Oil or grease on a hammer slide

[Francis Trez Cole]

I have a Champion power hammer and I use SAE 30 on all moving parts with great success.

[kerrystagmer]

I use vactra #2 in warmer weather and 30W when it is cold.

[Syd Partridge]

I adjusted the dovetails and now have new keys. This has solved the problem of the tool moving.
However, in my wisdom I thought while I was on the job it might be an idea to clean all the bushes & pins and replace the leather belt - wish I hadn't.
Previously I could adjust the speed using the treadle. Now I have one speed - about 300 strokes per minute and I can't keep up with it!
Now I'm going to try grease and see if this will slow it down.

[MOblacksmith0530]

I have upset keys per the method Peacock mentioned and it works beautifully even doing it by yourself. I also have an opinions about the oil or grease. Oil for anything open grease for closed off areas. And even with petrolium getting higher day by day it is still cheaper to oil it than replace it.

[iron quake]

Update to my power hammer lubrication. I mentioned that I would report back if my rebuilt 100 pound LG hammer slide seized up while using way lube. Well in fact the slide has galled up and I think I just wasn’t oiling it enough. I was putting a small squirt of lube in the oiling cups every time I ran it and a few drips across the top of the dovetail as well. I think it was too small a volume to run across the entire sliding contact surfaces, keep them wet and flush out debris.
In any event I have reground the surfaces and will put it back together today. I’m going to use chain saw bar oil this time, a lot more of it and re-oil several times a day. I think the way oil was fine, but given how much more I’m going to use now, bar oil seems like a better choice to me. The hammer was working so well that it’s sad I’ve had to stop and rework it again.

Live and learn I guess…..I’d love to live a little more, and learn a little less some times.

[macbruce]

Galling is usually caused when things are too tight, make sure the ram moves freely and smooth out the galled areas or it could happen again.

[Mainely,Bob]

Two important things I learned while working maintenance on everything from oil drilling rigs to presses and draw benches in an aluminum extrusion plant where they thought nothing of spending over a million dollars on a machine. Make all adjustments when the machine is at operating temp and follow the manufacture`s recommendations as to lubrication.
For the old machines without manuals or machines made/modified in-house the rule was that grease acted like glue and would attract and hold debris so we only used it in areas that had seals or places where it was shielded from airborne debris. If there was a risk of contamination from airborne debris we used oil and lots of it to flush the debris and keep the area as clean as possible.

[macbruce]

Good point Bob,I use WD40 to flush out the crap every so often, then re lube.

[Alan Evans]

I’m using way lube, Chevron Vistac because, I have it for my other machine tools and Its made exactly for this application.... these lubricants have an unusual adhesive or tacky quality....Due to their adhesiveness, these oils form a tenacious film which resists being wiped away by the slowly moving parallel surfaces of the way

I have only just picked up this thread because of your todays update, sorry to hear of your problem.

Although it could be thought of as being wise after the event ....as I was reading your earlier posts the bits in red jumped out at me. I could imagine the way oil being good for slow moving slides like the lathe and milling machine even a fly press but I would not describe the speed of a hammer like yours as slow.

The "adhesive" property also seemed a sure fire way of holding abrasive dust against the surfaces. Machine shops don't have so much iron oxide or grinding dust bouncing around the atmosphere as forges do.

The open slides do seem vulnerable in our workplaces, so I would even be wary of chain bar oil, that too is designed to be sticky, you really want a total loss system which will continuously flush the debris. There was always an old engineers joke about it being a dead loss system!

I am all for mixing in a bit of graphite with the oil too, good for hanging around without the stickiness...in case you forget to keep it wet.

I do remember Clifton Ralph telling me that his similarly configured hammers "run on oil"! You could do worse than do likewise!

My hammers are all pneumatic and I have always used as near to the manufacturers oil specs as possible. Mainly replaced with hydraulic/compressor oils now...32 in the Reiter(Kuhn) and 46 or 90 something in the Alldays and Onions. I used to use Castrol Massey PH (standing for Power Hammer I presume) in the Alldays but sadly that is no longer available.

The air hammer tups are always parked with the tup up in the cylinder to keep out the grinding dust and before starting up they have some oil wiped onto the tup guide flats from whatever happens to be in the oil can (SAE30 or other motor oil). By the time that has been exhausted the air fed oiling system has kicked in.

There must be something along the lines of "If you spare the oil you'll spoil the machine" or similar!

Alan

[ptree]

On these old machines Little Giants and the like, a simple hole leadinmg to the bearing indicates oil. A screw down cup indicates grease.
One the old machines they should be slick, almost swiming in oil. If the machine is being used and is clean, not enough oil!
Way oil is a good oil for ways. A hammer slide and actually almost anything in forging equipment moves too fast and has too much scale etc for a tacky oil. These machine were designed to be total loss, IE the oil goes in and flushes through the bearings and slides and washes grit OUT.
I set up and bought the oil for the upsett forge machines in a production shop after bad oil ruined several machines. The original spec's were for a Mobil GEAR OIL. In the case of these huge machines ISO-460. It has the extreme pressure additives etc. In the case of a little Giant or similar I would go with a much lower ISO viscosity, but would still use a gear oil.
In the upsetter shop we used 1700 gallons a week as every drop that went into the machine oozed out and flowed down the machine frame into the pit.
Big mechanical forge presses are the same way, and the slide lubricators on the steam drop hammers the same total loss, and gear oil.
That is why they sit on a raised block inside a water filler pit. The oil floats and is skimmed off and recycled at an oil recycling facility.

[ZIG]

I use anti seize and spray it down with Kroil. Makes everything slick. But That combo came to use. Because that's what we use at work. Not saying its the best or even right place to use It. But it is a great combo. The anti seize of the key sure helps when removing it.
And I work in a coal fired steam plant. So plenty of fly ash to get into everything everywhere.
But the hammer in the shop. Has anti seize and kroil oil applied. But depends on who uses it That day.too

[Syd Partridge]

Thank you all for your help. Definitely oil but not too much. Excess runs down onto the tools and throws the job out - quite painful! The problem with the single speed seems to be that the clutch also needs oil on the plates. I was told about this and couldn't believe it, but it works. Hammer now working like a dream. Thanks again.