Tor Wolber Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Hello from a new guy. I have a Schuyler Common Sense #2 Gunning Model power hammer that is in pretty rough shape. My goal is to restore it to working condition. My only real concern is the weld "repair" someone made on it. I haven't found much information on this hammer, yet. Does anyone know where I might be able to get some information on this i.e. die dimension and such. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaudry Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 I think there's some information about that particular brand of hammer in the book ''Pounding Out the Profits''. Definitely not enough to rebuild it but just a general note in how it fits into the overall history of the evolution of the mechanical forging hammer. Other than that , you are basically on your own, unless you can find someone that has a similar hammer. It seems that Weygers book ''The Complete Modern Blacksmith'' has some information on that specific model of hammer. From your picture it looks like part of the adjustable gib that's made to up wear on the ram guides broke at some time in the past and it was braze welded back in place to allow it to be kept running. The best bet is to free everything up and oil the heck out of it and see if it will turn over and go through the basic motions of it's stroke to see if it's worth your time and energy to fix it. Be honest with yourself about whether you have the skills, $$ and motivation to take on a project like this and do a proper job of it. Good luck and keep us posted and share some more pictures of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tor Wolber Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 Thanks, beaudry. I will definitely take a look at those books. That was kind of my initial plan, I'm going to clean it up good, drag it into my shop and start freeing it up. I know this is likely to be long term project. I'm lucky enough to have a friend that owns a machine shop, so between him and me there aren't many parts we won't be able to make. I appreciate the reply and info. I'll post picture of my progress. Regards from Pumpkin Center, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaudry Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 The books referenced have pictures of the complete hammer so if nothing else you should be able to tell if your hammer has all its original parts and is set up as designed. Sometimes these old machine were kept running with parts from other machines or shop built to fit. A lot of these smaller hammers were used in remote rural settings where they were on their own to keep things running with what they had at hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Happy New Year, Tor The manufacture is the only one who may have the information you THINK you want. The machine in front of you has ALL the answers. If you make it tight, it will seize. If you make it with room to wiggle a little bit, it may be noisy but it will survive. It is manufactured to take a BEATING. Old machinery does not follow new machinery rule book. I would focus on getting it unstuck and able to work, BEFORE, trying to rebuild something you don't know anything about. Let it teach you what IT WANTS!! If you post your location in your avatar, you may find someone who could answer your questions. The keyboard is not the best place to learn. There are a ton of knowledgeable people in Calif. Welcome to our world. Some of the answers you may receive, need to be taken lightly. Don't expect someone to answer all your rebuilding questions unless they are standing in front of your machine and have worked on older machinery. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 "The Schuler Company of Berkeley California offered regional competition to the Little Giant hammer" page 201 in Pounding Out the Profits----so looking out West for others is probably a good idea over the east coast or midwest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaudry Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 What swedefiddle said above, these mechanical hammers were originally designed and built to fairly loose tolerances. People [ particularly machinists ] get all excited and think they will ''improve '' on the design by rebuilding them to overly close tolerances with grease fittings and tight bushings everywhere. This era of machines were designed to run with frequent hand lubrication at open oil points at all the moving parts that allowed the oil to flow through, flushing out the dirt and scale inherent in a working blacksmith shop. Basically these upright hammers translate the circular motion of the crank to the up and down motion of the ram through a spring actuated knee action of the linkage. This action needs a certain amount of slack and lots of oil to work smoothly The force and speed of the blow is either controlled through a mechanical clutch integral to the machine or with a driven slack belt and idler pulley arrangement. Keeping things well oiled and adjusted enough to take out any excess slop without binding will make for a well running machine. Keep us posted and we'll all learn something as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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