Well, I think I can get my Kinyon hammer finished in the next 30 days, so this is my thread to hold my feet to the fire. I've got the baseplate bolted down and the main upright welded. I've got a few more chunks of steel on the way, and almost no air plumping parts except for the cylinder and the compressor. Here is what I have done



Suggestions for how to do the plumbing and controls cheerfully accepted.

OHhhh it's gettin' there!

Working out the dimensions now. Still not sure on how I'm going to do the control system yet though...

Now that's a kn'eye beam! Get it? ("now that's a knoife!") Well, I thought it was funny! Anyway, looking good so far Todd Are you looking specifically for the air schematics? Here is a simple diagram from zoeller forge

Edited May 31, 200818 yr by Dodge

It's great you're undertaking this project and sharing it with us. Please document it as much as possible. Thanks so much, Phil

It's great you're undertaking this project and sharing it with us. Please document it as much as possible. Thanks so much, Phil

No problem. I'm planning on taking pictures of the construction stages.

I'm kind of leaning to the standard Kinyon control system. It took me a little bit of thinking about it to get it down as to how it works. This was from watching the video of the Coleman controls and how fast the switch works there. However it looks like there is a moderate amount of extra work with the Coleman system.

I'm also going to be using a square tubing (with 1/2" wall thickness) for the ram guide, so I may have to cut down the 12" long section of it to have enough extra room for the control switch to work on the ram.

I also need to track down somebody with a plasma cutter so I can cut out a square out of the U-channel that I'm mounting the air cylinder on. That way I can pull the ram out once it has been assembled, as I would like to be able to welding the U-channel on top of the H-beam spacer.

Edit: Also think I'm going to run the dies at 90

Edited June 1, 200818 yr by Torin

I understand that these Kinyon style hammers typically use an air pilot for the switching?? I was wondering if anyone has tried an electric solenoid air switch. Would it work? Would it switch fast enough? The reason I ask is because I was given such a switch and am very interested in possibly building an air hammer to supplement or perhaps replace my tire hammer.

Torin,
I recently completed a Kinyon-style power hammer. I have 2 schematics that I could email to you, if you wish. One is a hand drawing from Dave Mudge at the Magic Hammer Forge, and the other is a cad drawing, which is basically the same thing. Both use the secondary regulator that was designed by the guys at the Alabama Forge Council.
Pete

I would definitely appreciate that. You can send it to [email protected] I can open most cad drawings. Thank you!

Torin,
great to be able to follow your progress. Maybe it'll motivate me to finish the I-beam one I started years ago.

I understand that these Kinyon style hammers typically use an air pilot for the switching?? I was wondering if anyone has tried an electric solenoid air switch. Would it work? Would it switch fast enough? The reason I ask is because I was given such a switch and am very interested in possibly building an air hammer to supplement or perhaps replace my tire hammer.

If I've got my mind wrapped around how it works properly, too fast would be a disadvantage. You want a slight delay in the action. Because when the ram moves up past and activates the roller switch, it is telling it to send the ram down. Once it goes down enough to let the switch move back into the open position, it is telling the cylinder to move up. So, a slight delay is actually a good thing.

Well, it looks like I messed up by an inch on one dimension. Not a big deal, but it means I'm not going to be able to line the top of the two pieces up flush. Not a major problem, but annoying. The picture is of the ram spacer and the ram guide. I think I'm going to cut 2 inches off the top and leave it with 10" of ram guide. That should give me enough room to move the roller switch around for tuning the hammer blow.

The ram guide is going to be lined with UHMW polyetheylene, in 1/2" thick sheets. It will be 4" wide and have 4 screws holding it into position. I'll drill holes about 1/2 way through the UHMW for positional holding. I'll be drilling corrosponding holes in the guide so that I can weld nuts in place for the screws. I should be able to get that done tomorrow. I'll also need to drill holes on the spacer so that I can get to the screws on the backside.

I'm still trying to get a Versa VPP 5602. The dealer I called said the switch doesn't show up in their inventory s he would call the factory. I hope I get an answer tomorrow. BTW, does anybody know if the 5 way switch with 3/4" NPT ports listed by the Blacksmith's Depot is any good?

Well, I should be getting to bed soon. Oh, and the part of the H-beam to the left/below the ram guide is getting cut off as well.

Well, I think I'm going to get the switch and the 5-way valve from The Blacksmith's depot. I'm not sure if it is the best deal out there, but it seems to be reasonable. The 3/4" NPT version fo the Versa valve I see out there with a few hammers is $435 from my local distributor. Given that I hope to be buying a new hammer in about 5 years, I think I'll go with this level.

I think I can probably get the rest of the parts from McMaster Carr.

Well, it looks like all the steel is due to arrive today. I'll take pictures when I get home. I'll be able to get all the cuts but one done this weekend. I'm still looking for a good local plasma cutter though. I'm thinking of calling the one place I know that does waterjet cutting and see if they will do it.

Steel arrived today. Ram, U-channel, sleeve and two plates. Got all the steel now. Just need to put it together.

More detailed information tomorrow, but I did get a fair amount of work done this weekend. All the cuts that were needed to be made were except for a square cutout on the u-channel.

When all you have is a screwdriver, all your problems look like screws. Figured out an error in my thinking.

And here are some photos.

Ok, I was able to get the 27" long chunk of H-beam cut down to 18" using the big 20" saw at work. Also cut off some from the 4" square ram. 2" of it for the air cylinder adapter and two 1/2" plate for the dies to be welded to. And the ram guide got 2" cut off of it.

However when I was welding nut onto the ram guide it finally hit me that I've been spending too much time with the welder. I didn't need to weld them on, I should have just drilled at tapped the holes. Given the size they are now, I can probably go with 9/16"-18 bolts, but given that they are $3 each from McMaster and I can get 3/8"-16 bolts for nearly free, I figured I'd order another 10" chunk of tubing for a new ram guide and do it right.

I got the H-beam spacer drilled for the 4 bolts that the ram guide will have on that face. They are 7/8" so I should have plenty of room to adjust for ram placement.

I then welded a small chunk of rod onto the H-beam and lifted into place with the engine hoist. Once in place I clamped it, but left the hoist hooked up, just in case. Then I stitch welded it in place. However I still need to work on my vertical welding, as I kept having the weld bead drop to the floor.

So I still need to get more welding done on the spacer to build up the initial weld. Also, I need to get the square cut out on the U-channel for the air cylinder mount. And I need to start working on the anvil sleeve for the anvil die plates.

Its coming together!!!! I can`t wait to see and hear more about it. when do you think it`llbe done?
Thanks,Chris

Well, I'm still hoping to have it done by the end of this month. That was the deadline I've set myself. The pumbing has starting coming in and I hope to have it all by the end of next week. At least that was what I was quoted.

Also, for those that wanted the part number for the 5-way valve. It is a Parker brand, and the number is: B844000XXA

I really haven't gotten anything done in the last 3 days due to the heat and recovering from not being able to sleep well durring it. We have no A/C in our house.

Torin,
great to follow along with your progress.
One lil tip I would pass along, that helped me......is that I drilled the holes into the Hammer Head stock the size that was required to tap for the bolts that I used to hold the dies on before I cut off the slabs that I used to make my die sets.......then all I had to do was redrill those in the slabs to accommodate the size bolts after cutting the slabs from the HEAD stock. I of course took into account the number of "slab slices" that I planned to cut off and went deeper to leave some for the tapping. This made sure all the holes lined up and saved some time. I actually got a separate piece of the 4"x4" and have it predrilled so I can just cut off more 1/2" slabs for future sets of dies.

AND even though I originally followed the simple air hammer plans and drilled 4 holes........Chris Ray convinced me that I'd only really need two holes....not four. Made for quicker change out of die sets. I've found that the two bolts, w/lock washers, are more than enough and never work lose, even when doing cold surface texturing on mild steel.

thanks for sharing the "making of your hammer". inspirational.

I was thinking about doing the drilling and then the slabbing off, but 2 things worked against that. 1, the time to be able to use the saw came up faster than I was going to have time to do the drilling. 2, I'm going to want more than 1, or even 3 sets of dies, so I figured I would go ahead and just try and do a good job of drilling from a template. Plus the drill press I have only has about 3" of travel, which makes drilling deep holes really hard if I also want to get any precision as well.

I also appreciate the heads up about only needing 2 bolts. That will let me make sets of 45

When I cut the hole for the air cylinder to pass through, I used a magnetic drill press with a 1 9/16" annular cutter. If you can hook up with someone who has access to one, it'll do a nice, clean job in no time at all.

You can also cut some serious holes with a holesaw, even with a hand held drill-motor

When I cut the hole for the air cylinder to pass through, I used a magnetic drill press with a 1 9/16" annular cutter. If you can hook up with someone who has access to one, it'll do a nice, clean job in no time at all.

Couldn't agree more......these drills make a project like this.....almost easy. The first hammer I built....all I used was a drill press....the next few a friend rented a magnadrill and I was a "done deal". It is Soooooo much easier to take the drill to the Huge metal parts....than the other way around. AND.....those cutters are FAST. They aren't that much to rent, I'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking about fabbing with Large metal components.

I have built 2 Kinyon style air hammers - on the top plate (IIRC it was a 3/4" plate) I did not have machining capabilities or a drill bit big enough for the cylinder rod pass through. What I did use and it worked just fine (a little slower but it worked) was a hole saw at slow rpm with coolant. Done deal and cheaper than buying a huge drill bit. - JK