Would seem kinda hard to loose a cushion plug as I would think you have to pull the entire front end of the hammer apart!

I imagine they must have scavenged it for parts.

The dies fell off in transit, wow. The guy they got it from has 9 nazel, I would assume he knows how to set the dies just fine...

Man Kerry...

I do have to say that was nice of Bruce to send you the drawings.

I hope all that happend is they "stole" the cushion plug for another hammer...

My fingers are crossed for ya...

I cant imagine why you would bother to steal one! Seems a pretty dam simple part to pull the ram out of a hammer and remove it.

At least the compressor side seems to be working fine. The oiler is great and we are running it on a DC low speed motor I already had. Motor started right up with no issues or bearing noise.

The drawings were more a parts list and location from an old manual, but yes very nice of him to offer them.

Mark Krause's repairing pics on facebook are also great help. That way you can see exactly what NOT to do as well. He is repairing some pretty awful stuff and making it work again.

Mark Krause's repairing pics on facebook are also great help. That way you can see exactly what NOT to do as well. He is repairing some pretty awful stuff and making it work again.

Kerry...got a link to Krause's facebook page?

Ric

PM

Update on this hammer.

The ram was removed and is indeed missing the cushion plug. The ram had been machined to accept the plug from beneath and even was drilled for locking screws. Currently there is a new plug that fits from beneath and the flats for the guides are being dressed and machined so that they are centered to the plug (they were only 2 thou out so no issue there). The top of the ram where the guide surfaces meet were poorly blended (but only about 15 thou removed) and we are recutting the radius. This was obviously interfering with the guide plates.

The cushion tower was removed and checked. There was some galling at the location of the cushion bushing BECAUSE IT WAS NOT PRESENT. The last person in this hammer obviously made a cushion plug the same size as the opening and allowed a steel on steel fit. Galling removed, cushion bushing fitted and radiused. The surfaces were amazingly within 3 thou and in perfect condition. The ring on this part was actually worn thin and broken, we will have to replace it. I have not sourced it yet.

The guide ring is another matter. It was repaired by brazing and is cracked all around. There are a few options to repair it but replacing is the most reasonable.

The guide plates are exactly what I suspected once I knew the ram issues. They are like new, polished with wonderful oil grooving. They are however hardened steel rather then cast iron and have done some damage to the ram, thankfully this hammer hasnt run much since 'rebuilt' and damage was very small. It would have sucked if we didnt already have the ram out being serviced.


I'm feeling confident on the work being done. The shop doing the cutting understands exactly whats going on. Good thing as my 2b is now coming apart....

The 2b is beautiful!

Kerry, what do you mean by "guide ring"? I have used Poly-pac ™ rings in many of these hammers, especially the cushion cylinder. If the OD needs to be 8" and you're using a 1/4" ring, you cut a groove 1/4 wide with the bottom of the groove being 7-1/2" D. then you use a Poly-pac (urethane) of 7-1/2 ID or a little smaller and stretch the ring into place. For pneumatics, remember to remove the O-ring from the poly-pac.

I'll be picking your brain a bit on this Grant, its more relevant then you might think

I'll start a thread on the 2b separately to help those with the same issues.

The 2b is beautiful!

Gee Sam, that looks like one I threw in the trash a few years ago.

one man's trash is another's treasure :D

Just joshin' ya Sam, looks like a real diamond in the rough.

Just joshin' ya Sam, looks like a real diamond in the rough.

Its really very nice. The negatives are all due to the oil cup on the con rod coming loose. The bearing is wiped and the journal will have to be ground. The ram is in excellent shape and tight.

Update and info sought,

The ram has been welded up where the dovetail was bashed up a bit and the machinist wants to know exact proper dimensions and angles.

Anyone have this info I can share with him?

Glad to have forward motion on this again. Very glad!

The dovetails are usually 7º, but sometimes 5º. Draw for the wedge should be 1/8" per foot.

Is there draw in the dovetail or just on the wedge itself?

Well, they need to match. Most manufacturers use parallel sided dovetails on the dies, so if you have a taper in the slot you need to have a matching taper on the wedge.

Getting closer!

The guide ring has been rebuilt and has a new solid steel ring pressed and pinned in place

The ram has been trued up and has a new cushion plug installed. The dovetails have also been welded up and recut like new.

The cushion tower has the new cushion bushing installed

We are only needing new guide plates to replace the tool steel ones and a new ring on the cushion tower

Hopefully more updates in the next couple of weeks.

Congrats, Kerry and friends. I just loked at Grant Sarver's last post (bless his soul) and I think he was wrong. Usually dies have taper in their dovetail pin and slots with parallel sides so that dies can be placed anywhere in the slot and the same wedge will work. If the slot is given the 1 degree angle, the wedge will have to be quite long and at one end quite thick, to account for this. Check out one of your other Nazels to be brand-specific. My experience is with quite a few other brands of dies.

The slot on my Massey is tapered and the dies are parallel. The advantage of this is you are more likely to make more dies than slots. My understanding is that the steam hammers in the shop my hammer cam out of were the same. I am curious about a 1 degree angle? I remember Grant and others mentioning 1/8" in 12" being a common key taper, this is also the taper for the Massey. 1/8" in 12" is .5968 of a degree.

Without grabbing my calculator right now to verify, I have used the approximations that 7 degrees is about 1/8" in 1" and 1 degree is about 1/8" in 6".

I just made a new key for my 3 B and the taper we used was 1/8" in 12". The sides were tipped to a 5 degree angle.

Glad to hear progress is being made Kerry! I can't wait to see this hammer running!

-d

I took my 1 degree and 7 degree numbers from Kuhn info as translated through Uri Hofi and Tom Clark. Sahinler uses 1 and 7 also. All use parallel sides on the sockets and 1 degree lenthwise taper sides on die dovetail pins. I do believe Little Giant uses these numbers based upon dies that have passed through my shop. I also know the the rapid presses used by a Baltimore cutlery manufacturer used dies with these numbers. I may still have a set of those dies on the shelf with a table fork imprint in them.

So the numbers are all over the place, though similar. Grant even developed a die that was flush on one side and 7 degrees tapered on the other side, and he claimed they worked just fine for him.

The dovetail bits used by woodworkers also vary as any catalog will show. 6 and 7 degree sides are common.

Machining bits for steel are not available except in 45 and 60 degree forms, to the best of my knowledge. I have mine custom made. BUT I WOULD DEFINITELY LIKE TO FIND OUT IF THERE IS A COMPANY THAN CAN DO C-6 CARBIDE BITS IN A 67 DEGREE TAPER.

I guess both the 1/8" in 12 and 1 degree seem to be something of a standard taper. I guess there are much fewer standards in forging hammers than there are in cars.

I have used this company to make custom cutters for me http://jadetool.ca/index.html I am pretty sure the last one was solid carbide. I know they manufacture regular solid carbide end mills as well so I am sure they could make your cutters. I would think you could find somewhere closer that could do it for you. You might try posting over on the Practical machinist website looking for a closer source.