I was having trouble with the bottom die of my hammer getting chewed up from scale getting trapped under swages . The scale is very hard and abrasive and was being pounded  hard under the swage in use,  leaving the face of the bottom die pitted .

My solution was to fabricate a cover for the bottom die  from some 3/3'' flat bar and 1/2'' plate .  One of the bars on the side was left long to act as a handle and the edge left sharp as a convenient edge to scrape scale off the hot bar before placing it in the swage. The cover is a loose fit so it's easy to place over the die and remove it when the swaging  operation is done.

Since the cover is mild steel it also doubles as a cutting plate under the hammer.

 

 

LOUD?

i can see the merits of it, i can almost hear the merits of it too!

Not noticeably louder than a 200# hammer hitting hard !  It's heavy construction means  it doesn't bounce or get deformed in use.

Has no one else has had that problem of the die getting chewed up from scale under the swage ?

I've worked under hammers where the pitting under tooling was rather excessive, but have always just cleaned under the swedges after the job goes back in the furnace, or before the next one goes into the swedges. I can understand that on some hammers it might be no louder than the rest of the operation, but under a massey clearspace, saddle tools are way louder than the general forging operations.

 In actual use , there's really not any more noise than normal hammer operation. The cover is fabricated from pretty heavy material and even though it's a loose fit , the tool holder holds the swage and cover down tight over the bottom die.  

I generally just use this if the swage is  fixed in the hammer for a run of parts. If it's a quick one off operation  where I'm holding the swaging tool by hand I tend not to use it and brush the scale off with the tool as it accumulates.

Any inconvenience is outweighed by eliminating any extra wear and tear on the bottom die

 

Sounds legit.

Might be tempted to give it a go some time.

Got to set the beast up first

 Nice looking hammer, whats the ram weight on that ?

What's a clear space hammer as opposed to a regular hammer? Got any side by side pictures ? 

 

It is a 5cwt, so 5x112lb

A MASSEY clearspace hammer is a pneumatic self contained hammer without any slides to guide the ram, giving a "clear space" all around the ram.

Many smiths, myself included, believe that they are the most versatile hammer in the known universe!

Also very quiet. 

 

On 3/21/2018 at 10:41 AM, beaudry said:

Has no one else has had that problem of the die getting chewed up from scale under the swage ?

Yes, I've had it happen, but it took a very long time with the same set-up to be noticeable on the die.  Mostly it's the bottom of the swage that pits.  Are you making your swages?  Are they annealed?  What is your bottom die made of, and is it heat treated to RC 55 at least?

I like your solution.  Thanks for sharing.  

3 hours ago, iron woodrow said:

Many smiths, myself included, believe that they are the most versatile hammer in the known universe!

Tsk tsk.  Shows how small your universe is.    (A one speed hammer.  Sheesh!)  

IW  , thanks for the clarification, looks like a beautiful machine. I don't have enough experience running an air hammer to make any sort of valid comparisions.

SI , The dies are 4140, not sure what the hardness # is. I can dress them with a new sharp file . I don't have the shop capacity to machine and heat treat a piece that size, so I had them made by Postville Blacksmith Shop in Wisconsin about 12 years ago.

The swages I make are usually made from mild steel , left as forged. Most of my swages I bought from Off Center Tools, A lot of them came heavily pitted on the outside faces which I ground as smooth as possible.  

The damage I was getting is from the hard scale getting between the die and the swage. Having a piece of angle iron with two wire brushes mounted inside the angle fixed close to the hammer helps clean off the  scale as well as having an air nozzle on hand to blow things clean.

Who needs more than one speed?

I never have.

Every mechanical hammer i have come across needs adjusting for different sized materials, and cannot do fast light blows or slow heavy blows without swift manoeuvres with your driving foot. One speed with infinately variable blows will do me just fine, thankyou!

The universe may be small, but at least it has masseys to brighten it up.

 

Leaving that argument aside, what are you making with a hammer that size, industrial  forging or art work or a combination of both ?

Definitely a combination of both. Specializing in art OR industry alone in this climate and location is a recipe for disaster.

I love heavy industrial art anyway 

It isnt set up yet, but this hammer differs only from the one I served my industrial apprenticeship under by being about 30 years newer.

Your hammer looks to be a fine machine also!

20 hours ago, beaudry said:

SI , The dies are 4140, not sure what the hardness # is. I can dress them with a new sharp file . I don't have the shop capacity to machine and heat treat a piece that size, so I had them made by Postville Blacksmith Shop in Wisconsin about 12 years ago.

I'd take them someplace to be Rockwell tested.  I wonder if they're hard enough if you're able to file them.  If they're under C50, send them somewhere to be heat treated.  I'll try to remember to look in my records today to find out how hard the 4140 bottom die on my 100 pounder is.   However, I've had the same issue with my 250's die when it's had a swage in one place awhile.  That die came on the hammer, so I have no idea what it is.  My swages are 5160 if that matters at all.  

2 hours ago, iron woodrow said:

Your hammer looks to be a fine machine also!

That's because it's a variable speed, variable stroke length, come-with-a-brake for instant stopping Beaudry. Beaudry guys all know their hammers are the best in the universe too.  (Not just the known universe, but the whole entire thing.)  I'd like to have one, but I already know my hammer's the best in two universes, both of which are unknown.  

Beaudry, I have the same issue with the dies on my Bradley. They are the original dies which are fairly soft. I think old school dies tend softer maybe worried about projectile cracking?  I think 4x4x8 is to large in 4140 to get full hard. S7 or 4340 or some other higher alloy might yield  harder dies safely. Big dies like that are an investment for sure. Nathan R. makes tooling plates the full size of his dies for the same scale reason.

I like the tool trays. You have a nice tight fit between your anvil and frame did you caulk it?

Andrew T,  Other than the scale chewing up the dies they seem plenty hard and show very little wear after 12 years of use. The dies on my 100# Lg are also 4140 and seem to work just fine.  I'd rather have them a little soft so I don't  chip them. The flat dies have about a  3/16'' radius on all edges  and are set to  match top and bottom.

The tool trays are handy to keep tooling close at hand .Accessories like belt dressing . the die cover and the wrenches to adjust the brake are on the lower tray. I mounted the trays using holes that were already drilled into the frame.

There's about an 1/'8'' gap all around between the  anvil block and the frame. I caulked it tight with some fiberglass furnace gasket to keep the scale out and from working down and under the anvil .I've read about people having problems with the anvil getting tilted with fine scale slowly working it's way under the anvil when it recoils under the hit.

When I bought the hammer it was set up as a closed die hammer with big square dies with tapered notches for holding insert impression dies  to forge star drills, punches and crowbar ends. The dies were really wedged in with the keys all smashed  into a non removable  mess. I cut the old dies out in chunks with a big OA cutting tip and  lot's of pressure .  I managed to do this tricky cut without any damage to the dovetails  , I think helped by the slight gap in the key slot and the fact that the dies were higher carbon than the ram or sow block  [?]

It's been a very fine hammer , well mannered and very economical to run for it's size.

 

I don't know if this will help at all, but at least it's information.  I looked up what I made the dies out of for my 100 pounder: one is H13; the other is 4340.  They are 3 1/2" wide and  8" long.  The H13 die is a bolster die and is heat treated to RC 50.  I think that was all the harder it could be made.  The plain flat die is hardened to between RC 50 and 55.  They both have dents in them though.  

I think your plate's an excellent solution.  I might do that myself.  Thanks.