Finally got a front on the hammers gaurd. I still have some work to do on the break and need a latch on the gaurd door, but feel much better with the arms and spring covered( even if they are fun to watch)

This is the spring scatter shield I put on my 50lb. LG. The idea is to first prevent broken pieces from hitting me directly, secondly to have enough give pieces won't ricochet off the back and hammer frame. Lastly being heavy screen I can keep an eye on the spring and watch for signs of potential failure.

How can you SEE if a spring is failing before it cuts loose? The paint WILL flake over cracks and the kinds of stress these springs are under don't cause sudden catastrophic failures, they crack and it grows till it breaks. There is plenty of warning IF you can see it. 

That's the what and why of the shield I put on mine.

The second pic is the brake I put on it and the linkage that make it work. The return spring applies braking pressure and pressing the treadle lifts it free. I needed to make the band longer, I'd like better braking. It'll take a remake of the static band mount, pic 4 and shortening the link rod but that's in the future, it's okay for now.

         

        

 

Frosty The Lucky.

That's how I've seen most of the guards on the mechanical hammers. I always like to see the movement to check for problems too. My 30 pound Star doesn't have a guard, not sure the leaf springs need one though.

In the future I can see replacing the door with an old fire screen that has been hanging around for far too long. I like the idea of hinging in the middle. The gaurd has to be opened to lube the hammer so I do get up close with it a couple times a day- at its age the spring isn't the only part I am watching for failure. I have seen far more failures in little giant arms than springs. Of the dozen or so spring incidents I have witnessed probably 2/3 left the spring intact. I was 30 feet away from a 100 pound that threw its spring once. I think it hit three walls and the ceiling before it came to rest. The scale of these parts leaves me preferring to have them in a cage. Most of my break parts are ready, I will likely try to get them together next week. I am getting more comfortable with this hammer. Forging some h-13 this morning and really appreciating that extra push it has.

I learned something new about the clutch on my hammer today. First heat of the day had me in a panic that the hammer just would not run. Clutch was tuning and trying, but failing to catch the hammer. I had oiled the hell out of it like I always thought you supposed too. It turns out, these oddball lined clutches dont like oil. After cleaning it off it is back to running. Not a good start to the day though

My Star is the same way oil migrates to the clutch shoes and it slips. I use brake cleaner occasionally to keep it running right.

On June 3, 2019 at 11:19 AM, Frosty said:

This is the spring scatter shield I put on my 50lb. LG. The idea is to first prevent broken pieces from hitting me directly, secondly to have enough give pieces won't ricochet off the back and hammer frame. Lastly being heavy screen I can keep an eye on the spring and watch for signs of potential failure.

Hi frosty, I have had a few mechanical hammers break springs  (3 to date  two 60's and a 150lb) in each case there was not a simple break but the spring broke into multiple pieces some shards much smaller than your guards. holes. I had the hemmer springs wrapped in leather and there was no problem or risk at all...all the shards were contained. I have seen similar spring wraps done with with fire hose .

Yeah, 1" grizzly screen is the smallest I had or I would've used finer. A leather or canvas wrap would certainly be a better scatter shield and I have no empirical evidence hammer springs fail by increments so the paint flaking may not provide a warning. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Had some of the local smiths over last night and Steve King drew a few pieces of two inch stock for some nails to be headed at a public demo. The 250 made  really quick work of it.

More footage.. More footage..    Looks great. 

Did it load? My browser just shows a black screen with a spinning arrow like it didnt load.

Nope...

it did for me, but it takes a minute.. 

Forging some blocks for hammers today. Starting stock was 2.5 inch hydraulic hammer bits. The gun end with it's weird cut squared up really nicely. I did not get to the 10 pound chunk today. I was planning to try upsetting with the corner of the hammer, but am not comfortable with putting that kind of abuse into my 100 year old sow block. Much to my surprise, the hammer will cycle with it between the dies. Tomorrow I will square this up. I am not used to having this much stroke. ( this hammer has no vertical adjustment)

No vertical adjustment is pretty wild! So enough travel in the arms to handle everything with in its range?  Come to think of it I guess my blacker is kinda like that. You set the head height and it will pretty much eat what ever you can shove under there  

Upset and squared to roughly 3.5x3.5. Started 8.5 finished at 5 inches long

You're just having too much fun with that hammer Jason! Wish I could check it out.

Frosty The Lucky.

that is cool.  So literally there is no height adjustment  for a given stock size. 

I wonder how the spring/toggle action works to accommodate this?  IE pivot action and growth vs newer style hammers which have adjustments for throw. 

I have seen a newer style that was out of adjustment and the spring was practically falling out when adjusted for smaller width stock and then moved up to the wide side. 

It was the first year. They figured out that it needed the hight adjustment about 1921 I think. Sidd apologised for the lack of info on this one since there apparently are very few like it. That is one reason I have been trying to post as much as I can about it. It is an oddball. For example, it stalls completely if it gets grease or oil in the clutch cone. It wont move at all, I can stand on the treadle with both feet and the clutch just spins not moving anything. Clean it out and it runs fine. No telling what sort of material the lining is, i would assume leather or composition belting. It doesnt look any different from other little giant clutches.

This video is from the first time I powered  the hammer. The clutch was locked up from many years of storage, but it gives a fair sense of the hammers operation.

Video did not work

 

video did not work.

Odd, the video posted yesterday, now it looks like its gone.

it sounds great. 

The video yesterday would not load for me, and the note looks like it was removed by a moderator. I have been trying to get this new video and it won't load again for me. Been about 10 min now. As I was typing this it loaded  and looks good to me. Just took a while.

I am tempted to add a cross head with vertical adjustment, just not sure if there is room. I would love to convert to a rear clutch, but a 3 1/4 shaft is pretty big. I would feel a lot better to have new Babbitt  anyway.