farmer12888 Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 Just got in from finishing on the hammer for the day. I tried to mount the motor with the help of an engine hoist. Took a long time to find places to lift to balance the large 3HP motor and the cobbled-up bracket that it and the belt pulley sit on. The previous owner torched one of the supports they had made at some point. They may have done it to allow the motor bracket to flex down to put some tension on the belt! There is so much slack in the belt, when the motor bracket is held level, that it is 4 or 5 inches from touching the pulley at all with the pedal up. That setup will have to be changed. I don't know how Fairbanks mounted the motor initially, but this bracket is not it. It does appear that the motor has to be mounted very high-nearly 5 and 1/2 feet high, in order for the belt not to rub the machine frame. With the length of the belt, the motor has to sit quite a ways away from the frame and then the belt pulley sits inside of that. The motor is probably 3 feet out from the frame. It is out there so far and so heavy that it almost seems that legs down to the floor and braces over to the frame are worth considering. I cleaned out all of the oil holes with a piece of wire as someone suggested. I then squirted penetrating oil down the holes trying to clean them out better. It is odd but the left-sided arm that attaches to the ram does not appear to have oil holes in the top of it like the right side. I dug and dug, and I just think it does not have any. I think I found all of the holes, including both in top of the ram that are kind of hidden, but I am not sure I found one in the idler. I will make a note to look. Any suggestions on a motor and pulley mounting bracket? How much contact/tension should there be between the belt and the pulleys when the pedal is up? How tight should the belt be when the pedal is pushed down? I have to have some knowledge of this as a starting point to fabricate a motor and pulley mounting bracket. I will build in some adjustment in both the motor mount and the pulley mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dimenickel Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 i did a little googling and found abit... looks like they run it on a line shaft from above..Conway Tool & Forge - Power HammerNJBA Meet at Bruce Ringier's April 2004Mystic Seaport Museum photos - Bladesmith's Forum Board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer12888 Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 I said I would post pictures of the project, and I took some, but I am unable to reduce them to the low resolution that the site requires. I can only get to 419KB, and they must be no more than 244KB I believe. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer12888 Posted October 10, 2009 Author Share Posted October 10, 2009 Fairbanks hammers could be bought either for line shaft or for electric motor. I believe mine is for the electric motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal L Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 Go here and look for the image resizer. tool.Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP Once you get it you can resize a picture with just a couple of clicks of the mouse. All you have to do is right click on the image you want to resize and pick resize image. Then a box opens and give a choice of small, medium or large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer12888 Posted October 11, 2009 Author Share Posted October 11, 2009 I use a Mac, so I will need to find something that allows me to make the images lower resolution. I am sure something is out there. After looking at the hammer a bunch more, it is quite possible this was a line-driven hammer at one time. My drive pulley is inside the frame. In Freund's book (page 274), the only hammer pictured driven directly by an electric motor has the drive pulley on an extended main shaft and outside the back of the frame. That is a large hammer with a big motor. It would be great to know if the smaller motor-driven hammers were configured the same way. Does anyone know or have a picture? The line-driven hammers that used a countershaft, which allowed the hammer to be installed in places like battleships where the ceiling height was limited, according to Freund, also had the pulley off the back of the hammer (page 276). I bought an air needle scaler yesterday and started removing the paint from the hammer, in preparation of painting it. I was going to wait to do it, but I just went for it yesterday. If you have ever thought about painting your hammer, that tool is an absolute must. The machinery broker that I bought the hammer from suggested it, and man that thing works. Somewhat-flexible heavy wires stick out the end and are moved back and forth by air which seems to pulverize the paint, and it comes jumping off the hammer in flakes. It took me about 4 hours of hard work to remove the paint from 80% of the hammer, and I mean it is nearly completely clean metal. I had already degreased the hammer. The scaler works best on hard, stable surfaces, which makes it ideal for a heavy hammer. I left everything assembled, in order to have the most stable work surface I could have, but after I get all of the paint off that I can, I will disassemble the hammer and finish the paint stripping. I bought an Ingersol Rand 125 scaler for $165.00. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 I think you are right about it being for line shaft drive. Not just the placement of the pulley, but I believe the motor drive ones had an internal clutch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judson Yaggy Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 Grant, I could be wrong but I'm not sure I agree, I've seen a fair number of Fairbanks and have yet to see one with an integral clutch. Part of their marketing was to sell a hammer with as few moving parts as possible. Would be neat if I was wrong, something new to look for at the tool sales! My Model E, 150#, has the inboard belt pulley like you see in all the photos, but the guy I bought it from claimed that the jackshaft and motor were original equipment. Don't know if he knew what he was talking about but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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