mofokaye

On our one there's a manual pump at the back that's connected to the valve chamber with a thin copper pipe. You may want to check for a small hole on the top of the valve chamber to see if yours had something similar that's gone missing. Will try and take some photos tomorrow if that'll help

Sorry Alan, been hectic and not had a chance to have a good look yet. I've determined it's nothing to do with the ram guide, but that's as far as I've been able to get so far

I've already got a copy of the user manual, thanks to your helpful upload! I'm reluctant to mess around with the valving, but will give it a go if necessary. I briefly inspected the valve a few weeks back before we got it running and didn't notice anything unusual, will have to take another look though. I'm in Somerset, UK. I have a friend in Wales with 2cwt, will have to get in touch with him. It's fitted with a manual hand pump. I opened both cylinders and the valve and cleaned it all out, as there was a lot of old sticky congealed oil in there. I then gave it all a thin coating of fresh oil and let it sit for a week. All other bearings were then greased as instructed in the manual. I know the main crank bearing at the back was repaired at some point, but the repair seems to be solid.

The ram plate seems to be fine, but I'll give it a look when I go in on tuesday. I manually oil all our hammer rams at startup just out of habit.

Thanks for the advice all, I'll check it over next week and letcha know what I find

On 3/1/2016 at 8:42 PM, Jim Coke said:

Greetings Morokaye,

Sometimes things make a better conversion piece than functional .. 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

Ah, but I am a sucker for old machinery, and will always take in a sad old tool and try to bring it back to life. This breaks my heart!

Hello all. My workplace has just acquired an Alldays and Onions 1CWT hammer. It's well battered, but with a bit of TLC I've got it running pretty well. However, until it's warmed up properly, the ram really struggles to raise properly back into the tup allowing it to deliver a full blow. It just judders up and down delivering small short blows. The warmer it gets, the more this improves. I've noticed the "Relief Valve" on the back of the hammer is missing, and has been replaced by a simple homemade flap valve. Was wondering if this could have anything to do with my problem. Any thoughts on what could be causing this? The whole hammer is thoroughly lubricated 

A lawn ornament...? 

Looks nice and solid!

Springs are just inherently dangerous. Don't let it put you off, just ensure any springs are well covered to protect yourself.

Fantastic  Would love to see a video

Clever twist on a proven design. I'm impressed!

I'm British and was taught to do it without flux. It's not as hard as you'd imagine 

I fabricated all that. Thanks!

Obviously underweight anvil (bouncy) but that will be easy to fix as heavier scrap becomes available. 

Yup, sadly this was all I had access too. I've built it in such a way though that there's plenty of space to fit in a big solid lump as soon as one becomes available. It's frustrating not being able to get the most out of it.

 

The antique oil cups on the helve pivot and the crank add a lot to the impression it's an antique hammer brought back from some obscure state of neglect. I'm still fascinated by those rail lock spring contraptions you used.

Although there was a lot of fabrication involved, I love using pieces salvaged from abandoned or wrecked pieces of machinery, and have amassed a vast collection of flywheels, bearings, and grease cups for future projects. 


As for more detailed shots, and maybe even a video walking through it, I'll see what I can do over the weekend. Thanks for the kind words, it's been a pig getting this thing done!

Well, sad to say I haven't had time to update on progress, as I barely had time to finish the bloody thing as it was. However, it's all done now, so I thought I'd give a quick update with a picture and video. Any questions and I'll happily answer. 
 

My question is, why would a hammer need one? 

That's one xxxx of a safety guard!

If he manages this, I'm selling all my tools and returning to my previous job stacking shelves. 

Just because she has a good point doesn't mean you should listen. ;)

Use a kiss block, dont work full face of the die block.

 

What is the material you are intending to forge ?

 

Setting the travel position on an air hammer foot-pedal is also a completely pointless exercise, and completely missing the whole concept by which air hammers work, ie, the air is a spring.  :huh:

I've done something similar with an air hammer with dishing dies set to work together at a constant level through setting up the foot pedal so it can only lower a certain distance. Works well with the thin sheet metal, but like you say, not likely to work forging heavier stock, and would probably make the actual process of forging down the metal slow, painful and totally impractical. Also I suspect the results would be less than accurate. Still, gunna try it, because why the hell not :D

Didn't have time to try it today, but will when I get the chance. 

I'm guessing a rudimentary way to achieve this on any hammer would be to create some kind of stopping system on the foot pedal, which only allows the hammer to strike at the desired thickness, although I suspect this would provide far from perfect results. That said I may have play with this idea if I have a moment today, I guess the effectiveness of this would largely depend upon the quality of the hammer 

I've used both Sahinlet and Say-mak hammers. Both have worked well, didn't notice any major differences

I use one on a daily basis, an SM50 if my memory serves me correctly. It's about 25 years old now, and has had a rough life. Don't think it had ever been greased, so the bearings are a bit shot. Also the cylinder rings are in need of replacement, so it doesn't hit so good anymore. All this said, it runs pretty xxxx well, and if I had the freedom to rectify these issues I'm sure it would run good as new. They're good dependable machines 

Yeah, sorry for lack of updates. It's very nearly finished, but having some trouble tweaking the clutch and getting it running how I'd like. I'll try and stick up some pictures of it's current condition soon 

It's surprisingly easy to make something that'll save you a lot of time, and helve hammers are probably the easiest option. Guided helves are more functional, but require a bit more work. Trawling these old patents is a great source of inspiration (Although how many of them were ever actually built and tested is unclear)