Jason Fry Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Ok, so I have a buddy with everything in the world, metal. I am building an Appalachian hammer. He has some kind of solid axle, 4.5" round, by 60" or so long. Math says that a 36" piece weighs 162 pounds. This by itself isn't enough for a 25 pound head, correct? Next, he has a mud pump sleeve, easily 150 pounds, about 20" long with a 5 or 5.5" bore down the middle. We're thinking we could use some pipe to shim the gap, weld it all together, and get close to 300 pounds. The solid axle would go straight from the dies to the base plate, with the sleeve on the bottom for extra mass. Is this a good idea? The 4.5" solid round is the biggest solid we could find. He also has 2" or 2.5" (eyeballed) square solid stock. 18" of 2" is 20 pounds. 12" of 2.5" is 20 pounds. Along with that would be the roller assembly, the die plate, and the dies, to calculate the head weight, correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeknivek Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 4.5" round inside of the 5" bore will work just fine. you may not even need to shim it -you could 1. cut the sleeve down the length 3 or 4 times, equally spaced and weld it at either side, or, 2. weld at the bottom, fill with sand or lead, weld the top. This may be seen as unorthodox by others, but that will be a lot simpler than finding 1/4" or 1/2" wall 4.5" id pipe in the length you need. Not to mention, that's going to be a hell of a fight to sink 4.5" round into 4.5" id pipe, and then sink that into 5" or 5.5" sleeve. Be very thankful that you have a loose fit right now, instead of a tight one. The head weight is calculated as everything that moves down and securely attached. The weight, the dies, the clevis, the bolts that go into the clevis, if you're particularly anal. It really isn't a critical measurement, nor all that relevant or useful to know - weight it all and round up to the nearest 5. The only reason ram weight is relevant is because there is an "ideal" ratio of ram-to-anvil weight, generally, 10:1 minimum, 16:1 "good", 20:1 "better". This has to do with some physics, but, the differences are hard to measure and have nothing to really compare to besides theoretical maths. Figure on a ballpark estimate and, basically, the more mass overall the better off you will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Fry Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 Thanks, Lee. That's about what I concluded as well. Just figure out a way to tie the axle to the sleeve and call it good. Weld the crap out of everything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 The outer sleeve you mention will be extra mass but I’m not sure how useful that mass will be. I’m no expert but I am under the impression the fact it’s not solid means it’ll only add a little extra to you anvil. You could leave the 4.5” solid, instead of cutting it shorter just bury the extra in a brief frame like the large industrial hammers. I don’t recall the names of those hammers but I’m sure someone here could tell you. I just recall seeing pictures of some where the anvil stands almost as tall as the hammer and only a small portion is standing above grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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