forgemaster

It is 3 or 4 ply kevlar packing, I don't know the size off hand as my wife did'nt enter the size into MYOB for me just the fact it is 3 or 4 ply. I have the size written down at work I'll be back there on the 9th. Most packing and gasket suppliers should be able to source it for you. Maybe try Walkers packings there should be a branch in SA, you can also use leather but it does not last as long, do not use polyeuythane as it will wear the rod. Phil

Woody, calulate the weight of the hammer in lbs or KG it does'nt matter, measure the volume of the head/tup rod piston head etc (112lb to the cwt), if you don't know exactly make and assumption you will be close, eg they did'nt make a 3 5/8 cwt hammer, it is normally 3 or 4 cwt. If you want give me the sizes and I'll work it out. You of course would have been taught how to calculate weight of materials at tech I assume. (qld/nsw rivalry here). Machineries encylop gives the rating as 10hp of boiler per CWT of hammer at between 45 to 80 psi. In NSW you can run a boiler without cert if you are running it on private property without the public being anywhere near, as you are taking full responsibilty for it. If it goes boom and you kill yourself or your family that is your lookout. I imagine that in the land of pineapples bananas and XXXX the laws would be even more lax, geees you guys don't even need to get a roadworthyness check every year on your car to be able to register it, (we do).

I had posted a bit more above on steels then when i pasted the Onesteel stuff I lost a fair bit of what I had typed. Basically that most plate is I think classed as merchant quality if you forge a billet of say 80mm plate down to your 40mm dia you should get enough grain refinement for your finegrained specs Phil

Where are these women that can be coaxed to be found, I am yet to find one.

If you allow the ram to sit in the bottom of the cylinder it has trouble lifting up. I know that when ever we change out dies or have them removed to machine the faces and my guys let the ram sit right down, the hammer hesitates a bit on single blow to lift the ram, the all of a sudden it will fly up. I think that it allows the ram to sit level or below the bottom inlet port, so stopping air from readily getting under the piston head. Phil

I forget to say if you need info on the Kevlar packing and where to get it in Aus send me a PM or post in here, I should be able to souce the info while I'm here on holls. Phil

PRODUCTS Bar Sections > Billets > Hot Rolled Merchant Bar > Light Billets Light Billets are available in a variety of steel grades and sizes as summarised below. For detailed information on grades select the appropriate link from the right hand menu. Due to process limitations not all grades are available in all sizes. For new applications we recommend you confirm product availability with OneSteel Direct on 1800 1 78335 (within Australia only) or email to [email protected] at an early stage of design. Other specifications and sizes may also be available on enquiry. Additional Info AS Standard: AS 1442/1022, K1045 Size Range: 45mm, 50mm, 63mm, 75mm Standard Length: 6.0m General Enquiry I have copied and pasted from the Onesteel website re 1022 billet. Also you may do better looking at getting a slab cut from MS plate. Phil

Yeh I was suprised at how much effort it takes to do a die forging in a press as compared to a hammer. With a hammer you can move the material even with it still going cold, with a press, forget it.

A boiler run steam hammer is a joy to behold. It is suprising how small a boiler will run a hammer that needed a big air compressor. The general rule for power (steam supply /boiler size) was 10hp (boiler rating) per CWT. At as low as 40psi up to 90 psi, it can be higher, but with higher pressures we used to find the hammers became very jerky, with lower pressures the movement was more fluid, and elastic. Phil

Not sure with this one, Yeh check the valves, may have one stuck or have a broken spring. If you pull the shuttle apart make sure that you put all the pieces back in the right way around, in the same order with any bits of packing in the same places. Once you get ii mixed up you can spend days, months trying to get it right again. Was the ram packed up inside the cylinder while it was stored, is it still shiny and oiled. We are using kevlar packing in our hammers now, Our 5 was last packed in 09 and it still is no air leakage after a lot of use. One other thing is we always wedge our anvils down around the base as well as around the stem where it goes through the hammer base. After driving in the wedges fab an angle iron octagon ring that sits on top of the wedges to stop them from lifting up. Our 5 has been in for about 12 years now and has not moved from scale under it and does not bounce from the hammers blows. I know that Moonie did'nt do this last time he set up his 7 and he is still having problems with the anvil lifting up on one side and getting stuff in under it. He is just grinding his dies to level them at the moment but he is looking at having to lift the hammer off to fix it properly in the future. I'm sure John N will chime in with a post on this. If he doesnt know masseys no-one does. Cheers Phil

Fully Killed steel was a term used for the post pouring treatment given to the ingot before it was rolled. It denoted that the top of the ingot was cut off and discarded, this was why fully killed steels were more expensive, to allow for the wastage. As very few places still use the ingot method for general steel manufacture, I cannot get a straight answer from any suppliers/mills here in Aus as to whether I can source true blue Fully Killed steels made recently. PJH66 the 1020 that you refer to is actually designated CS1020 which is Commercially or Semi Killed plain carbon steel no alloying elements with .2percent carbon. It can't be called fully killed. John maybe try suppliers who also supply valve steels such as the ASTM105 etc range. I know that One Steel here in Aus does have a technical reference free call service. I rang it recently as one of their other departments wanted a quote on a 40ton hook and the steel that they requested was getting a little hard to source. You may find that they have such a service in Canada. Is'nt Atlas Steels a Candian company, I seem to recall that they have something similar

Hey Woody, On hols at the moment but when I get home I'll dig out the broucher on self contained ross/rigby pnu hammers and copy some of it and post it. They sort of made a convertable type of hammer that may be of interest to you. The tup may not be one piece with the rod, 2 of mine are on a taper and are shunk onto the rod, you can get them off with heat, jacks etc. You will need at least a 125cfm diesel compressor to make that hammer do much. Phil

OK Rich spill the beans, where are all the other photos of Moonies gates.

3 answers to your 3 questions, big, and lots, and maybe, it all depends on the 1st two critieria.

You ring your hubby after he's been to another auction and straight away ask 'so how many more powerhammers have I got to pay for now"? then add "are we actually going to use this one or will it just join the collection behind the shop". You know never to buy him a white shirt, You never get into his car wearing white, You have long since stopped being concerned when you notice another burn on his body. His party trick of getting frankfurts out of boiling water with his bare fingers no longer amuses you.

So the air compressor is about 80 CFM (thats free air delivered, not at the compressed pressure)

Can't take credit for this one Nick, thats the Moon not I. Good to see though. Phil

At last I have found someone else who does'nt advocate the wedging on of tool handles, thankyou Grant. With a guru such as you putting it in print my arguments will have just that more weight, "oh yeh but even the famous Grant Sarver does,nt wedge his tool handles on" there it is, done deal nothing more needs to be said! Phil

We have always used propane (lpg) andd found it to be a better gas for cutting with, it needs to run a slightly oxidising flame which is why it cannot be used for oxy welding of steel, I have used it for oxy welding aluminium, and it is good for brazing too. The tips are normally a 2 piece tip which is easier to clean. We run a 4 burner profile cutter and would not use acte if we had a bottle for free, (well maybe if it was free I would.) With LPG having a recessed tip I have found that the tips are not so prone to getting dirty, which means that you do not need to clean them so often. Phil

Jeremy it is easy, but how many balls do you think I have made to get to that level. Jocko no no no no no no no I am not the master blacksmith, that is Dale it is even stated in this tread earlier, by Nick I think. I'm just an unwashed metal basher. Now I must go and replace the bandaides on my knuckles, they wear out where I drag them on the ground. Phil

Vid has been uploaded, if only I could figure out how to embed it on here I"d be done. Phil

After doing this all my life from 16 years old to now (46) I had my hearing tested recently, to my suprise my hearing loss was 2% in one ear and 0% in the other, Considering that when I was an apprentice we were told not to wear muffs around the hammer as it would not allow you to hear instructions. Working on steam locos (safety valves) riveting, air arc gouging etc, how my hearing is not worse I have no answer, Of course when the dragon asks me to do the dishes, my hearing is just woefull. Phil

I would suggest that before you start you get plenty of sleep and go on a holiday, cause once it all gets going you are not going to get much sleep and hey a holiday whats that? Just my thoughts Phil

I have found that mild has gone up in price a bit yet alloy has not really moved that much, OK I normally buy about 2 ton of 4140 a month but even so, prices move around any way. We did have a big price hike on alloy about 2 or 3 years ago but the price as come back now to something I am comfortable with now. Almost all of the alloy I am buying now comes from the land of the funny writing, no aussie steel to be seen, only maybe some mild, and hey we still make 90mm dia 4140 for some reason, and its way cheaper than the wang dong brand too $1.80/KG (81 cents Au per Lb), go figure. The biggest prob we are having here is skilled labour, cause of our mining boom the mines are paying up to $50.00/hour for a 2nd class welder on permanent wages. How are we supposed to compete with that, hence I am desperate for trained staff. About 3 years ago I had 7 persons working for me, now I have one apprentice, almost all the rest have been pinched by the mines, I must be doing too good of a job training my guys though, they always get snapped up pretty quick. Phil

Hows about I send Dale some dates for around Feb and March that I can organise a 2 or 3 day do, I'll have to clear it with the Rail Museum (they are the main lessors of our site, if it clashes with one of their big weekends it may be difficult for blokes or sheilas wanting to get in and out of the site but otherwise no probs ) and we'll go from there. Oh yeh I'm gonna post the ball forging vid on Utube tonight look for something like" ball forging massey hammer blacksmith" Phil