frankgolding Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I purchased a common sense power hammer # 2, 75 pounder, and just brought it home. If any of you have one of these or experience with one, I'm interested in knowing any tips for getting it hooked up and running. This hammer sat in a blacksmith shop without use for the last 20 years, was covered with 20 years of crud and dust, yet it has cleaned up nice and everything moves freely. The picture was taken prior to cleaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Greetings Frank, Nice hammer... The unit is a slip belt control style without a clutch... You will need a overhead line shaft with a reduced drive to operate the flat belt so it can be tensioned by the lever idler... This yields for great control . Other info available in the book... Pounding out the profits by Douglas Freund.. Have fun.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I do not know about common sense hammers specifically but the bottom die looks very short. The top looks short to. Hammers can be damaged from running them with short dies. I would ask anyone running them if they know how tall the dies should be. Dies shrink from grinding/dressing them over and over. I have seen many many little giants with damaged arms and guides because some one ran the hammer with short worn out dies. The arms would end up smacking the wrap around head guide. While this hammer does not have that type of guild you still would not want to run it much if the dies are worn out. Looks like a fun hammer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Greetings again Frank,,, Search Champion Blower Forge Power Hammer... Similar set up. Some postings show the drive system.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Greetings Again Stuart/Frank I was taking in consideration that you have part of the line shaft .. BUTT you will need another for reduction... Judging by the pulley size... Look at the thread My line shaft shop... Been there done that... Forge on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windancer Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 You are gonna love having a power hammer! Looks like you'll have that one running as long as you like. Is that a 53 Chevy pickup in the pic? Enjoy your new tool! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Kind of looks like a Studebaker :) :) Whatever, it is a keeper!! So is Mr. Common Sense. Enjoy both rides!! Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Hey Frank I have a Commonsense # 2 set up and running in Salinas. You are welcome to come see it and I can send you pictures of how I set mine up. You will find very little info on this hammer the only thing in print that I have found is in Pounding Out The Profits as mentioned earlier, out of print and hardly worth the price for the two paragraphs that refer to this hammer. I did find a chart somewhere that showed this model running at 275 rpm on a 3 hp motor and the weight is 1600 lb Here is a shot of how I set my hammer up, I did not have the line shaft assembly so I used a post to support my motor and jackshaft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankgolding Posted October 8, 2013 Author Share Posted October 8, 2013 Hi All, Thank you for all the input. I do have the line shaft, we had to cut it into three pieces to get it out of the rafters at the guys shop, but it's all there. The truck in the back is a 49 Studebaker (another project). I would like to go over to the shop in Salinas and see the # 2 that Ironmonger has set-up and running. You can e-mail me directions / contact information at goldingsforge@gmail.com Thanks again, Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason0012 Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 Alex Weygers had one, smaller I think. It was described in "Modern Blacksmith" and "The Use Repair ad Recycling of Tools". Most of his hammer stuff is kind of generic, but his was a common sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.