before I had opinions about power hammers. That saved me from making a fool of my self. I can hardley wait ot see your Zmax at ABANA.

I do flat belt work. I mostly lace with alum tanned leather very little stretch and it is very strong. I don't like clipper lacing on shop machinery as the little hooks can come loose and snag things and if you or I are that thing it can be very painful. I also don't like hearing the click click the metal lace makes as it hits the pulleys. If you all are interested in learning this I'll try to figure a way to show you with some pics or if you like I can bring some belt with me to the ABANA conf. for those who are going and show you hands on.

T Miller, I agree totaly. Well put. I have a say-mak,a few Bradleys, 2 Meyer brothers/murry/Murco and several Little Giants. None of them are junk, but like you said some are heavier built than the LG's . For many people that is a big plus. I have been to several shops that just could not get a Bradley or a Fairbanks or Nazel in the shop for several reasons. Those guys are very glad to be able to have a power haammer and the LG fills the bill nicely. All I was trying to say in my first post is that as a more experienced member of this forum it is an obligation to not mislead some of our younger and less experienced members. A good many of the smiths that have hammers today started out on a smaller lighter built power hammer. I have seen more than 1 new guy get hurt trying to start out on a 100 lb or larger hammer. without some guidence the big hammers can do a person some serious damage. Smaller hammers are a little more forgiving.

Sure is pretty without all that armour on it. You will enjoy that hammer.