Magister

Oops! It was 50# LG, not a 25. It was many years ago. My bad. Magister

Our 100# Bradley Strap Hammer has been in daily service for about 20 years and no leaks worth mentioning. No problem with the brake wheel either. Frosty mentioned a bad seal or Babbitt bearing wear, which is a real possibility. I've never poured Babbitt for a 100# hammer, but I did rebuild a 25# Little Giant for one of my students. Two points to remember when you pour are how much you pour & temperature of the bearing cavity. (1) 500 degrees F or 260 C is what you want the bearing cavity at when you pour. I used a rosebud with oxy/acet and an infrared thermometer with a laser to measure the temperature of the cavity. I got a Babbitt kit from Centaur Forge in Wisconsin, don't recall the cost, and the laser thermometer was $30 from Harbor Freight. The kit had all I needed to do the job. (2) Make sure you have melted more than enough Babbitt to fill the cavity. Weigh the remnants from the worn bearing and add 50%. If the pour is short there will be voids in the Babbitt and you know what a pain it was to remove it the 1st time. Pour only shiny metal, don't let any dross get in the cavity as it makes porous voids which are best avoided. Not a do over, but voids collect dirt will wear a groove in the shaft. A quick fix would be to remove the brake wheel and rig a seal around the shaft between the journal and the brake wheel. If it can be bolted on where the shaft exits the journal area you can tighten it further to stop the leak. Please be advised that as the Babbitt wear advances, it may wear the journal opening til it's out of round. Not a good thing. Good Luck & Stay Well, Magister Stoughton, Wisconsin, US

We had some bad luck 3/31 - 4/1/2023! The fire took out the forge in Madison, Wisconsin. The Bradley, 100#, Upright Strap Hammer has seen better days, as you can see. However, I have been working on it since the fire, and the good news is that all the parts that move still do! The paint job is toast, but the bearings etc., did not get hot enough to melt the babbit metal so we can save it. All the rubber burned up totally and I need dimensions and a source to replace the two round cushions that sat atop one another at the rear of the arms which lifted the straps and the top 100# die. This hammer served us well for over 20 years and deserves to be resurrected. The patent was issued in 1896 and the illustration shows the rubber cushions, or shock absorbers, at the rear of the hammer. The gray hammer is not ours but is basically the same and shows the missing rubber cushions, just two. As we all know, moving things like this on the spur of the moment is NOT easy. I was lucky to save it from the scrap yard and get it to a safe location in the same day. The shop it's in now has been sold and I have about a month to get it up and running, and moved,before the new owner takes possession and scraps it. Any ideas, information, sources etc. will be greatly appreciated. Help if you can. Thanks & Stay Well, Magister William L. Howard (Bill) headmaster Howard Academy Metal Arts howardacademy168@gmail.com