moloch 50# hammer, what to look for

[JMarsh]

I am looking at potentially purchasing a Moloch 50# power hammer. I have read through all I can find on this site about what pitfalls to look for. Are there problems specific to this model that I should be on the look out for?

[DanielC]

That is a quality hammer. Very similar to my Murray, except mine was made in the motor driven era rather than the lineshaft.

[lloe01]

Dang, looks like a mix of Little Giant, Murray and Star!

[Ethan the blacksmith]

from my VERY limited experience with trip hammers, I have found that if there is to much were in ram guides or other bearings, there will be a bad knock, leading to more wear. if its not that bad, you can simply remove some shims, but if there are non, you would have to build up the part, make a new part, or in the case of babit bearings, re cast them. 

some one please correct me if I am wrong.

Ethan

[patrick]

My first hammer was a  50# Moloch just like this one. I even painted it the same color. The only difference was that the motor was mounted over head rather than to the side. There are no babbit bearings on this hammer. The shaft rides in bronze bushings which are pressed into the frame. I recall finding some casing flaws in the spider section of the clutch which I weld repaired with the help of a friend. The clutch is a cone clutch with a leather interface held on with flat head copper rivets. I often had issues with the clutch not disengaging so I had to get a stiffer spring to seperate the spider from the clutch drum. Once I got that tuned correctly it worked fine. The ram guides can be a bit finicky to adjust if there is uneven wear, which is pretty common in hammers like this. The die keys are pretty narrow so pay close attention so that you don't drive them in instead of out. I did this when I first got the hammer. Because the keys are so thin they don't really project beyond the dies so I had to make a special tool to assist in driving out the keys when I needed to do that. The clutch spider is held to the shaft with a round tapered key that has a flat on one side and threads on one end. There is a matching flat on the shaft that the key mates with. To release this pin take of the nut and drive out with a lead hammer or leave the nut on but loose and use a steel hammer. Just be careful not to let the threads get banged up. If you can get them, I recommend the videos by Dave Manzer for guidance on tuning this style hammer and making tooling. At one time they were available through the anvilfire website, but Dave died a few years back and  don't know if the videos are still available.

[JMarsh]

Patrick 

Thank you so much for the detailed answer, I really appreciate it. I want a hammer in a bad way but have never even seen one in person let alone used one.....your info will help me make an informed decision. 

[ironwolfforgeca]

for my 2 cent's -- it looks usable @ whatever shop its @ so GO try it

am sure the smith selling it would show you how to run it safely & what it can do

anytime I get near someone PH I ask them if I can run it a bit to see how it compares  to other PH

I have had the chance to work on