NAPA sells a product called "Knock-R-Loose" which is a really good penetrating oil for disassembly of threads and other tight assemblies - or you can make your own brew with 50/50 ATF and acetone. An O/A torch is also good for the really tough ones.

He refuses to say "meccaleccahigh, meccahigneyho"!

Bad news that.If he can`t do that he`ll never get the secret handshake down,that`s for sure. :blink:

He refuses to say "meccaleccahigh, meccahigneyho"!

I was saying meccaleccahigh, meccahigneyho back when you were naught by a spry lad! :D

Matt I got your email. I will sort thru all my Bradley stuff and get copies made. later today, but right now I am headed to the shop to make 4 plant handers useing the 125 and 40. I have drawing dies on the 125 for breaking down the stock and flat dies set on a slight taper for finishing up the long round tapers the 40 sure saves alot of time on those long tapered sections. They are about 36 inches long 7/8 on 1 end down to 3/8 can rough out in 1 heat on the big hammer & finish in one more on the 40. I'll get the stuff rounded up for you soon I think someone else is wanting this info also. Phil

I'll get the stuff rounded up for you soon I think someone else is wanting this info also. Phil

Thanks, Phil!

Unless you can think of any reason I shouldn't, it's my intention to generate a website with as many photos, links, and documents as I can for this project. I think if all of this was readily available it would be a greater incentive to consider these as viable projects, and maybe save a few more from the scrap pile!

Thanks, Phil!

Unless you can think of any reason I shouldn't, it's my intention to generate a website with as many photos, links, and documents as I can for this project. I think if all of this was readily available it would be a greater incentive to consider these as viable projects, and maybe save a few more from the scrap pile!

Matt, that's a great idea. I was getting ready to ask Phil for a copy of the manual for myself, but if you are going to gather this stuff on a website, I'll save him the trouble. There are several Bradley owners on this site with a lot of great experience to share.

Matt, I second Freddie's "thumb's up". A website would be a great way to share info on Bradleys. Let us know when you get 'er cranked up!
Dave

Sorry I don't have any updates, gang... I've been busy at work, and I needed to order another wrench to get some of the stuff on this pig moving! I'm not sure what kind of time I'll have, but I'll try and get some more pics of the little progress I've made, as well as some better shots of the bearings with the caps off.

Matt and firefarm39 I have found the info you want PM me your address & I'll try to get it to you Phil

So here's some updates... so far, the only real issues have just required some serious force and lots of sweat equity.
The lower cushions sit in the seats shown above... however, they've got a threaded rod with a jamb nut under them, and as you can see from the picture, it really doesn't look like anything is supposed to move. Except it does, of course! I had to remove the bolts entirely (the back one was lots of work, but not too bad) then insert a 7/8" bar in the hole and break it free from underneath with a 10lb. sledge. Now, many of you have never met me, so before any of the folks gunning for me get a chance, I'll describe myself: I'm 39, 6'2", 168lbs, and have all the muscle mass and tone that a cushy job selling stereos gives you, which is next to none. So imagine a few pipecleaners with a couple wads of chewed bubblegum and you get the idea...
Anyways, it was a lot of work, but the rear cushion adjustment seat finally broke free. It was entirely caked with who knows what, and it sure didn't want to come out.



Here's the pocket it sat in:



The front one was MUCH worse. When removing the adjusting rod, I ended up using a combination of big-ass pipe wrench and sledgehammer and spud wrench with 7' of black iron pipe as a breaker bar. Alas! The incredible resistance was a result of a completely destroyed section of thread just under the cushion adjustment seat. The threads for this seat will need to be re-cut, I hope... if not, then I'll have to drill it out and likely do a big heli-coil or something. Regardless, it took a ton of work to get the rod out. On to hammering the cushion seat free. It took three different days of slugging, and finally the only way it came loose was by removing the anvil from the hammer (heavy!) to clear a path so could 'baseball bat' swing the sledge. Using this technique and resorting to burning the surrounding area where the nasty cakey stuff was and scraping with a chisel, it broke free.

Here's what the cushion seats look like when they've been cleaned up and given a good coat of oil to prevent them from corroding any further:







Compare this to the picture BEFORE I got it out, and you'll get an idea why this was so nasty!



Here's a shot of the anvil and hammer separated:



I've had to start a pretty nifty collection of wrenches for this project, too! Here's the striking wrench I needed to break the jamb nuts free... not too often you get a chance to use a 10lb with a 10lb hammer! Not sure why these went out of vogue, as they made short work of every single big jamb nut on this ol' girl.



Finally, I spoke with a friend that has lots of hard rock maple... I need to take some measurements, then I start the helve!

Thanks for posting the pictures. I'm really enjoying following your progress with this beast.

Phil (aka peacock) was kind enough to take the time and effort to photocopy his instruction manual for this style of hammer, and send me a copy. I intend to scan it and post the .pdf files I create here, as well as on the website I'm planning for this hammer. Hopefully, I'll get to it this weekend.

Phil, I can't thank you enough! :)

Hey gang!

I finished scanning the manual that Phil sent me, and I'll be hosting it here, for all to download:

Bradley Cushioned Helve Hammer Manual


Phil - again - I really can't say "thank you" enough, this is a tremendous boon for me. I hope it will help others, too!

It's supposed to be hella hot today, so I might start work on a dedicated website for the hammer. We'll see...

Here's a youtube video of a similar hammer in action, although I think one of the comments is correct under it... isn't the drive belt supposed to go in front of the idler pulley?

That was my comment, one of the first things I look at on a slack belt drive. The motor pulls the belt tight on one side so the idler needs to be on the other. Otherwise, as the belt gets tight it pushes the idler away.

The idler is on the correct side of the belt, however the belt is turning the wrong way. The side of the belt closest to the die should be moving from bottom to top. This is a poor example of what this hammer is capable of. phil

The idler is on the correct side of the belt, however the belt is turning the wrong way. The side of the belt closest to the die should be moving from bottom to top. This is a poor example of what this hammer is capable of. phil

I wondered about that, Phil... unfortunately, it's the only example of one of these hammers I've seen. Maybe I should get rid of the link, as I'd prefer NOT to cause any spread on the wrong information...

Unfortunately, I've had to put this project on the back burner for the last few weeks - too much work - at work!

Also, I've encountered a bit of a stumbling block on this project and I'm not sure how to proceed... the threads in the lower cushion seat adjuster are pretty ugly, and I can't seem to locate a tap to clean the threads up. Anyone know where I might be able to score a 1-5/16" x 7tpi tap? I hate the idea of having to get one made, as it'll likely cost a fortune.

The idler is on the correct side of the belt, however the belt is turning the wrong way. The side of the belt closest to the die should be moving from bottom to top. This is a poor example of what this hammer is capable of. phil

Right you are, Peacock! My actual comment on Youtube was that it was going the wrong way. The placement of the idler is in the design, but the direction it runs is up to the installer. Near impossible to tighten the belt with it pushing back on the idler like that.

So after killing a couple hours letting fish no larger than the lures I was using stare blankly at me, I decided that I just wasn't going to wait any longer to either wreck this old girl, or continue forward. I can't justify getting a custom tap cut (especially if there's a chance that all that will happen is that the blunted, smeared threads that are left in the lower cushion cup are just going to fall out!). Seeing the damage on the original adjusting bolt (not sure what caused it to begin with), I filed the first two thread's worth off, and blended the existed threads smooth to use as a thread chaser.

Here's a shot of some of the 'bulge' that caused the problem... unfortunately, I had already started to file when I remembered to take pictures, so you don't get to see that the bulging occurred all the way around:





Here's what it looks like now, after removing the ruined threads:






Although there was lots of resistance, bit by bit it re-aligned the smeared threads in the lower cushion cup. A quarter turn at a time, un-thread it, clean the threads out with a toothbrush, thread the bolt back in, rinse, repeat. All that's left are the final 1/4" where the greatest amount of distortion occurred. I just didn't have enough umph! to get it done today, and I was starting to get sloppy, so I quit.

My bride caught this super action shot of me during the aforementioned task. Told ya I was skinny!



One more day of working at it, and this shouldn't be an issue. Then on to getting the eccentric free so the ram throw can be adjusted!

I think the upsetting was most likely caused from the hammer being run with the cushions not snug enough. Looks like you have that fixed. If the eccentric is adjusted near the center of adjustment I would put the rest of the hammer togather and run it keep it well oiled and it will much easier to deal with. Mine was stuck also and I could not get it to move. I was afraid I would break it so I used the above method. After month it adjusted easily. Phil

If the eccentric is adjusted near the center of adjustment I would put the rest of the hammer togather and run it keep it well oiled and it will much easier to deal with. Mine was stuck also and I could not get it to move. I was afraid I would break it so I used the above method. After month it adjusted easily. Phil

That was my plan! Seemed to me that letting the hammer do the work would be a nice change, too...

Guess I gotta get rolling on the helve. I think tomorrow I'll put a couple of the husk screws back in place and tighten them down, then loosen them up - see if the husk assembly moves the way its supposed to.

Here's a video my buddy Sam Salvati found of a Bradley hammer still in operation. He's posted this in another thread, but I wanted to include it here so anyone that stumbles across it can see how it should run!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYigQPJalXE

WOOHOO!!!!

Look what I got:



My friend finally got the chance to turn the cushions to the taper I needed, and here's a picture of one!

He made 5 of them for me (one spare), and now I've really got to get moving on the helve - man, I wish it wasn't so busy at work! The notches are due to the fact that they had an existing mould that they used for this project, and I can't imagine it affecting the performance of the hammer. If these work out for this project, I'll find out if they'd be willing to manufacture these for other folks.

MANY MANY thanks to Joe Divissich and the crew at Apple Rubber products - this project would likely have been permanently hung up if it wasn't for these guys!