Ed Thomas

James, I am sorry you can't use the electric welders. I personally think the risk is small but real, and believe you are making the right decision. Basically, anything to do with forming metal is good. Maybe this closed door will open others to you. Where you might once have welded two pieces together, you might find a way to make a decorative join instead now. Old metal-working machines can still be had pretty cheaply many places, and they can be a lot of fun in their own right. For instance, over the weekend, I used my 1950 lathe to make tooling for my 1960 vertical mill to hold a cutter and a work piece in a rough indexer to make a gear... so I could improve my WWII Steptoe Shaper, so I can begin shaping the missing sow block on my Beaudry power hammer. At the other extreme, I just spent about a week on some ornate door handles that were almost entirely tooled by hand and with treadle hammer... no forge-welding, even. I've seen unbelievably good welds done with a torch, and have often used a torch set to do welding where electricity wasn't available. With practice, I think you might find you aren't handicapped at all without the arc welder. I'm glad you are still able pursue your interests and hobbies, and hope they get your electrical hiccups cured soon. Ed

James, Since it sounded like the current owner is claiming a recent rebuild, you probably don't have to be as concerned as when you buy an abandoned hulk from a warehouse. However, Beaudry hammers do have some specific issues that show up due to neglect of routine lube and maintenance. Take a flashlight with you to do some of the inspections I recommend. 1. The ram is kept between the cast body on one side, and an adjustable guide on the other side usually with a brass sleeve. The only lubrication is through a weep hole on each side at the top of the ram. If these are blocked, or never filled with oil, the ram will quickly wear grooves in the guides and begin binding. So, look for unusual wear on the ram guides. 2. The ram is sort of thrown and caught as it goes up and down. Two large springs have rollers at their ends inside the ram. The only lubrication for these is a squirt of oil from an oil can by the operator. If that is not done, the rollers begin to bind and eventually stop rolling. Then they just rub up and down on the inside of the ram. Once the roller wears on one side, it is worthless and you will have to machine a new roller bearing, or find somebody to do that. So, look inside the ram with a flashlight and see if the rollers look round. Inspect for unusually high wear inside the ram caused by the roller. Be concerned especially if one side has high wear and the other doesn't. This has been an issue on two of the three Beaudry hammers I've owned, by the way. It is just too easy for owners to forget, or not know, to squirt oil on the rollers every now and then. 3. Watch the main shaft at the top of the hammer as it operates. Does it wobble? Rebuilding that particular sleeve/bearing is a real pain. 4. Look for cracks on the anvil and sow block. All three of my Beaudry hammers have been abused badly, with significant chunks battered out of them by former owners because the keys get stuck in the dies or between the anvil and sow block, and they are removed with sledgehammers. The cast iron can only take so much abusive hammering before it cracks at the weak points along the dovetails. 5. Look for dings and dents in the upper die, which is easy to overlook. Not a big deal, but dies are very expensive to have made if you can't do it yourself. 6. Watch the power supply in motion. Does the motor run smoothly? Does the flywheel engage smoothly and easily as the belt tightens? It is excessively noisy anywhere that can't be explained? Is the belt wearing evenly? Is the break lining in good shape? Does the hammer start and stop with control -- is it well-behaved? Is the motor big enough? (That size hammer should have a 5 hp motor, I think). There are plenty of other checks, but these are probably the most expensive things to watch for. I've been up all night, so perhaps more will occur to me when I get some sleep. Don't let this list scare you away from the Beaudry. There is almost nothing that can't be fixed; it's just that it can be a lot of work and/or expensive. A well-running Beaudry is a thing of beauty and a real delight to use. Of all the mechanical hammers, it is pretty widely recognized as having the best overall control, and hits with some real authority when you need it to. When in good shape, they take almost no effort to maintain, and last pretty much forever with that minimal maintenance. If you can post pictures, I can probably add more advice. Ed

The Beaudry hammer is my favorite mechanical hammer, and I personally prefer them to all utility air hammers and most self-contained hammers I've used. A lot of that preference is because that is what I have and I'm so comfortable with them. However, air hammer owners usually like their air hammers better than mechanical hammers. It is very rare for an air hammer owner to switch to mechanical, but fairly common for mechanical hammer owners to switch to one of the high-end air hammers. So at that price, which is a very good price for a nice weight Beaudry hammer in good shape, you should still take some time with it and see if you REALLY want it. Are there things you want to do with your Striker that you can't do, and hope to do with the Beaudry? Fire up the forge and run hot metal under the Beaudry hammer before you buy it, and see if you think you'll learn to like the difference in control and power. Just because it is a good price for a good machine does not automatically mean it is a good deal for you. However, if you do buy it, some of us have had ours for awhile and been through quite a few repairs and installations, so will be happy to share what we've learned if you run into problems. Good luck and keep us posted.

There is actually quite a range and no absolutes. It is better if you have a particular number in mind I can give you the probable weight. In general, a #3 is 75 pounds, a #5 is 125 pounds, a #7 is 200 pounds, and a #10 is usually a 300 pound. But a #10 can also be a 100 pound hammer by a different era numbering system which makes more sense. In that sequence, the #15 is 150 pounds, a #20 is 200, a #30 is 300, #40 is 400, #45 is 450, and #50 is 500. However, even these are not absolute as my own #40 is really only a 300 pound hammer, based on the combined ram and die weight as they were rated, and all the other parts are consistent with a 300 pound hammer. What made you ask???

Several factors help, including the surface finish and the homogenous alloy composition, but the most significant contribution to the increase in yield strength for cold-rolled is the strain-hardening caused by the process itself. That is to say: the dislocation density is nano-scopically increased and there is irreversible microscopic crystal deformation, with subsequent decrease in plasticity and ductility caused by (respectively) the resistances to further nucleating dislocations and increased pinning point impediments. Essentially, smushing the alloy cold makes it harder.

DonA: With that 1/8" stock, you will probably want to go with a smaller rod... such as 3/32". That will likely limit your selection at places like Tractor Supply to 6011 anyway. Anything larger will require a bit of practice to avoid demolishing your 1/8" pieces. The 7014 is actually easier to weld with and puts down a purtier bead when you are first learning. It also doesn't burn through as readily because it is meant to be a filler rod -- to build up material. The 60ll was pretty much designed with farmers with buzzboxes in mind; made to weld through crud and corrosion and get the job done. Generally, 6011 will make better fusion with deeper penetration than 7014, but try them both. Here are some more references: WELDING ELECTRODES Electrodes and Amps SMAW Rod Selector Miller - Stick Welding Tips And a really good overall description of rods: http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/c210.pdf#search='stick%20electrodes Look at the amp setting on the box and start in the middle of the suggested range. Practice on some coupons till you feel comfortable. I've found that the lower suggested ranges worked best once I was up and running.

Although not expensive as cutters, they are still MUCH more expensive per pound than tool steel for use around the blacksmith shop. You should have no trouble at all trading for some springs, S7, H13, etc., at your local blacksmith group meetings. It isn't unusual for people to drop off machining stuff in my shop for some other steels more useful for forging, so I'm sure your New England groups have people with similar needs.

Jimbob: Yes, Snopes is not the final authority, but their descriptions of what is wrong with that legend is the clearest and they always show their references, which is why I posted it rather than others. If you need more debunking, just go to these other sources: Term: brass monkey "Freezing the balls off the brass monkey," a Navy phrase about cannon balls-Fiction! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey_(colloquial_expression)

Terry, Of course that is nonsense, as documented here: snopes.com: Brass Monkeys Ed

Firebug, I did a search and found one of the more common devices as you described to be called the "Scale Master Classic", available online and in stores. Are you actually using this for measuring scrolls and such? I'm wondering how accurate/reliable you have found it to be? Seems like one of those gadgets that could get addicting in a hurry and very useful if it is consistent. Terry, that formula doesn't seem to take the expanding rate of the scroll into account. If the expansion is linear, I suppose you could take the start and end and average them, but most, such as the fairly common Fibonacci rate, aren't linear. I'm so danged rusty on the higher math that my head hurts on this stuff anymore. But my instinct is that the error Hollis got on the 'S' scroll is due to this expansion; the amount of error then being doubled as the rate stopped and then reversed. Does that make sense, or do I really have to hit those particular books again?

James, I am not a doctor nor am I a medical instrument specialist, and certainly not a tech rep for the specific device implanted in you at significant cost for a serious condition. These are the people that you should listen to about what your particular device can handle and what your safest operating conditions are. However, I am a paramedic, and have a rudimentary understanding of the heart, specifically when things are going south. In the off chance the doctor's explanation of your defibrillator wasn't clear, or that some readers of this thread came here instead of a defibrillator help line, I will give an overview of the hazard as I understand it. The defibrillator does not restart your heart if it stops; it sends a significant scrambling bunch of current through the heart to MAKE it STOP when its normal pace-making is all amuck. This typically only stands a chance of working when the heart is in ventricular fibrillation (just quivering, not pumping) or ventricular tachycardia (beating so fast and so out of whack that it is not pumping). Those two instances happen for several reasons, but they both mean that the normal pace-making cells of the heart are not functioning, and other cells are trying to pace, firing just about anywhere and everywhere except rhythmically or meaningfully. In either case you will almost certainly die rather quickly if no action is taken. By shocking and stopping the heart, the hope is that the normal pacemaker cells will start firing when they are supposed to and that the rest of the heart is intact enough to respond correctly to that pacing. It is very drastic and has its own hazard, as you can imagine. Soooo... given that description, my personal guess as to one of the hazards of EMF and vagrant currents through the body, is that the defibrillator (remember it only fires for vfib or vtach) could sense the uncoordinated current as one of the two fixable conditions and try to correct it by stopping your heart. Also, the implant itself is an electronic/electrical device with whatever inherent design vulnerabilities to overload by EMF or current. If you do trigger the defib, then you're supposed to go have it checked out. I wonder if that is free if you caused it. As I said, I don't even personally know an expert, much less pretend to be one. You already have one of those at your disposal -- the doctor that installed it. That's the man to ask; not anecdotal internet blacksmith buddies. The current state of your particular unit may well allow you to do limited electric welding; there is no way any of us can know that, one way or the other. Only the manufacturer and the doctor can tell you that. Here is one thread that is probably clearer about how things work than I am in my description (I assume you already read the user's manual for your unit): Compatibility of TIG and MIG with implanted defibrillator - sci.engr.joining.welding | Google Groups Damnit Jim, I'm a blacksmith, not a doctor. Ed

I'm not really sure why you would ask a medical technology question on a blacksmithing forum. Perhaps you should go ahead and weld at increasing amps until you reach a threshold that triggers the defib. Then you will know the upper limit and can keep away from that in the future. Having seen a patient after an errantly discharging unit, I can assure you that there will be no mistaking when you get the wakeup call.

McMaster Carr sells belting material and some continuous belts. You can shop online and read the descriptions of the composite and the leather belts. Leather is FAR more expensive, and in my experience, not any better for my applications. I've been running my power hammers with composite from them for a long time with very good performance. My SB lathe is also composite. McMaster-Carr

Hollis makes some excellent points and I should probably adjust my earlier post to make room for what he says. I have frequently suggested to fairly new or casual users that they look into a treadle hammer as their first major addition to the shop because for very little money and effort, it significantly enhances what you can do by yourself. It is a reliable third hand in so many tooling operations. It is always "on"; to use it you simply move the piece from the fire to the treadle hammer with one hand, steady the tool with the other, and easily strike the tool with your foot applied to the treadle. The fly press is the powerful quiet cousin that does so much so well that it is taken for granted in shops in England. Most things that are done on the treadle hammer can be rearranged somehow to work under the fly press, and many bending and squeezing jobs are done more easily with a press than any other tool. The power hammer dramatically increases the SCALE of work you can do. Because the flypress or treadle hammer are powered by you, they don't really increase the stock which you can work, or significantly increase the rate as which you work. They simply allow you to do many things much more easily and efficiently than you can do at the anvil. Some difficult things at the anvil become nearly effortless. However, the power hammer allows you to do things which are effectively impossible by yourself by hand... AND can do MOST things that the flypress and treadle hammer can do... though not always as a sensible alternative. I wouldn't even consider doing deep tooling on 1/2" thick plate and reforging 2" round bars by either by hand, with treadle hammer, or with fly press, yet these tasks are routine on the power hammer. Without knowing someone's specific needs, it is hard to recommend the best next addition to their shop. I can say that for me, the treadle hammer came first, followed by a power hammer, and then a fly press. Given my circumstances, I still think this was the most sensible order and in general the most logical for most people. Perhaps one other way to look at things... I only ever had one treadle hammer and it is still the perfect treadle hammer for me. I will almost certainly never "upgrade" or change. I have a 4-ton flypress, and it is as much flypress as I can ever imagine needing. I like it and have never felt like it was too much or too little. I don't want any more treadle hammers or fly presses. On the other hand, I'm now working to install the third power hammer I've ever owned, and when done, will have two operating power hammers. They are just that useful to me.

Of course, Patrick is right. I have a decent treadle hammer and flypress and both get used. But the indispensable tool is the power hammer. If a good hammer is properly tuned and maintained, you can use tooling as gently and accurately as on a treadle hammer. What is not usually so obvious to casual power hammer users is the ability of larger hammers to do tasks commonly thought of as press operations. When the die and ram are a few hundred pounds (or more), the weight continues to travel after impact somewhat, and actually presses deeper into the material. A small hammer rapidly strikes the surface, whereas the larger hammers strike and continue moving. This can be exploited in the bending and squeezing operations (dog-leg, or up-over-down sorts of things). Most uninitiated assume that a bigger hammer is just for bragging rights... okay it is , or for forging bigger stock. But a well-designed big hammer actually also allows you to approach smaller stock with more options and better control. On Patrick's message, if you want to go to the Sanderson site, drop the errant 'o' from irion...should be "sandersoniron".

If it is at all possible, I would try to build a bigger shop, or at least design this one so that future expansion is not too big an ordeal. At 32' x 60', I often wish I had more space. I also prefer concrete floors. Forging equipment is heavy enough without fighting the floor to move it around. Controlling dust and cleaning up is so much easier. I put rubber mats around where I'm going to stand a lot. Others put wood down at the hot areas because it stinks less when burned. My vote is with Hollis and Jymm: You can't have too much light. I have 17 windows and overhead metal halide lights. I still use spot lights here and there to see what I'm doing. It takes no more than an hour or two of forging in new lighting conditions to get the feel of heat and colors and then you're fine from then on. I went to 12' ceilings -- high enough to be able to hoist most machines and material, but low enough that I'd never be tempted to split it into a second floor. Once you've tried to move machines around in a shop, you realize how important the overhead space is.

If you are fooling around with a Rotary Phase Converter, the best online information I've found is here: Transformers, Phase Converters and VFD - Practical Machinist - The Manufacturing Forum If you can't find what you want in a topic search, you will probably get detailed specific information to a question pretty quickly.

Matt, anything to do with Beaudry hammers is interesting. By all means, post the data on your site. I just looked at your pictures again on your site. I forgot that you already have the original (or equivalent) motor with this hammer. What a nice find! I still have to work up a power train for my #40 once its in place. Forgive my memory lapses... I've been rather preoccupied with studies the last 2 years. Should be back to nearly full-time shop time shortly. Ed

Matt, Yes, Hollis helped me many times over the years with good advice. I was looking at the pictures of the brass bushings. I'm not certain how to safely change the ones already in the hammer, but the two different sizes in your picture correspond to what I would expect in the clutch housing and main shaft. On your hammer, the outer part of the flywheel is called the Friction Pulley. It rotates constantly while the hammer is powered up. When you press on the pedal, the cam opens the "Ring" until it rubs against the inside of that pulley. The ring is attached to the "Spider" which attached to the main shaft. So as that ring (clutch) engages, the spider and main shaft begin to rotate. There is a bearing inside that pulley so it can spin freely on the shaft of the spider, and there is another frame bushing (or set) inside the frame of the hammer so the shaft and spider can spin freely inside the frame. That accounts for the two different sizes of bushings. Ed

Matt, Of course you are quite welcome. I'm glad this hammer finally worked out for you. Another great resource on this site is Hollis Wooldridge who has more and longer experience with the Beaudry hammers than I do. I'm sure he'll check in soon with good advice. Ed

Answers (you get what you pay for, of course ) 1. If you are transporting the hammer standing up, then do NOT remove the anvil. It will help stabilize the frame which will be rather top heavy without it. If you are laying the hammer down on its side then, yes, lift it off the anvil. I have transported my Beaudry hammers both ways successfully. If you lay it on its side, I recommend blocking things carefully to avoid putting too much weight on bearings and guides. Nail the blocks to the trailer as they shift all too easily with bumps and potholes. If you transport it standing up, make sure you strap it a zillion different ways and block the base well. 2. Within my shop, I have lifted my #40 (300 pound equivalent to your hammer) by the casting where the shaft goes through. This is fairly close to the center of gravity. Alternatively, under top of the 'C' would be fine as long as you aren't leveraging against or marring the ram. 3. I went thicker on my slab for my #7... about 3 feet. The specs by Beaudry are for a very heavy and elaborate foundation including white oak timbers on end. I simply poured a reinforced block, put a sheet of 3/4" plywood on top, and have been using it okay for a few years. A friend has a #7 in a rented building that he just bolted to the concrete floor. It works, but the floor is cracking now. I isolated my foundation slightly from the rest of the floor. Within the next few weeks, I should be digging and pouring the foundation for my #40, and it will be at least 3 feet also. 4. Opinions on base vary. I have been okay with yellow pine and plywood. Maybe not the best, but they seem to hold up fine. The only real need for anything over the concrete that I can see is to adjust to the casting imperfections as a sort of gasket, and to spread the shock a little bit. The footprint on the anvil is pretty large, so the shock is already distributed reasonably well. 5. You have one of them there new-fangled Beaudry hammers with the internal clutch assembly. Congratulations. Unfortunately, mine like that is not yet running so I can't offer much advice. I have taken everything entirely apart, cleaned, fitted and reassembled, so I have a fair idea of what to expect. I am still trying to decide whether to run that clutch drive wet or dry. I've gotten completely opposite guidance on this from completely reputable and sincere owners. So you are still on your own for tuning. The relationship between the clutch and brake is a trial and error dance anyway. Watch your motor speed with this hammer. The belt is constant drive so full out clutch engagement with a motor too fast could be a wild ride. My literature shows your hammer should be driven by a 900 rpm motor and the hammer speed should be 225 bpm. Obviously, the motor speed isn't as important as the ultimate rotational relationship between its pulley and the flywheel. So in my case, I'll probably be building a reducer with pulleys and shafts to bring the speed down. 6. The bronze bushings look like replacement bearings for the main shaft at the top. They look like the right size. You can tell the age of your hammer by looking on the Spring Box, which is the cast piece that houses the upper part of the big springs and attaches to the connecting rod. There should be a two digit number cast in the front of it. For instance, my #7 has a '24' in it, which means it was built in 1924. My #40 casting is barely legible but looks like '34', which is about what I'd expect. That hammer looks beautiful and the parts that you show look to be in good shape. I hope it gives you as much satisfaction as mine does for me.

Can't blame you there. I think you already have the right idea... a sturdy disk that rotates on the table. Leave a hole for rivets, and put a pin in it for rosettes. Press, rotate the disk, press, etc. You could probably attach a short handle or pointer on the disk to line up with marks on the table as long as the handle/pointer clears your frame on the far side as you rotate it. For tooling, simple is best. The more generalized the tool, the more likely you can use it for something other than its original application. More important, though, is that you don't get trapped into just making things that only work with tooling you already made. This is interesting enough, I just might have to go try it soon. :)

It sounds as though you are doing these hot, in which case you might be better off with a treadle or power hammer. I have done quite a few 6" eschutcheons (5/16" thick) with a star pattern in a circle. I have always outlined the pattern cold on the treadle hammer and then hot-forged the star with tooling under the power hammer. It is much easier to move the tool to the right spot on a hot piece than to line up the hot piece under a tool. Or at least it should be a faster and more efficient use of heat in this particular instance. As Thomas asked, just how complex IS this pattern??? What size material are you working? What is the tooling? If these are smaller disks ( < 2") to be used as rosettes, AND they have a hole in the middle, then any block with a peg should do the trick. Put two indexing lines on the block. Line up the flypress tool to the first index mark. Pull the rosette out of the fire, plop it on the peg, press, rotate the impression to the second index, press, repeat till no heat. Reheat. Set to music.

I have not used didymium glasses, but routinely use the flip-up #5 GREEN welding clip-ons I bought from Centaur Forge about 10 years ago. The 1/2 width is perfect. You can watch the fire during forge-welding without any eyestrain and when you bring the pieces out to the anvil you can see to work from the bottom half of the lenses. They are NOT what Centaur is selling now. They were Fend-all clip-ons. A search of the internet gave me this site: Visionary Supplies - Product Catalog Specifically, I think these are the closest to what I use: Visionary Supplies I routinely use them for torch-welding and cutting as well. Just clip them on a pair of safety glasses and adjust them as needed. I can forge-weld fine without them, but I don't like to. They have easily paid for themselves in saved eyestrain.

Valentin: Can you put a "stop" somewhere past the dies? Push the picket to the stop, forge carefully with the picket perpendicular. That will establish the top and bottom. Rotate 90 degrees and forge the other two sides. Don't try to forge too deeply on the first pass because the metal will move and change the distance between the stop and area you want to forge when you do the sides. You are just trying to establish the location at first. A few gentle hits will make an impression on all four sides. Then remove the stop and forge to the depth you want. As you forge more deeply, continue rotating so you bring the bottom up to the top, which will let you examine how well things are lining up as you go along. The metal has to go somewhere when you squeeze it between two dies like that. Some will go to increase the length of the picket and some will go out to the sides. So when you turn the picket frequently, it herds the metal entirely along the length. However, that means the metal under the die is moving away from that spot and when you hit again, you hit a different spot. The end result will probably be a distortion of what you are trying to accomplish with those dies, but it might still be useable and attractive. Another slower method might be to fuller one of the bands all the way around a picket before forging with the entire die. That way you have a visual cue and a "catch" to set the picket on to line things up. I never forge pickets on all four sides with that complex a die. For compound impressions, I do them in stages with simpler dies, for just the reason I stated above -- the metal moves and you have to move with it. I see that as I typed this, others already posted advice with the same concerns. Hope this helps. Ed