FAIRBANKS HAMMER

[nalain18]

I AM A RELATIVLY NEW HAMMER USER-OWNER. THE HAMMER IS A 150 LB FAIRBANKS. I HAVE POSTED SEVERAL QUESTIONS OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS AND THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP. IN THE LAST FEW DAYS MY HAMMER HAS SHOWN A SLOPPINESS (HOPE THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE) AND TODAY SHOWED A SLOPPINESS IN THE SPRINGS THAT I AM UNABLE TO FIGURE OUT. THE SPRINGS BECAME LOOSE AND THE HAMMER IS VIBRATING AND I AM UNABLE TO HOLD A STEADY BEAT. SOMETIMES DOUBLE OR TRIPLE BEAT AND VERY IRRATIC. QUESTION?? HOW DO I ADJUST THE SPRINGS TO MAKE IT COME BACK TO A SINGLE ,, NON VIBRATING HIT?? THIS STARTED (OUT OF THE BLUE) AS I SAID I AM REALLY NEW TO POWER HAMMERS AND ADJUSTING THINGS HAS GOT ME A BIT CONFUSED/WORRIED THAT I WILL BREAK MY TOY. HOPE THERE IS HELP OUT THERE. FAIRBANKS MODEL EZ 11 CANADIAN MADE, ABOUT 1925 AS FAR AS MY RESEACH HAS FOUND. HELP. STEVE

[E.F. Thumann]

I AM A RELATIVLY NEW HAMMER USER-OWNER. THE HAMMER IS A 150 LB FAIRBANKS. I HAVE POSTED SEVERAL QUESTIONS OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS AND THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP. IN THE LAST FEW DAYS MY HAMMER HAS SHOWN A SLOPPINESS (HOPE THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE) AND TODAY SHOWED A SLOPPINESS IN THE SPRINGS THAT I AM UNABLE TO FIGURE OUT. THE SPRINGS BECAME LOOSE AND THE HAMMER IS VIBRATING AND I AM UNABLE TO HOLD A STEADY BEAT. SOMETIMES DOUBLE OR TRIPLE BEAT AND VERY IRRATIC. QUESTION?? HOW DO I ADJUST THE SPRINGS TO MAKE IT COME BACK TO A SINGLE ,, NON VIBRATING HIT?? THIS STARTED (OUT OF THE BLUE) AS I SAID I AM REALLY NEW TO POWER HAMMERS AND ADJUSTING THINGS HAS GOT ME A BIT CONFUSED/WORRIED THAT I WILL BREAK MY TOY. HOPE THERE IS HELP OUT THERE. FAIRBANKS MODEL EZ 11 CANADIAN MADE, ABOUT 1925 AS FAR AS MY RESEACH HAS FOUND. HELP. STEVE

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Fairbanks owner! I have a 125lb Model D. What exactly happened when the spring became loose? Did you check the tightness of the bolts in the upper toggle arms of the Dupont linkage that retain the spring? Did you loose on of the "plugs" that sit inside the ends of the spring while forging? Did you recently adjust the collar on your pitman arm? Did you check the integral brake on the drive pulley to see that nothing shifted on the brake/idler pulley arm? The thing with mech hammers is that all of the pieces work in harmony, and when one goes wrong it can throw the others off. Some things to think about: is there enough oil on the ways? Do you have a chip caught in the ways? Is the brake out of alignment and grabbing? Is the pitman adjusted too high (this is the big one) for the size work you are doing? When it's too high it makes the hammer skip/ hit erratically. Most guys have them adjusted WAY too high out of fear of shattering the toggle arms on the frame if they come down too low with adjustments. The pitman can't be in the same place to get full power out of the hammer when forging 2.5" stock vs 1/2" stock. If you have the hammer adjusted to work larger stock, and go down to small stuff, it will do the weird skip/erratic stuff This also includes breaking down large stock down to a small section. It will make you miss the sweet spot of the hammers power if you don't adjust the pitman accordingly. Hope that helps, n keep us all informed!