July 23, 201213 yr I have been having die mounting bolts on a tire hammer come loose. Is it just me? Lock washers, and locktite seem to do okay but maybe someone has a better idea.
July 23, 201213 yr Have you tried lock nuts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locknut) , or castle nut (http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=90692) ?
July 23, 201213 yr check the contact faces of you dies misaligned or worn surfaces can add to the problem
July 23, 201213 yr I used hardened bolts, nuts and lock washers on mine. I haven't had a problem with them coming loose on me, at all. The misaligned dies sounds like that could be reasonable. I'd check that first and if that's not the problem, use lock nuts. My 2 cents. :)
July 24, 201213 yr i and a friend each have a tire hammer and the bolts constantly come loose. i have reduced the problem by burning off the old lube on mine and using lock washers. i was kind of worried about using locktite on the bolts as i change dies frequently.
July 24, 201213 yr Author Thanks for the responses. I now better understand why many of the hammer manufacturers use dovetails and wedges.
July 24, 201213 yr They use dovetails and wedges because that is the fastest way to change a die. Done correctly you can't do better. Home built hammers don't use dovetail/wedge setups because most people don't have the machinery to do them them selves.
July 25, 201213 yr I use a different kind of die-holding setup on my homebrewed Rusty-style hammer than I have seen on anyone else's hammer (though I'm sure it's been done elsewhere). It's easier to build than dovetails, doesn't require lining up bolt holes, and as a secondary characteristic is also very quick to change out. The way I built it is a bit bulky, and it doesn't allow a person to offset the dies like I have seen done on dovetailed hammers, but it seems like a good solution to me (which is why I built it that way :) ) If you build it precisely enough, you can fit the dies in pointed either way. These dies were made from railroad track, but I've since replaced all of them with dies made from 4140. The long bolts do wear out over time and I always keep an extra pair on hand for when they decide to quit. They never have failed while hammering; their threads get galled enough that the nut won't come off again and they have to be twisted off to change out the die. Slap in a fresh bolt and it's good to go for several more months. Maybe a better-executed version of this setup would be helpful to someone.
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