compact tire hammer

[vinny1892]

 got a project for everyone. Im looking to design  a compact tire hammer about a 25 lb ram that i can move around with a hand cart. id like it to be able to be used out side since i dont have a garage set up for my forge. hope someone will help thanks  ps please dont state the obvous like build a garage or buy a hammer lol 

[Buzzkill]

Think about this for just a minute.   Most of us use 2 to 6 pound hammers to manually strike steel on anvils 100 to 500 pounds in weight.  I'm not sure what kind of hand cart you have in mind, but the force created by 25 pounds repeatedly striking downwards needs a solid anvil under it to be effective.  That translates into weight and a lot of it.  It's hard for me to imagine any power hammer with a 25 pound tup weighing in at less than 1000 pounds total.  I believe the minimum suggested tup to anvil ratio is 1 to 10, so the anvil alone should be at least 250.  Also, the lighter the whole thing is the more it will want to walk around the floor when in use.   I certainly wish you the best of luck here and am interested to see if you can find something that works well and fits your needs, but my optimism level is low on this one.

[Judson Yaggy]

Given those requirements you either get a tiny tabletop power hammer useful for only REALLY light work, or a hydraulic press.  Build a press. 

[FieryFurnace]

Hi vinny

 

I have done a bit of tire hammer building. 

Bumping down to a 25 pound ram gets you in the right direction, but you still would end up with a 500-800 pound hammer if you did the absolute bare minimum on everything. (My first run of 50 pounders weighed just over 1000 pounds and my current hammers are weighing in at between 1200 and 1500 pounds.) Power hammers and roller carts just aren't a good combo. A press would be an option, just depending on what you want to do. 

If you want to do a lot of small forging (1/2 inch and under,) I'm not sure a press would give you satisfactory results. I don't have experience with presses, but I do know that compared to hammers, they are slow. 

 

Another complication is vibration and side-ways momentum. Power hammers have to be bolted down.....tire hammers and any sort of rotary drive hammer require good foundation mounting, due to the side ways energy generated by lifting the offset ram. A heavy 50 pound hammer run at full speed with no mounting can knock itself over, or at least move all over the place. A 25 with a light frame would be far worse. 

 

If you are stuck with having to work outside, here is what you do. 

 

Build your 25 pounder with a lighter tire, 4-5 inch solid round or square anvil, 4-5 inch square, 1/4 wall tubing frame, and 1/2-inch thick base plate. Incorporate lifting slots that fit a standard pallet jack or develop some sort of controlled, safe, lifting mechanism. (engine hoists are inexpensive and effective.) 

 

When you want to use your hammer, use your lifting/moving system to wheel it outdoors and set it down on some concrete anchor bolts that you install in an out-of-the-way place in your concrete. (two bolts in apposite corners of your base plates should do the trick for light work.....a thin rubber insulator pad to protect your concrete is a good idea.) When the hammer is not in use, put some decorative planted pots or something around your concrete anchors so you don't trip on them. 

 

 

[vinny1892]

ok 

i appreciate your thoughts and I do plan on building one with your recommended specs. I did also find a compact hammer that  Sam Salvati  built what do you guys think of this design? https://youtu.be/IpDjho1rXgA let alone if it works half way efficient. (Anything is better then trying to draw down a 3/4 inch bar by hand lol).  

 

[Michael Cochran]

Don't waste your time trying to track him down and ask him about it. I tried asking when I saw that video and after numerous attempts being ignored I gave up.

[vinny1892]

ok i think im leaning towards that design just a bit heaver design i want to build. it looks pretty simple to build.

[John McPherson]

On 9/9/2016 at 1:44 AM, vinny1892 said:

Anything is better then trying to draw down a 3/4 inch bar by hand lol).  

3/4 inch bar is not big stock to draw down by hand. Heck, that is just a RR spike knife.

Contrary old cuss that I am, I suggest a change in tactics, not a new 'magic' tool fix. Any tire type power hammer with more than a 5 pound tup is going to be unwieldy to move, and unstable in use to boot.

You need to look into some sort of fullering tooling for the hardy hole, or how to properly utilize the edges of your anvil as a drawing die. Brian Brazeal and Mark Asbury have some wonderful videos on youTube. Heated iron colors on camera are very seldom true to life, and a day spent observing at a hammer-in will cut years off the self-taught learning curve. Join a group, or take a class.

I would also like to note that most isolated beginners seldom get the metal hot enough in the fire to allow it to move easily, and continue to hammer long after the metal has cooled into the black. Let the heat do the work for you. Strike (only) while the iron is (screaming) hot.