What the....?

[thecelticforge]

It's me again Margaret... Actually, it's Wind.

I have a conundrum here. My Fairbanks hammer came with two dies The lower is flat with a "V" notch in it. The upper one is just flat. I thought that the previous owner had just put a too small die in the top because when I loosened the pitman arm and the hammer dropped down as far as it could go, the linkage from the side arms to the hammer rested upon the frame. There was still a good inch and a half between the two dies.

I just removed the dies from the pickeling solution (cleaning) and I saw that the top die had marks where it had been dubbing against the "V" notch in the lower die.

How is this possible? The side arm linkage won't allow the hammer to go any lower, yet when the linkage is resting against the frame, there is a full inch and a half between them.

If it helps, the dies had a good 3 inches between them when I purchased it.

[thecelticforge]

With the electric motor turned off so that the hammer won't pound, a good distance between the top and bottom die, "rule of thumb" is the distance of the thickness of your index and middle finger together(about an inch and a half). This is to be measured WITH THE HAMMER TURNED OFF, otherwise, you might accidently crush your fingers. If the dies are too close while the hammer is at rest, you might do damage to your dies. If that distance is too great, your tup mechanism gets strained.

So when the hammer is working the side arms will go to the center and the linkage will go down; when it is at rest there will be about an inch and a half space between the dies?

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Ah yes, the old "angle of the dangle" conundrum. I think the problem is that you can only examine the hang of the hammer in a static situation. The linkage in operation is very dynamic. The way you're seeing it, the toggle arms are near horizontal. In operation the hammer is thrown down and the toggle arms are angled into the opening giving more clearance. Raise it back up to where it was when you got it and see how it works.

[thecelticforge]

absolutely. That "rule of thumb" works for all spring loaded triphammers that I have ever used, the rest distance between top and bottom dies should be about two fingerwidths

Grassy aspirins

Thanks ;)

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Stewartsmith: Gonna have to disagree on that description a little. While some hammers have a slotted flywheel, most have an adjustable pitman arm to change the height of the linkage. The slotted flywheel changes the overall stroke and after making changes there you usually need to make adjustments to the pitman and sometimes the spring tension (if adjustable).

[Dave Hammer]

Both Fairbanks hammers I have owned (100# and 150#) are two pieced hammers. Is yours a two piece hammer? If the anvil is bolted to the frame.... Loosen the bolts and RAISE the anvil (put something under it).

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Both Fairbanks hammers I have owned (100# and 150#) are two pieced hammers. Is yours a two piece hammer? If the anvil is bolted to the frame.... Loosen the bolts and RAISE the anvil (put something under it).

Very good Dave. I should have remembered that. My Fairbanks had beat the anvil down a couple inches and I had to do just that!

[thecelticforge]

Both Fairbanks hammers I have owned (100# and 150#) are two pieced hammers. Is yours a two piece hammer? If the anvil is bolted to the frame.... Loosen the bolts and RAISE the anvil (put something under it).

Oh, I don't think I will do that, I have already picked that thing up enough ;)

[Dave Hammer]

Oh, I don't think I will do that, I have already picked that thing up enough

Suit yourself, but if you don't, your are limiting the useful stroke you can have, and... sometime in the future, you will break something on your Dupont linkage.

You don't have to lift your whole hammer, there should be holes in the sides of the anvil you can put a rod into and use hydraulic jacks to lift the anvil....

[thecelticforge]

Suit yourself, but if you don't, your are limiting the useful stroke you can have, and... sometime in the future, you will break something on your Dupont linkage.

You don't have to lift your whole hammer, there should be holes in the sides of the anvil you can put a rod into and use hydraulic jacks to lift the anvil....

Thanks When I glue up the wooden part of the footing, I plan on using end grain under the hammer. I will leave that part free floating so I can easily replace it.

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

there are several points of adjustment, both in the flywheel slot and the arms. To run a hammer efficiently, both have to be adjusted correctly, if at all possible. Since all types of hammer are different, folks have to take advantage of all areas of adjustment. Even on bradleys with helves, there are adjustments that can be made to make a hammer run efficiently.

Couldn't agree more. I just feel the pitman is a better place to start. People who don't know what or why they're doing something should leave the stroke adjustment alone.

[peacock]

get a piece of threaded rod that will go thru the yokes on the bottom of the arms above the ram put on some washers and nuts. tighten the nuts till the coil spring is coil bound. With the ram at the bottom of the stroke Does the dies touch each other? are the toggle links touching the ram guide? If the toggle links do not have some clearence, or the dies are not touching your dies stack is to low( bottom dies needs to be higher top die lower) or both. Or anvil block up. If not you are going to destory your hammer linkage and/or hurt yourself. If the links have clearence but dies don't touch adjust the crosshead down on the pitman this may correct the problem. Too much stroke can also be the problem. Take a little time to look at all this and it should become clear what each adjustment does and how they work together.

[thecelticforge]

get a piece of threaded rod that will go through the yokes on the bottom of the arms above the ram put on some washers and nuts. tighten the nuts till the coil spring is coil bound.

Thanks for this too. It should solve another conundrum I was having. How to get the spring to compress so I can put the linkage back together after I clean it.

I just ordered a new spring and a couple of spares. I am lucky that it is only 80 miles to the East side of Atlanta. The land where springs are made. I still am a bit concerned about the spacing between the coils. There is only 1/8th inch between each one and I am thinking that it will not allow the top die to go down enough.

However, as it is, the linkage to the side arms is nearly horizontal to the ground so perhaps a spring with fewer coils that would be spaced farther apart?

[thecelticforge]

That spring looks sprung! not much travel left in there looks like.

it does look like it. However, the side arms are as far out as they can go.