How can I tame my tire hammer?

[setlab]

I've been useing it for about a year now and while it's really nice to have it just doesn't have the control and steady rhythm I've seen on other hammers, mostly air hammers come to think of it. My hammer seems to only have one mode, hit hard and very fast. It's kind of difficult to find the right balance between foot control and how fast the hammer hits, it's hard to hit lightly. What can I do to slow this beast down a little? Besides the ram that is adjustable height I built it following the directions pretty closely. So far I've adjusted the tire pressure down some and it's given me a little more control but not too much. Can you put a variable speed control switch on a standard single phase 110v motor? 

[Buzzkill]

If the only issue is speed you can always use a smaller drive wheel on the motor.  If you have a 3600 rpm motor on there you could cut the speed with a motor that runs 1800 rpm.

[Judson Yaggy]

Mechanical hammers need a brake.  That's because in general they run a lot faster than air hammers and have limited means of slowing down the bpm other than slipping the power transmission.  All the top quality antique industrial mechanicals came from the factory with a brake.  Just saying.

You could also try increasing the distance between the drive pulley and the tire.  

[arftist]

Can you calculate the theoretical blows per minute?

How heavy is the tup?

[marcusb]

Any chance of a video? With what you describe it sounds like a treadle or linkage issue, hard to push then goes all at once? 

[setlab]

I'll see if I can hold my phone and hold my tongs at the same time for a video. The treadle isn't hard to push, it just takes a lot of trial and error to maintain a slow and steady hammer rhythm. Seems like there's this very small window to play with and once you're out of it it's hard to find again. I have no idea how to calculate the blows per minute, I imagine that's a pretty long math equation. What is tup, hammer to anvil ratio? The ram head minus the hammer dies weights 50lbs and it's a 6" solid round anvil. 

It's probably wishful thinking on my part to slow it down to my skill level of smithing. One of those things I have to do more often I suppose. 

[Frozenforge]

Sound like you need to alter the mechanical ratios from the treadle bar to the motor to make it less touchy and give you a larger window for the sweet spot. Beats per minute, take a 10 second video while at full speed, count the hits and multiply by 6.

[arftist]

Blows per minute; motor RPM divided by reduction  ratio. The reduction ratio is calculated by dividing the diameter of the driven pulley by the diameter of the drive pulley.

Example; 2 inch drive pulley divided into 20 " diameter driven pulley is 10-1 motor RPM 1725 divided by 10 is 172 or 172 blows per minute. 

If the thing is really as out of control as you say, chances are you have a 3600 rpm motor and the only cure is a 1725 motor.

 

The tup is the hammer itself 50# plus dies. 

It matters because smaller hammers strike faster. Your hammer should likely run about 250-300 BPM

My 75 pound hammer runs about 210 blows per minute.