dragon leaf

Air hammers dont reach full velocity, but they do keep pushing. They dont need the "slap" of the spring to move metal. If that spring cant expand and open up the energy never gets released. The beauty of making your own hammer is the ability to lower your anvil and step up the dies. It gives you that the versatility to be able to use tooling and not lose your blow. Beautiful thing if you know before you make it. Helve hammers have the ability to "open " up, as I stated. I love Helve hammers.

I've had limited success with powder coating. The biggest problem is making it important to the hourly employees doing the work. If they dont care your sunk. It will be very hard for them to get behind the collars on this job. Beyond that if it gets scratched its done for. Cleaning is crucial.

@ ptree There is a big difference in how an air hammer and a mech. hammer hits(Little Giant style/tire hammer). No matter what size stock you put in an air hammer you get the same hit. In a mechanical that changes. As you increase the size of your stock, or if you start using tooling, generally you lose power because the spring doesnt get a chance to unload its energy. You can adjust it to get some power back but not much. And this is with one disclaimer. A mechanical Helve style hammer is a beautiful thing. Its more of a direct drive pushing the ram as opposed to throwing it.

One thing about going down the 3 phase road is that 3 phase motors are alot cheaper than single phase. So in the future if you burn up a motor 3 phase is much cheaper to replace. Or if you get a piece of equipment without a motor, it easier to get it going. Especially as you get into bigger motors. Get rotary over static. Bigger is better, for the unknown future.

I know its an old thread, but..... Go to a farm store and get a cow trough warmer. Cows need water all winter. You just plug it in and throw it in your tub.

That sounds like a plan. The collars in this case are decorative. So I think I can use a thinner material in which I can paint them and set them cold, which would be great. It comes down to the collars being snug enough to stay in place. As much as Id like, galvanising isnt gonna happen. @glenn Will fix that. But in this case condensation happens anywhere. With or without salt. And being the type of thing that doesnt let air circulate efficiently covering it up is a problem.

I want it rust free. My reputations involved. Ive thought of galvanizing. But what a nightmare. These rails are 23ft long x 9ft tall.

Have large driveway railing job. It has about 400 collars. Any ideas on sealing them? Ive thought about using some silicone after they are installed to seal up cracks. Or possibly painting them first and using a torch to do the final two bends, as they are already formed in a "U" shape. Any idea is a good one. Thanks.