I found this in a little town in nowhere nevada when I was buying a 6" post vise. It was in the next door neighbors yard but I checked it out a little. I don't have any experience with PH but thought it was cool. Hope some of you can tell me a little bit about it.

Punch press.

Great for hot cutting and punching holes, not a hammer though.

get it.

It would also need a decent anvil :rolleyes:

i used to use a similar john heine 20a punch press for forgework, they are a wonderful machine, and i would get one in a flash if i could. perfect for slitting and drifting.

most everything's there.

Aside from a decent stroke. Yer talkin maybe 4'' of headspace tops with this beast. It would difficult if not impossible to make a viable hammer from one imo.
The only one I've seen put to good use in a BS shop was at Monstermetal and Larry had it set to cut to length and sharpen freshly forged(still hot) jack hammer bits in one quick chop.
Sliting and drifting? Sure, if you have LOTS of em to do that are exactly the same, that's what they're for. I'm pretty well known as a proponent of power equiptment but in this case hammer and hand (including PHs) are superior for this process.
I ran punch presses 8-10hrs a day 5 days a week for a couple of years when I was a youngster and the injury rate is scary. I've seen more guys at factories with missing digits (one guy with only a thumb left) in those two years than I have in 35 years operating PH's...... I admit I hate the XXXXers, you couldn't give me one.......

If you`re looking for a power hammer then this IMO aint the right place to start. As Mac said, too little stroke,even if you were to strap a linkage onto the ram.
I personally would put the cash into buying enough material from the scrapyard to build a powerhammer rather than cobble something together from a start point that misses the mark by such a wide margin.
If you have need of a punch press then buy the finger eating monster but if what you want is a forging press or power hammer then I`d keep looking for something more suitable.

I concur.

If it's free or very cheap try this. Yank the mechanical parts, keep the frame and ram and install a hydraulic cylinder. Make a press out of your press...

Put an air cylinder on it and make an air hammer out of it, a modified Kinyon style hammer. That would be a good heavy frame for it.

I was looking at one of these a few weeks ago with a friend talking about the possibilities of making a hammer out of one. The last couple posts go it right as far as I am concerned. The ways are nice an long so remove the crank flywheel and all the rest of the drivel from the top Put a big anvil under it and an aircylinder on top and make an air hammer out of it.
my.025

I was looking at one of these some time ago. Many horror stories ensued about what happens when one of these is used for a purpose outside of that intended.

I thought it was a neat old peice but wasn't sure what it was. It wasn't for sale either I just thought it was worth a few pics. I did find a guy in an old mining town of around 40 people yesterday that had a 25lb little giant in an old mine that he has converted into his blacksmith shop. He had a forge and anvil, lots of tongs and top tools. Swage block and mandrel. He lit the forge once and smacked stuff but thats it. I tried to talk him into letting me set the stuff up so it's useable but the town doesn't get traffic. You don't stop by Midas NV on the way to anywhere. It's out of the way and you have to want to get there. It was a great visit and he loved showing me his stuff. He's definatley still a "collector" and not a seller.