Rusty hammer build along

[bubba682]

Runs good how much does the hammer weigh.

[Jason Fry]

40 pound head. Tuned it up some More today. Hits plenty hard. 

[Jason Fry]

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Ran it hard for three days with no major malfunctions. The way I had the dies set up to be interchangeable isn't going to work. It also hit much harder with a bit less space between the dies, but I was out of adjustment range, so I added a block of steel under the bottom die plate. I'll eventually need to lengthen the push arm to make up the adjustment. The weld between the bottom die and die plate cracked a little, and the bolt between the hammer shaft and top dies showed some pretty good wear. Looks like for the short term I'll have to weld up the interchangeable die parts to something more permanent, or at least change how the dies interchange. No structural failures or damage.

[Jason Fry]

Update. Installed a stiffer spring on the spring pack, and lengthened the push arm. In this video I was forging some 3/8” square down a little further on the tail end of a blacksmith knife. Hammer was hitting so hard I had to slip the clutch a little. Was too smashy

 

https://youtu.be/q3ZXB4kiT8Y

 

Here’s what I ended up with.  

[FlatLiner]

I like your build. Looks like it works well.

[Jason Fry]

Here we are two years later.  Hammer is still running fairly strong.  I've put about 30 hours on it in the last two months with all the virus quarantine, plus 5 or 10 hours a month since I built it.  No major malfunctions, although I did break and re-weld the pipe that holds the lower guide.  I also had to modify the way the top die attaches to the tup, as what I had wasn't strong enough.  Finally broke the welds enough times that the force split the angle iron brackets.

I recently read through "Pounding out the Profits" for the first time, and have a few ideas on ways to improve my hammer performance.  I think maybe this weekend I'll build a connector to adjust the attachment point between the pitman and the spring, to see if moving the pitman closer to the tower will improve the stroke force.  Also have several better guide designs in my head, although I probably won't do anything with them. 

I've done a few Damascus billets that were 2x2x6, and have forged out 1" by 2" by 3" pieces of solid as well.  I haven't used any other hammers to compare it to, but it does the job I built it for.