what is the best linkage for a homemade hammer

[eco redneck]

hello every one

 

some time this winter i want to build some sort of power hammer but i dont know what type of linkage to use.

i want some thing that is easy to build but effective. i have see linkages that look to be made out of leaf springs? where would you get the springs bent like that. i need help choosing i found a page on anvil fire but i dont want to up set any one by posting  the link to it

 

thanks

 

eco

 

[Geoff Keyes]

I bent the springs for mine (or had them bent) cold under a big press.  You could, however, use them just as you find them.  It gives you a longer, lazier, motion.  That is assuming that you're thinking about a Dupont linkage.  There are several variant versions, some which use straight springs.  There is also a rocker beam guided helve design, which uses a straight flat pack of springs.

 

First you need to sort out which style of hammer you want to build, and don't overlook the tire hammers.

 

Geoff

[eco redneck]

I bent the springs for mine (or had them bent) cold under a big press.  You could, however, use them just as you find them.  It gives you a longer, lazier, motion.  That is assuming that you're thinking about a Dupont linkage.  There are several variant versions, some which use straight springs.  There is also a rocker beam guided helve design, which uses a straight flat pack of springs.

 

First you need to sort out which style of hammer you want to build, and don't overlook the tire hammers.

 

Geoff

yes the dupont linkage  and i like the idea of a tire hammer because of how compact it

is

[Geoff Keyes]

There is a version of the Dupont linkage that has a triangular plate attached to the eccentric.  The springs are flat (or flared out just a bit) and attached to the 2 long sides of the triangle.  You can use a big coil spring, like the LG's use, or leave the springs as found and design around a long, wide spring.  The anvilfire site has lots of good pictures to get ideas from.  There are a great many ways to build this thing.

 

Geoff

[Dodge]

I used die springs (I think they were 6" long) end to end. They are held in place with a through rod of high carbon unhardened steel.





This isn't them, of course but the ones I used are the same dimension in diameter

[onetreeforge]

I built a hammer using the Dupont linkage using the leaf spring style, I just got the leaf springs from one side of an old car bolted the whole stack togeather put them in the forge and bent them all togeather, then trimed and ajusted them and had a spring maker harden them.