I am rebuilding my treadle hammer to an inline version. As it was a junk yard hammer first time round I have some constraints to work within.
I am only going to get about 44cm(17in) between the anvil and the hammer.

Will this be OK or will I just get too frustrated? What do other people have in their hammers?

Thanks for the help and comments in advance.

I am planning on using a version of a Hoekens linkage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoekens_linkage I used some parameters found in one of the links on that page to give final dimensions. I am trying to have to do any drastic remodelling so that if it cannot work then I will go back to my Gade Marx current design.

I am rebuilding my treadle hammer to an inline version. As it was a junk yard hammer first time round I have some constraints to work within.
I am only going to get about 44cm(17in) between the anvil and the hammer.

Will this be OK or will I just get too frustrated? What do other people have in their hammers?

I have a Clay Spencer in-line treadle hammer and I have 17 1/4" between the anvil and head. This gives me 16 1/4" between the flat dies. My various pairs of fullers are between 2" and 2 1/2" high each so that leaves me about 12" or so when I am using them. Seems to work very well for me.

Doesn't this sort of depend on *YOUR* methods of work and what you do?

With handled short tools that's still a bunch of space for most types of work; however if you are working big stuff and need a longer acceleration path then you might find issues

Here is a treadle version that you may consider. It hits true and very hard. I believe the travel between the dies are around the same dimension but I will check to make sure and get back to ya.

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/45

Thank you all for your responses. I will be able to make the changes as planned and still be usable.

Not the best pictures but here is the rebuilt treadle hammer.

I did a bit of forging with it today. It works pretty well. There is 8 mm total variation from absolute linearity. A lot better than the standard Gade Marx that I had. I don't have quite as much vertical movement as I had hoped and I struggled to get the springs tuned. I may have to make some changes to improve it.



Here is a closer picture of the linkages.



Thanks for looking.

I have done some more mods on my treadle hammer conversion to inline. I also decided as it is the heaviest piece of equipment I have to attach my post leg vice to it. I like the result. The 'new' treadle hammer is far better. It seems to have more whip and is nicer to use.

It doesn't look pretty and neither does the post leg vice. I have to refurbish the post leg vice but that will have to be another day and I can use it like it is, which I could not do without it attached somewhere.