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I Forge Iron

How not to build a power hammer


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First; spend months online going over just about every article and picture of power hammers. (note) Using translation programs for the non-english sites will just confuse you.... just look at the pretty pictures.

Second; spend a couple of weeks designing and drawing with exact dimentions the hammer you have decided to build. (note) when you go to the metal supplier to purchase this list it gets torn up in horror, and you imediately drive to the scrap yard and load up approx 500# of assorted parts @ .10 a #

Third; decide that cutting any of this metal will need more than a 14" chop saw or a 4.5" grinder with a thin cut blade...result-one 5" swivel head horizontal bandsaw (note) although tool accumilation is good ....it would have been cheaper to buy the metal from the first supplier

Forth; say to ^*@% with it and start winging it

ah to heck with the numbers

some pics of the build so far... I have no idea what the axle came off but the domed flange area works well to bolt it down:)

the spline end cut off will come in useful sometime I'm sure...I will update this post as I go, that way someone can hopefully learn from my mistakes.

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Looks like you are going in the right direction Mark.

I know exactly what you mean, one of the fastest ways to lighten your wallet is to go to a steel supplier and do some shopping :o

Thats a nice little saw you picked up and im sure you will find it one of the more handy tools to have. A horizontal /verticle metal band saw is on my list of tools I "need" :D

The splined end of the axle would make a dandy chunk of steel to forge some dies from if you forge and grind them to shape.

You are doing a great job so far :cool: keep up the good work and be sure to post some progress pics, im sure there will be lots of interest in this thread once everyone sees it's here.

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its a spring helve...aka rusty/dusty/krusty with modifications as I go...next one will be air:)


Mark, if you are looking for the pulleys, or motors, or anything else needed for the drive system, check out this site:


Your Place For- Electric AC Motors ,DC Motors ,V-Belts, Draft Inducer Motors, Fan Motors, GE Motors, Fasco Motors, Trane Motors, Condenser Motors, Blower Motors, Compressor Motors, Furnace Motors, Air Conditioning Motors and more.



they have from 1 or 2 inch on up to 18 or 20 inch V belt pulleys!
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I just finished building a hammer based on the rusty plans. Like you Mark, I made my own modifications--especially on the drive. I used the doughnut tire/pulley-on-the motor application. I have about $50 invested and a lot of time but the results are pleasing. The old 1 hp motor will soon be relaced with a new one that runs at one speed making it more efficent. For the pulley I made a flange to fit the 3/4" motor shaft and used oak to make the drive wheel--6" dia. It's running about 180+ hits a minute and after getting things ballanced is a pleasure to use. Pictures are available.

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today I added the upper arm and the guide for the ram...I also milled a 24" piece of small guage rr trank to 3.75 wide for the ram I haven't cut it to final length yet...after making 6 cuts through rr track the bandsaw is paying for itself in no time :)

next up cutting the flat spring to length and bundling them...

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One picture is in the gallery. I can take some close up shots of the assembly and mail them with specs if you like. The ram is a round (2" I think) bar in a square heavy wall tube welded on each end and squared up and milled very lightly on the sides to fit in another square tube for the guide--no slop! 28 pounds.

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Thanks Ron. The wheel support/bearing housing is the top of a very old (1940's like me) combination planer/circlelar saw that had a 3 hp 3 phase motor. The 1" shaft is plenty strong to handle the tire. I had planed to build a support for roller bearings but this was here and free.

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Fristly Jerry that is a good looking hammer ....

now on to my junker....not much progress today had to get a couple of roses made up for shipment....I did get the springs cut to length and mounted I think I'll have to shorten the pivots, I made them 4" long probably only need to be 3" we'll see....on the positive side my welding at other angles than flat is improving :) burning 10 or so #'s of 7018 in a couple of days will do that for you

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Mark, I would leave the springs long till you see how much throw you need. If you can notice on mine I left the back part of the spring longer so I can slide the push rod pivot back and forth to change the height of hammer movement. I have turn-buckle ends at the pivots that make the distance between the dies at rest adjustable too. It took a bit of time to get the adjustments where I need them for the stock I am using but it makes a big difference when you CAN adjust things.

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I have rebuilt the spring pivot and the bolock to hold them keeping in mind the sugestions here. I also fabed up the hammer top guides. so far every thing seems to be moving smoothly adding some greese nipples will help.right now I am using hex head bolts to hold every thing together when the build is compleat I will sub them out and use allen head machine bolts.

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I have obtained a couple of speed reducers ....I think I will use one of to power the swing arm with. the reduction is 6-1, using a 1hp 1375 rmp that would give me 229rpm or beats per min that could be altered using a smaller pully on the moter end.
Is there any reason that I should not use these in this way ie: gear box distruction....does anyone know what grease and oil a gear box like this would use?
I am now musing over what method to use to transfer the power a disc with a pivot point (bolt)on it or fab up a crank arm are there any advantadges to either one? I found at Princess auto a turn buckle type device used on tractors 3 point hitch I believe? it is 3/4" and the eye ends have what looks like a self aligning bearing in them...this would allow for a little slop in the allignment :) Not that I will ever need that LOL

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That gearbox will work just fine. Use 80/90 gear lube. There will be a plug on the side a couple inches off the bottom. Fill til it runs out there.

A disc would be more "balanced" than an arm but at 200 rpm I wouldn't worry. To be truly balanced you would need a counterweight on the disc to offset the weight of the load of the reciprocating parts. If you have something to make a disc I'd use it, if not build an arm. Mount the disc or arm as close to the gearbox as will work and cut the rest of the shaft off. Less side loading on that bearing.

You have a spare, that means the first one should last forever :D

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Hi Mark,

You have that spring pivot looking much better now, nice job :)

May I suggest that on the hammer guide end you make a pipe sleeve for the bottom bolt like you did on top and use longer bolts with lock nuts on them so that the pipe sleeve can roll freely on the bolt to help reduce friction and wear from the spring sliding over the bolts. The more friction you engineer out of the design, the smoother and more efficiently your hammer will run.

As far as using a gear reduction box on the hammer, I really can't say if thats a good idea or not. In my mind I think it would make tuning the ideal hammer speed harder. I think most guys that build a hammer are using pulley diameters to tune the hammer and by adding the gear box into the works, you are adding in another set of ratios to the mix. On the other hand, we all learn by trying different things, so give it a go and tell us how it works :cool:

If the gear box has an oil fill and drain plug, I would think the lube would be 80/90 gear oil.

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