Jason Fry

I'll try and capture a flame pic. Also have a couple of different sizes of mig tips around, may try a smaller and see how it goes. I am 100% sure part of it is wind, as I've observed that on multiple occasions. Still, seems to do it even when it's not windy.

Could the position of the mig nozzle relative to the air intake impact this problem? I have slack to move the nozzle forward or back in the tube. Took it apart and verified no clogs or junk in the nozzle.

Alright, forged about four hours today. Welded some Damascus also, very clean welds. Huffed intermittently all day running at 10 psi. Pulling the nozzle past the edge of the forge wall, further from the chamber, has no impact.

40 pound head. Tuned it up some More today. Hits plenty hard.

Tightened up a few more things after this, but I was able to forge a tapered socket mandrel from a piece of 1.25” round in about 5 heats. https://youtu.be/eTUtDKn1mmg

Here is a picture of the toggle linkage that lifts the motor up into the drive wheel. I revised this from a simple lever, and it works much better. Stepping down pulls the top bar forward, which lifts the motor. A couple of 90° joints and pivot points and it works pretty good.

Today’s the last day of my road trip. This hammer must absolutely be running by next Monday. Expect the finishing touches this weekend.

Final pic of the anvil assembly. 400 pounds. Linkage between the push rod and the spring pack. Final tire assembly

Yeah, maybe the big heavier guide up top to handle the stress from the spring/roller, and a smaller more precise one on the bottom to tighten it all down. Drawing out some options.

I was worried about the hammer ends hitting the guide more than anything... should have been more worried about the control. I've thought about adding a second, smaller guide as low as possible, but I'm thinking the better solution is to grind the current guide loose and lower it.

Here's the guide installed. I'm thinking of cutting it off and lowering it a couple of inches, as there's still more slop in the head at the dies than I want to see. I got the push arm attached, and hooked up the motor and treadle. I ran it about four or five hits for proof of concept, but still have some tack welds to finish welding, and need to add some lock washers in several places. I'll take a few more pics of the motor mount and push arm assemblies likely this evening. Won't likely upload a video for youtube until It's running all the way right.

First major error. Got the column together and figured out that the column was a foot too tall. That 4” square tube is 3/8 wall, killed a chop saw blade but got it cut down and re-welded. Back on track.

So far I'm only in around $200, and 160 of that is the motor. The rest was all scrap from a buddy's ranch. when he put the ranch up for sale, all the scrap had to go. As far as the welds, I agree, they are what they are. I don't intend to go wide-open crazy on this thing, and plan to take things slow. Most all the heavier welds were beveled, and the flat pieces ground down to clean metal. There's rust, but not in the joints. I intend to add some more support bracing as I get farther along as well, to take out some of the potential stress from movement on the main column.

Here’s the part I was most worried about. The anvil for the hammer is. 32” piece of 5.5” round stock, at 215 pounds. That is then inserted into a mud pump sleeve that’s another 175 or so, and also 5.5” bore. Now y’all know a hole has to be bigger than the thing you plan to stick in it. I polished all the rust out of the sleeve, then worked over the post with a flap wheel to knock off all the handling gouges and high spots. With that much weight, there’s not an easy way to test fit. It is all or nothing. I welded on some lift points to the anvil so I could lift it with a come along. I set the sleeve underneath, and used the come along to slowly lower the rod into the sleeve. I’ll be darned, it slid right in there. Whew!

Thanks for the detailed info!

More progress. Got the tire mounted where I think it needs to be on the base. Got the bearings for the ends of the drive arm set up. Smaller one goes on the spring end, bigger one on the tire end. Threaded parts allow me to adjust the distance between the dies. Hers a shot of the plate from further up the page. Bolts to the rim. Nuts welded on for 6.5, 7, 7.5 stroke. Long way to go yet. More pics tomorrow and Sunday.

‘‘Tis but a flesh wound.

I know that treadle hammers and power hammers are better at different tasks, but for my knifemaking, I'm thinking I'll sell my treadle hammer once the power hammer build is completed. I have no idea where to price this thing. It's a commercial build, but I don't know who or where, etc. Where should I start, price wise? This is an old picture, before I tuned the springs to hold the head up like they're supposed to, and before I added bolt on die plates for a set of combo dies.

Just found out yesterday that this piece will be in Blade magazine's "what's new" section in upcoming months.

Got the base plate screwed to the RR tie base last night. I also have most of the pieces ready to assemble on the base. Got bearings in the mail yesterday, and the motor should arrive tomorrow. Went with a 1.5 HP 1750 RPM motor and 3" drive wheel, which should end up around 218 beats per minute. I'll still have to fabricate the wheel once the round stock arrives later this week. Still lack the treadle and motor mount, but the design and fab there shouldn't be much, an hour or two. It'll be a hard push this weekend. If I can get it together on Saturday and work out the kinks on Sunday, that'll be perfect. Just as likely I'll fall a little short.

I had to give up on scrounging and go ahead and purchase a motor to meet the project timeline. Went with a 1.5hp 1750 RPM that I'll likely wire for 220. Now to shop for some stock from which to make the drive wheel... 3" likely, for a max BPM of 218.

Indeed, Frosty, wise thoughts. I'd love to find a 1750 and fab the smaller drive wheel. Also the hammer has a tire clutch, so I won't necessarily have to ever run it wide open.

Been reading a bit as I continue to work on my Rusty hammer about various BPM rates. Help me understand if/what I'm missing. The rate is driven primarily by the reduction in the RPM of the motor by the ratio between the drive wheel and tire diameter. I'm using a 24" tire. Math says: 2" drive 1750= 145 BPM 3200=266 BPM 3" drive 1750= 218 BPM 3200= 400 BPM In addition to the max sustainable rate, there's some slip/friction/loss in the system, so that you won't necessarily get the calculated number of BPM, correct? In addition to that, you have the limiting factor of the mechanics... some machines won't physically sustain too high of a rate without crazy vibration, failure, etc. My hammer has a 40 pound head and a fairly long leaf spring pack with four springs. I'm thinking somewhere in the 200 BPM range is what I should shoot for? Any help here?

Haven't fired it in a couple of weeks. Building that power hammer is taking up all my time. Yes 20 lb, but no frost. No moisture in the air to speak of.

The hammer ram goes up and down inside a guide. That’s the “guided” part of the guided helve hammer. Inside the guide will be UHMW plastic, adjustable with screws. Lots of tapping in 1/4” thick tubing with 3/8” tap. Here’s the roller assembly that will transfer the curved path of the helve spring into a straight up and down guided hammer head. Here’s the other end of the hammer head. Made for interchangeable heads in case I want to try different die shapes. Also built die plates for the anvil top. That way I can change the die or angle there as well.