"Modified" treadle hammer

[Iron Falcon 72]

Does anyone have any photos of one? What is "modified"? Is it a "modified swingarm type? I see the plans are available at ABANA but they don't have any pics of what "modified" means.

I have a swingarm type that I purchased used. I'm trying to see if there are any improvements I should consider.

[twcoffey]

The modified swingarm type plans from ABANA is the Hans Peot designed modification.
It is height adjustable for variable height tooling and a definite improvement.
I prefer the Clay Spencer Inline Treadle Hammer since hammer path is vertical and doesnot travel in an arc and does not require adjustment for a large range of applications.

[Iron Falcon 72]

I think that's probably a good idea as well but I bought a used swingarm type just to get going. I tend to get to involved in making "perfect" tools and not enough in making stuff. I just want to know how to adjust and use this one.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Iron Falcon 72
typo

[twcoffey]

Basically the swing type treadle hammer pivots from a fixed location on the column. The only improvement that can be made is to have that location adjustable. That is what Hans Peot realized and redesigned the basic swing type to provide that flexibility. Clay Spencer also had a version of the adjutable swing hammer but then moved on to the inline version.
No matter what you do to the swing type the hammer head still strikes with a glancing blow instead of a direct vertical blow. With some modification to the swing type hammer your can convert it to inline. You already have the base, anvil, and column. You need to apply Clay's design to your hardware.

[Dave Hammer]

Early on, I though the inline treadle would be better, so I made one. Since then, I have used both types of treadle hammers. Personally, I perfer the simple implementation of the swing arm.

I have noticed the swing-arm hammers seem to work easier and more effective (than in-line implementations) if the springs are set up well. I have also found that... unless the arms are extremely short, the arc doesn't have any significant effect on the use of the hammer. The arc could be set up for a straight-on strike of your hand-held tooling if the tooling is a constant length. An adjustable pivot point for the arm certainly could be desirable, but not really necessary unless the arc is extreme or you have tooling of significant length differences. All your hand-held tooling could be made so the hammer strikes it at approximately the same height from the anvil.

If you are using spring swages, a slight mis-alignment of the hammer dies at the point which the top swage is struck should not be significant.

YMMV.

Edited October 26, 2009 by djhammerd

[twcoffey]

I guess your question was "How to Adjust?".
The principle of adjustment of a swing type treadle hammer is that you want the hammer to contact the piece or tooling as close to the vertical tangent of the arc as practical.
For the simple swing arc hammer you have to reach a compromise of somewhere around 1" above the bottom die.
For the modified design(ABANA/Hans Peot) you can adjust that point easily for pieces or tooling as required.
With the inline hammer adjustment is normally not required except for the initial alignment of the hammer.

[Rich Hale]

I woiuld not modify or do anything to your hammer until I had used it enough to know wot it needs if anything to make it do the work I want...