Does anybody have any information on a brooks power hammer . it is a large deep throat type guided helve hammer . possably used for plate shaping and planishing (by the domed tooling) . I have the top half of one and tooling but no anvil.....
If you have any info I would be most greatfull.

managed to drag this out and get a snap. The hammer head and slides are detached .... the fulcrum is movable up and down the frame altering the blow length . the ram has a solid piston within it that had an air resevoir trapped at either end to act as a spring cussion this has a large pin through it that attaches to the helve arm. the ram is around 30lb (from memory I'll re weigh it)
the motor set up was such that there was no on off or clutch , the hammer is set to run and turned off at a dol switch.
.If I do get it going I will change that probably with hydraulic motor and a decent brake......
If anybody has seen a complete one of these or anything like it it would be great to know.....

I dont have the anvil but do have enough stuff around to throw one together.
as an aside the dies areheld in place with some kind of taper (like a drill chuck) seems a little dangerous to me!

I can't recall it the book pounding out profits has information in it or not the next meeting I will pull it out of the library and check for you. Great save

No "Brooks" in the index. Not surprising, though, considering that it doesn't really focus on equipment outside the US.

Really interesting design, though. I hope someone has pictures of a complete one, so we can see it.

Couldn't it be a kind of 'Oliver' made to be thrown over any decent anvil in one's shop ?
Very cool stuff Owen ;)

weighed the ram and its a 50lber without the tooling in it.....

The double you first thought, but, heavier is better, nope :rolleyes:

G'day Basher,
Interesting machine you have there! As you said, there is every chance it is a planishing hammer, I think the Alldays & Onions machine below is similar-



The second photo appears to show the anvil, lying down, it doesn't appear to be that heavy.
This one was on our ebay last year, for stacks too much money!

Any chance you can sketch up the fulcrum centres and the layout of the air cushion cylinder? These would be very handy for replicating such a machine- I've been fascinated by air cylinder cushioning ever since I saw the Hackney hammer in 'Pounding out the Profits'.

Lastly, somewhere i have a tatty old catalogue of one of our local machinery makers from the 1930's. Amongst their more common cannery machines and inclinable presses is their version of the planishing hammers above. If you like I'll try dig it out and scan it some time...

regs,
AndrewOC

it does look to have a similar size space etc.
these seem to be bigger brothers to the yoda sheet metal working hammers. I can see no other reason to have such a deep throat. What weight does a yoda throw ?
I will check out the speeds on this hammer as I have all the original drive chain . Ill dig out the ram and take some photoes...

any more planishing info would br great.
All the best Owen

~All the planishing hammers that I have seen have been pneumatic. I have seen mechanical shaping hammers but these seem to use either a rubber block or a sandbag instead of a lower anvil. Do you have any photos of the lower dies?

here are some photos of the ram and lower dies...
the ram.
the bronze cylinder slides within a cylindrical hole which is blocked at both ends its a snugg fit . the square hole had a square bronze bush that I need to re make that sits inside it and then a pin that goes through it attaching it to the helve arm
there is as much movement in the cylinder as you see in the slot and the bronze cylinder is not air tight but close (was possible closer when new) I think the re would be a degree of damping at speed.


and the dies... top at top ...bottom at bottom. looks like planishing stuff to me but on a big scale.

The link below suggests that Brooks of Oldbury were making planishing hammers in the 1930s

http://www.gracesgui...rookes_(Oldbury)

Click on the link then click again on the 'search for page title' link

I think you mean Yoder hammer. Yoder and Pettingell make sheet metal shaping hammers. http://www.faybutler.com/yoder.htm

Yoda is a Jedi master... he may be small but you don't want to get on his bad side.

brad

Is it made by Brooks or Brookes? Are there any patent numbers on it?

That hammer is for sheet metal work. PM sent.

This hammer is crazy cool.  Any update on the project?  I found the attached image a while back in a random google image search.  I'd love to have more information on this type of forming hammer. 

 

 

-Adair

cheers for that , exactly what i was looking for.

 the one I have does not have the screw ajustment for the pivot travel.

 I still have it in the yard, I figure that it will cost more to make up the anvil  and Base than I would  have to spend to but a complete hammer.

 So it may be a non starter and end up as scrap its in the way.

 I only have the top part of the hammer (around a tonne) and the bottom tooling .

Owen,

Just a thought! The old blacker hammers used a real (as in London pattern) Anvil as an anvil(duh) and it would not be that great an effort to rig up a stand etc. To place your bit over it? And to rig up some form of die holder?

 

Ian

There are a series of metalshaping books by Tim Barton (deceased).  I haven't set eyes on them yet,  but have seen glimpses of similar machines covered in those books. 

 

Wow,  it would be tragic to scrap that machine, but that's easy for me to say since I'm not tripping over it to make a living.  There is so little documentation available on the use and development of hammers intended for forming plate and sheet metal.  I'd be knocking down your door for that hammer if I were in your neck of the woods. 

 

Had this one in my files as well, lebelled "longworths sliding fulcrum hammer".  My understanding is that these heavier forming hammers were likely employed for marine and industrial coppersmithing. 

 

 

If you ever have the chance to take more photos of the works on that Brooks Hammer,  I for one would really value it. 

 

-Adair Orr

I'd love to know more about the insides of the ram.  This could be a cool hammer build some day.  The drawing isn't revealing its secrets to me.  Can anyone explain that? 

 

-Adair

hmm... interesting. The concept is very interesting.

Might be a candidate for hydraulic power? Use a hydraulic motor with a flow valve to the treadle for the rotation, and a small cylinder to motion the fulcrum where you want it with a valve nearby. You could adjust the throw of the hammer on the fly.

...Oh, re-read your post, you are thinking a hydraulic motor already, cool. I dont think you'll need a brake, mine stops on a dime when I let off the treadle, the flow control valve I use isnt a motor spool (which are designed to let the motor coast to a stop), the motor stops almost instantly when the flow is cut to it.

I'm curious about the fate of this hammer.  Any news?  It really looks to be quite a cool machine for the right purpose. 

 

-Adair