This is my take on the tire hammer! I built it without any plans or precise specifications,I just
downloded every picture of a tire hammer that I could find and did a lot if reading on the tire
hammer topics.The rest I figured out by myself.I built it only from scrap iron  that I had collected
for this project in about two years time,the only parts that I had to buy is a bearing and the
polyamide wear plates.I also have to go to a machine shop and make a new motor pulley,the
one that I have is not machined and has some play in it.
This summer I will have to build a new bigger shop, I had to put the hammer inside the old
temporay shop to cover it from snow and rain.

Here are a few pictures, not very good quality but will give you a idea.

Good looking hammer, how does she hit?

Very impressive.

Looks good. How does she work?

Nice job of tinkering a power hammer, lots of guys THINK they can figure something out from pictures. It's a pleasure to see the work of someone who actually can.

Frosty The Lucky.

I am really pleased with how she works, the hammer weight is 17 kg without the dies,in the future I will have to pour a concrete foundation and bolt it down better because now it is only bolted do some 10 cm thick concrete slabs and has a lite bit of play in it.

I think that looks great. Any chances of a video of it in action? 

 

All the best 

Andy

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzmreOgNkdU

 

 

Sorry for the delay but I could not reply anymore from my laptop and today I had the idea of tryng from my phone. The quality of the video is not too great but you get the basic idea of how it runs, the bar that I forge is 3,5 cm thick tool steel.

 

Nice hammer, good video.  You will enjoy using the hammer, for sure.

On 20 January 2016 at 3:13 PM, Havoc91 said:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzmreOgNkdU

 

 

Sorry for the delay but I could not reply anymore from my laptop and today I had the idea of tryng from my phone. The quality of the video is not too great but you get the basic idea of how it runs, the bar that I forge is 3,5 cm thick tool steel.

 

Nice one Havoc. Certainly looks like she runs rather well. 

 

All the best 

Andy

Well done, looks very controllable.

If it is any help for your forging technique...I find that it is more efficient to push the bar towards the tools if you are trying to forge a taper with flat tools. You take a bit at a time, so just the edges of the tools are doing the work... and the starting point is with the tip about 1/3 of the way across the tool. It reduces the area that you are trying to work and so increases the effect.

I only pull the bar towards me for either a final finishing pass on a taper, or if I am trying to forge the section down keeping it parallel. The full width of the tools in contact acts as a self regulating system.

Alan

Thanks Alan that is really helpful information.I definetly need to improve my power hammer technique, when I took the video was the third or fourth time I used one. It really helps to hear from a more experienced smith,I am thinking about modifying the dies into some combination dies.

Obviously you must do what you want. You are the only one who knows what tooling your work demands.

However I would not make combination dies. I found them awful. The tools I found best and the most versatile for my direct forging hammer were a pair of cheese fullers with an instant drop on bottom table which gave me the opportunity to draw out, to spread, and with the table do offset shoulders and fullering from one side with a flat back. With a flat block top tool as a flatter to smooth out tapered and parallel surfaces. All of these processes could be done at the full width of the tools.

The combination pallets like all combination tools did a lot of things okay but I found did nothing well.  You are never working in the central sweet spot of the ram and anvil, if your tools are 100mm long you can only work 25/30mm wide material otherwise you risk damaging the surface when the workpiece bounces onto the central area. You cannot spread anything along the entire length...

With full length fullers and a drop on table you have all of the advantages of  none of the disadvantages. My combination tools were used for a few months and then have sat on the shelf beside the hammer for the last thirty plus years...

Find out what you can do with the tools you have already made, if you make up a D shaped top tool as a fuller/flatter you will be able to produce many forms.

Download a copy of the Lillico book from the Hereford College site in the UK. That is great for insights into power hammer techniques.

If you do not already have them they also have the pdf versions of the Blacksmiths Craft and the other two Cosira books available to download...great resources.

Alan

Very nice build. It looks nice and tight. 

Wow, I am far from considering a power hammer but, I wanted to say how awesome this is. Very nice job. I hope at some point in the future I might build or get one, but for now I am just looking to build a small shop of tools. How long did it take you all together to make your power hammer by the way?

Thanks guys!!! It took me about three months but I was only working on my spare time,that would be about two or three days a week and besides the actual building process it took me some time to figure out the system and size ratios as I did not have any plans to work from.

I have agree with the others, well done!

And your pictures are good enough to use as a template for building. Inspirational.

Thanks for all the detail pictures, I am also building a junkyard hammer and detailed pictures like that really help. Where did you buy the wear plates. 

Nice hammer

Thanks Johan,I made the plates myself,I only bought large enough piece of 5 mm thick poliamide so i can cut 4 wear plates out of it,if it helps i can take some closeup pictures on the wear plates and the way they are mounted.

Lot of work gone into that hammer. I have to compliment the owner/builder here. Very well done, you should be very proud of that build. Nicely thought out where there's good substance in those parts and innovative thinking behind that build. I just love it when someone has an idea and fulfils it by what they can put their hand on and reinvent a bit of scrap and continue the project without necessarily spending money. The original blacksmith, make do with what you can.....again very well done. I take inspiration from it.  

On April 5, 2016 at 4:11 PM, Havoc91 said:

Thanks Johan,I made the plates myself,I only bought large enough piece of 5 mm thick poliamide so i can cut 4 wear plates out of it,if it helps i can take some closeup pictures on the wear plates and the way they are mounted.

That would be awesome havoc I have been having problems deciding wether I should use polyamide wear plates or if I should use bearings as roller guides. The ram weight I bought is 2x2x24" but I'm not sure if im gonna use that, I would like something bigger and shorter like you have. Do the wear plates have a metal backing attached to them.

In my case the plates are 4 inches wide,8 inches tall and 5 mm thick poliamide plus 2 mm thick steel plate epoxied on the back,the ram is 4 by 20 inches square tubing but to give it its final weight I forged a piece of steel to fit snugly inside the ram.Than drilled some 1/2 inch holes on all 4 sides of the ram,fitted the piece of steel inside and filled the holes by welding them and also welded all around the lower edge where the two pieces meet but the beauty of building a tire hammer is that if you understand the basic principle of how it works you can adjust the build to the materials you have available.Here is how the wear plates are fitted.Good luck with your build!!!

Thanks man that helps a lot I think I am going to do something similar to that with the wear plates. As for the ram one of the hammers posted on here he used square tubing like you but he cast it full of lead. If I can't find a solid piece of steel the right size I think I might do that. 

Really apreciate the pictures thanks and nice job on the hammer 

Hi Havoc... Does it look like you got really creative with the spring by doubling up a couple of lighter springs? If so, very cool!!!

It looks like the number of coils per spring is 6 and the diameter is less than 0.5 inches. What was the spring rate (spring constant) of those springs? Or did you just have some springs lying around?

Cheers

w

What are the dimensions of your anvil and dies? 

Super nice build!