Warning, lots of photos:  I bought a Mayer 25lb hammer about a month ago.  It definitely needs some work.

Looking at it, it had a bunch of brazing performed on it and didn't have many bolts.  It looks like I have a lot of work.

The first thing I noticed was some brazing on the flywheel and a big ring had been sweated onto the flywheel. 

 

Pins were welded to the ram while both toggle links were connected.  In order to remove the toggle links I have to cut the pins out of the ram.

 

What I thought was a spring turned out to be a tubular shaped piece of rubber.  Right, no spring. 

The toggle arms are homemade and they held the rubber tube. 

The knuckle on the right toggle arm was worn and in bad shape. 

 

 

Edited August 9, 201510 yr by lloe01
Removed some big photo files

Very cool lloe thanks for documenting it. I will be watching it as you progress. I'd like to see some photos of the clutch and lever assembly as I think that may be the only area on mine that has been modified. Just not enough out there to compare it to. If you get a chance post some photos up. Likewise if you need any of mine just let me know.

 

-Clint

 

Clint, here is the clutch area

 

Here are the pitman and cross head. The pitman is in bad shape and the cross head is upside down. 

I will mainly be working on the front side and the clutch works well so I will be leaving it alone.  I do want to update the tread rod as there is a whole bunch of slack there.

As I recall some of the Bradley hammers use rubber "springs"; but that's definitely a retrofit on the Mayer and probably not engineered properly for it.

Thomas, I'd never heard of that. It shocked me when I finally realized there wasn't a spring.  At first I thought the spring had shattered in the tube.  But, nope, rubber tube :)

Thanks lloe that looks a lot like mine so maybe it wasn't modified after all. May just be that its different on some or all the Little Giants which is what I was comparing it to.

Thanks lloe that looks a lot like mine so maybe it wasn't modified after all. May just be that its different on some or all the Little Giants which is what I was comparing it to.

it does look different from the LGs.  I thought the same thing.

The clutch looks like iron on cast iron.  I had a factory hammer with that set up.  Bradley hammers have rubber cushions.  Did you run the hammer before you tore it apart. 

Mine has one as well I think Richard Kern referred to it as linoleum in his book. It may be there mine separated and got pushed back on the clutch cone so it looked like it wasn't there. In fact I was going to ask if folks glue them to keep them in place.

The clutch looks like iron on cast iron.  I had a factory hammer with that set up.  Bradley hammers have rubber cushions.  Did you run the hammer before you tore it apart. 

I did run it for a couple minutes after I got it.  It ran well, but I was concerned with the parts and felt it would be safer to repair it before I started using it.

I called Roger at LittleGiant and he wanted me to send him my shipping info and some pics of the hammer.

I hope he has the parts I need

He said he would get back to me tomorrow. 

Woohoo!

 

Just talked to Roger.

i ordered:

2 - H12 Toggle Arm for Old Style

1 - H15 Spring

2 - H18 Lower Toggle Pin: Standard .625 Diameter

2 - Tension Adjusting Knuckle

They are in the mail and I should get them in a few days.

Once I get those, Roger said we will need to make measurements and then customize any other parts I need.

He did say to place a 1-inch block between the dies to take proper measurements.

I have some metal cutting to do to get the old Toggle links removed from the ram.  The old links were placed on the pin and then the pin was welded to the ram.

This should be fun

Edited August 18, 201510 yr by lloe01
Corrected spelling error

Ooh, that's a pricey order of parts there!  

I noticed the V belt in place of the original flat belt.  Although it's a bit bigger investment, on the re-hab of a C. 1910 keyseater that was designed for a leather belt I used a wide flat cogged belt instead.  It requires a toothed pulley on the motor side but acts as a flat belt on the machine side.  Seems to work extremely well, perfect tracking, and looks a little bit more like it was originally intended to.

Just passing it on in case you're not happy with the current belt and think spending a few dollars is worth it.

 

 

Ooh, that's a pricey order of parts there!  

I wanted to get a new pitman and cross head, but Roger said he didn't have anything that would fit it.  That would have made it even more expensive. Of course, I paid $800 for it knowing I would have to do some repair.  Once it is running again, it still will be  pretty cheap, I hope

Kozzy, I will keep it in mind in case it doesn't pull as well as I think it should.

Thanks!

I just cleaned up the pitman and cross head. They had so much grease that I didn't discover they had both been broken and brazed at some time in their use life.

Anyone have a spare Mayers/Moloch cross head and/or pitman?

Notice the wearing of the bolt head on the cross Head?  I will have to check the Flywheel to see where it was rubbing. 

Larry

Edited August 21, 201510 yr by lloe01
Added more text.

The parts came in today, yay!

But, while the new parts are awesome, they don't seem to fit.  In fact, I can't drill them out to fit the crosshead because there wouldn't be much left to the upper ears of the arms!

sheesh!  Help?!?! Any ideas, anyone?

 

 

I'm thinking about drilling out the original crosshead pins to the size of the new ears of the upper arms and using them as sleeves for pins that do fit the new arms. 

Bushings.

They make it easier to get oil to the bearing surfaces and excellent sacrificial wear surfaces so you never run into worn ears again. Buy a few extras so there are some on the shelf in case.

That isn't a real problem it's a normal adjustment for wear and tear, don't sweat it.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, you are a genius! Bushings!  Brilliant!

Looks like they need to be 3/4" OD, 1/2" ID and .4" long.

 

Edited August 22, 201510 yr by lloe01
Added dimensions for bushings

Frosty, you are a genius! Bushings!  Brilliant!

Looks like they need to be 3/4" OD, 1/2" ID and .4" long.

 

Ah, hardly genius it's years of experience keeping heavy use machinery functioning. Of course I'll graciously take credit for thinking of it for this application. 

Keep posting your problems with pics, I'm not the only one with experience doing this kind of stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

Ok, the ears of the arms are 3/4" thick.  The ears on the crosshead are only .71" apart.  I cannot grind the crosshead ears as they don't have a whole bunch of metal of them.  Being the crosshead ears have been brazed, that bothers me too, if I was to heat them up to bend them out a little.So, is it ok to remove some metal from the ears of the arms?  

 

Edited August 23, 201510 yr by lloe01
Corrected measurement

On one side, there is enough room.  It is only on one side where the ear isn't wide enough. 

Fabricate a new crosshead. Keep the centerline of all moving parts as close as possible.

Jeremy,

I would love to fabricate a new crosshead, but I'm not a machinist. I don't have the measurements to give to anyone, either.

It is a good idea, though.

Thanks

I measured the pitman at the bottom.  It is .98" diameter.  Anyone know if that is the correct measurement for the Mayer 25lb?

Of course, if anyone has a spare crosshead for a Mayer/Moloch 25lb, I am interested.

 

 

Edited August 24, 201510 yr by lloe01
Added measurement of pitman and plea for spare crosshead