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Warming up the self contained power hammer on cold days. Is this normal?


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Sounds like your hammer isn't really broken in

I had troubles with mine for the first 6 months when I got it,

It was doing all kinds of weird things, it wouldn't even hit the dies together at one point or it was very dangerous

I took it apart a few times but truthfully it really needed hours and hours of running to smooth itself out.

If I was you I would preheat the hammer and leave it running for about 8-10 hours a day for a month

Over oil it a bit and just let it loosen up,

Eventually its going to run a lot better overall,

Your hammer is likely on the boarding line of being too tight to begin with even for Anyang.

The cold is just too much for it now

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Jeremy,

Changing the oil to a lighter on has helped a little. On the coldest days this last week I was able to get it to start up. The 30w would have been to thick.

 

Bryce,

I bought this hammer in August and have put 100s of hours on it. I've had it so hot I could smell the paint. These days with the cold, I have heat tape and a packing blanket wrapped around it to keep it warm. I start it in the morning and have to keep it running most of the time even with the blanket on it. I get kinda tired of listening to it and really tired of waisting the power to just have it running idle so it will stay warm enough to use when I need to. Its a great little hammer. I look forward to when it is broken in!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update:

Yesterday, for the first time my hammer ran without having to spend 45 min. warming up. What a joy!!!! The day before I was running the hammer hard and the oil was just pouring out the driven cylinder. Sloppy mess. I think I finally flushed all the 30w out. So when I went to start up the warm up process yesterday, the response was smacking good! I was a bit taken aback. We'll see how it runs today.

 

 

Thanks to everyone who helped!

 

What I did-

I added 10w non-detergent oil. Took about a quart to flush out the 30w oil I was using.

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I have an un named air hammer I bought from Tom Clark it is like a 115lb version of your 33. I don't have any real issues in cold weather although it does not hit it's hardest until  it warms up. If mine is running hard for 8 or 10 hours it gets a little sticky and hits uneven. Glad to hear yours is loosening up. I would like to have one of those little 33's they are nice hammers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

fe wood - i have exactly the same problem as you - and its got worse and worse longer and longer tie to warm up and has been DOING MY HEAD IN!!!! am extremely pleased to hear the simple oil change has been successful finally, im going to try it tomo!!!! excellent news :)

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james (or anyone)  when you say flush the old oil out with fresh, do you mean drain whilst ticking over and top up with new oil? how much oil should i expect to drain out approx, just so i had an idea? i have the 25kg anyang. do you think i should let it get hot for a few hours first before trying to get the thick oil out?

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Beth,

 

Drain the old oil out of the box on the side - there should be a drain plug in the bottom of it, that takes an allen key to undo. (it might be covered with filler!)

 

Put in the new, lighter oil. Then run the hammer and make sure it is flowing up the pipe. The oil feed to the compressor piston (left feed) is the one to watch! - don't worry if the right hand pipe is not feeding oil, as that pipe is 'secondary' to the one on the left, and not really necessary on a small hammer.

 

Run the hammer for an hour or two with the oil turned up much higher than you normally would. You can 'wedge' the treadle with a block of wood so the ram is 'swinging' but not striking a blow. Oil will start to leak out around the ram guide (clean up with a rag!!).

 

The lighter oil will pretty quickly find its way through the machine.

 

When you have had enough of 'over oiling' it, turn the adjuster screw(s) on the oiler back down so the left hand feed is giving approx. 6 - 10 drips a min from the 'swan neck' inside the glass bowl on top of the oiler.

 

If the glass bowel has filled up with oil, so you can not see how many drips are coming out of it, you can unscrew the bowl (carefully, as it is brittle) to clean the old oil out, or you can completely remove the 'needle valve' adjuster and it should drain out.

 

You may also need to remove the non-return valves which are on the oil lines and clean them out with some 'wd40' or white spirit etc.

 

You can speed the whole process up by removing the 2 top covers (compressor and ram) from the hammer, and wiping the bores out with some paraffin, wd40 or whatever. Then put in an eggcup full of the thinner oil into each bore, and wipe it around the sides etc.

 

Note the position of the cover on the compressor piston before you remove it, as it needs to go back on in the same orientation.

 

If you run into any problems or have any questions post here, or give me a bell next week !

 

(John at Massey)

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thanks very much john :) :)   (have only just clicked nonjic is you :) i can be a bit slow...) i will attempt this tomo and let you know if it goes weird on me .. didnt actually ring because i thought you were washing your hands of these hammers - am i wrong? thanks for the information thats greeeeat :)

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A point that I thought everyone knew but found out they did not. When you are trying to warm a hammer with external heat (heat lamp/blanket etc) only the ram cylinder needs heat any heat applied to the pump cylinder does very little good unless your motor is having trouble starting up. An electric blanket like you put on a bed draped over the ram does a pretty good job.   A halogen shop light close to the ram is my latest favorite.

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I don't know if this comes to late for you Beth but I used a turkey baster to remove the bulk of the oil from the oiler. Since I have added the 10w my hammer has begun to not raise the tup like it should. Mind you, I used a bunch of 10w oil and got the hammer really saturated with it. I've talking with James about it and have come to the conclusion that the previous owner and myself may have been running the hammer to lean on the oil and it gummed up making it hard to warm up. Now that I'm using a lighter oil and a lot of it, I loosened the old oil and now the light oil doesn't have the viscosity to form a proper seal for the piston rings. I'm going to try to use thicker oil and see if that makes the tup return as it should. I've already tried 30w so the next jump will be to 40w. I will continue to share my results....

 

Peacock, I used heat tape witha packing blamket for insulation. That seemed to help. I think and electric blanket would be better because it can be adjusted for tempurature.

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thans john, but you didnt supply mine remember - i went rogue and got an ebay one..... :ph34r: (second hand but only 20 odd hours use, not run in - all sounding reassuringly like the problems on this thread)  your help on this thread is fabulous though -  THANKYOU!

fe-wood no its not to late and thanks - turkey baster nice idea! i will source one. its saterday so i have been unable to get the oil i want, i could only get a thicker one locally, and alsorts of other ridiculous domestic annoyances have got in my way this morning, but i am warming the hammer up as we speak to at least get the old oil out, i have a little bit of the correct oil from a machine my husband uses, but perhaps not enough... anyone have any idea how much i would expect to need? its not a massive problem i can guess and have surplus if i have to...

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have drained most of the old oil ( will have new oil on monday to start working through)

 

a couple of things, the oil in the sump - is that a kind of dump sump, i am assuming that is waste oil, but not sure where it has drained from... there is about half and inch or less of used oil and nothing else i can see, and also no external indicator of the level, although i usually just drain a bit off when i remember and that seems to be ok. the other thing, if i take the oil reservoir off to clean it, is there anything complicated and pinging off-y in there or should i open it carefully, is it just a reservoir and these valves your all on about? 

 

 i have lost (unfortunatly) the manual, or rather the pamphlet i had, which was not at all comprehensive or helpful, but was at least something, in it i remember, when i first got it, it said in BIG BOLD LETTERS not to overfill with oil... the thing is, the glass indicators on the front of the oil reservoir are completely useless and dont ever look any different ( i remember something about the top one needing to be half full or something similar) so, in my paranoia of UNDER oiling i am worried that i may have been contributing to my problems by overfilling ( because i usually just fill it up to the top when i add oil because if these gauges being useless) and somehow have damaged or jammed up the valves inside there. 

 

thankyou! 

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I'm not an expert by any stretch but my understanding of the oiler res (with the glass eyes) can't be overfilled as the oil is sucked out by the action of the piston. The concern for over oiling may be to not over oil the comp. piston and tup. As far as the oil in the res. under the comp. piston; I think this is oil that drains out of the compressor pistons action (winds up on the bottom of the compressor rings on the down stroke and continues to run down inside the machine) I haven't had a chance to use the heavier oil yet.... Farm duty calls...

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thanks for the oil info fe wood - and about the over oiling,  i am probably mistaken, but i thought i remember reading do not overfill, rather than a comment about the drip rate of oiling for either part of the hammer... i guess i will see if i have damaged anything when i take the oil reservoir off..

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Beth, there is no need to remove the oil reservoir. The oiling system is simple and basic. When the compressor is on the down stroke the check valve is open and the compressor "sucks" the oil out of the reservoir into the hammer. When the compressor piston is on the upstroke the check valve closes so the oil does not go back into the reservoir. There are two components that are important... 1. Adequate oil flow. And 2. The right weight oil. John earlier talked about drips per minute... This is something you can experiment with. If you run too lean on oil the stuffing box wipers will not create a good enough seal and air will escape out the bottom and the tup will not returns as it should.
The second component is the oil weight. If you run too light an oil you will experience the same symptoms as not enough oil. If that is happening, increase your oil weight.
You don't have to spend a lot of time trying to remove the oil from the reservoir. Just turn the oil flow valve full open and run the hammer. The oil will fairly quickly be emptied from the reservoir. The oil system is simple. Think of the resivoir as just a box that holds oil, that is all it is. I do not recommend trying to remove the clear plastic dome or the site glasses. You stand a better chance of breaking those parts and then you have created a bigger problem for yourself. I carry all of the replacement parts, but it is always a hassle and you are down for several days. You can't damage anything if you overfill the reservoir. I hope this helps.
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thanks james yes that does help - it is tricky for me without any manual with pictures to know what it where and how - i wont take that off at all then, just fill up with the new oil and experiment withe the rate of drips :) thankyou very much!

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  • 2 months later...

well ye phill is correct  never use a cylinder hone    oooooo the stone broke an bit fell down in the tup cylinder  ports    it was a real hassle to get them out

  i managed after many a time   i could not see them only feel it,   i use grease on the end of a wire to stick them an lift it out ,

   

  and yes after many a hour  like 12 hour no stop , the  bore in the control valve, the oil got a bit glazed and the valve would stick ,open and the hammer would not stop hitting  ,   i was using a thin  air tool oil  but the hammer got  rather hot after the long running , 

   i suggest    every once an a while to run the hammer with diesel  fuel  to flush it out and after  then go back yo the air tool oil  

 and dont run none stop for many hours 

 moony 

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