So I recently made a score and found a 12.75"x38" 1,375 lb chunk of steel at the scrap yard and am dreaming up uses for it! This project is several years away from actually happening but I've always liked the MZ75 hammers and I see there is a kit to build one too. Has anyone ever build there own off that $1400 kit Ken sells? I need some homemade hammer porn to cement my decision on this route  

How much air supply do you have at you disposal? With an anvil that heavy you could easily go with a little bigger cylinder and tup. But a bigger cylinder means you need more air. Just a thought I figured I would throw out there.

10 hours ago, setlab said:

Has anyone ever build there own off that $1400 kit Ken sells?

I have.  Similar situation, I found a 1900# block at the scrap yard and built the hammer around that.  135# tup, 11 inch stroke.  AMAZING control, one hit wonder!  Be aware that the dump valves on the piston don't slow down the tup on the up stroke, it stops when the ram hits a rubber bumper atatched to the hammer frame, design your frame accordingly!

I have more pics and some action vids on my Insta account, same name.  

Nice hammer, that anvil looks like is was made exactly for it. I'll have to check your Instagram out. 

Definitely have enough air supply so that never going to be an issue. I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I come to it when deciding to build a larger tup weight or not. 

I'm in the same predicament....only my block of steel is 3000#.

I don't envy you trying to position that anvil during your weld up lol. 

On 1/5/2019 at 9:07 AM, Judson Yaggy said:

I have.  Similar situation, I found a 1900# block at the scrap yard and built the hammer around that.  135# tup, 11 inch stroke.  AMAZING control, one hit wonder!  Be aware that the dump valves on the piston don't slow down the tup on the up stroke, it stops when the ram hits a rubber bumper atatched to the hammer frame, design your frame accordingly!

Hi Judson - do you know how many BPM you are getting when your machine is running flat out?  I've seen the videos and they typically focus on slow control (which looks super), but not the more rapid blows.   Do you think that your tup weight is appropriate for the valving (i.e. not too big)? 

Also, regarding your comment on the up stroke - is it always banging at the top of the up stroke or is it hitting the top when parking after you let off the treadle?

I am considering converting my Iron Kiss to use this system.

Thanks,

Don

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't built one using the kit, but I have built a kinyon styled hammer using the local hardware store's air components. My hammer uses a 5/2 valve and two roller valves. 400 lb anvil and 88 pound ram. What does tup mean? I guess it's ram but why is it called tup? Yeah, this hammer wasn't that hard to build. Only thing is you need a plasma cutter and a good welding machine. I'll have to make a good base for the hammer because otherwise I'm sure the welds will break. I'll either place it standing on concrete, or on I-beams sandwiched between a second base plate and bolted through. My air components cost about 700€ and then I got the cylinder for real cheap. The whole machine was about 1700€. Partly reclaimed steel, cylinder, and dad's welding rods. Oh, and I haven't gotten arond to making a proper foot treadle yet, I just put the valve in front to test out the hammer.

Excellent job on the frame!

As to the word "tup" it has a curious background to get applied to powerhammer components; probably based on the motion of the upper die especially on steam hammers where they would cycle a bit to keep the lines hot and condensation down.  TOS prevents me from going into details save to mention that it is often applied to the behavior of rams and ewes.

The OED has "tup" referring to a ram (as in male sheep) as early as the 14th century; the earliest documented usage as referring to a hammer (in this case, for knocking paving stones into place) is 1848.

So fits right in with my conjecture that it was linked after the use of steam hammers (first built in 1840).

5 hours ago, Jarntagforge said:

 

I would love some details on the frame fabrication. Looks like a cut and splice with the flanges bent to match then welded in?

5 hours ago, marcusb said:

 

Sure. I have pictures of the process on my instagram, @jarntagforge

There were two 13x6" I-beams put parallel to each other. I cut out the flanges on both in the location where they were to be welded, kind of partly a stair step cut. Then I welded them. Then for the S-curve I took two new plates in the same size as the flanges and bent a smooth curve in each using my fly press. Having two curves gives me an S-shape. Then I used them as a guide to cut away the excess material from the I-beam where the curve is. After that simply weld them in place.

When making this hammer I had these qualities in mind in this order of priority:

1. Looks

2. Mobility

3. Strength

4. Function

I wanted the hammer to resemble Chambersburg utility hammers. It might be far from it but I see it and I like it. Also the function can be altered using different valves in the future so I'm not worried. It does okay and can do single hits.

Also I forgot to mention that I also included a 200€ air compressor in the price. So it was a cheap hammer.

On 2/5/2019 at 10:32 PM, don schad said:

do you know how many BPM you are getting when your machine is running flat out? 

I havn't actually counted, but it's slightly slower than my 95# mechanical, as one would expect. I learned on mechanicals, and prefer a speedy hammer, and the Ken's kit is faster than some of the other utility hammers I've seen.  

Ken told me that they have the kit on many 150# hammers, so I felt comfortable putting it on a 135# system.  The hitting the top stops happens most when parking, but it will also hit when running flat out.  Depends on the air pressure setting and linkage setting.  

If it were my hammer, not sure I'd bother altering an IronKiss.  The one I've run had a differnt feel than Ken's, but still had great control.  I would say they are on par.  If it was a Blu, especially an older one, that would be a different situation.  

On 2/7/2019 at 7:31 AM, Judson Yaggy said:

I havn't actually counted, but it's slightly slower than my 95# mechanical, as one would expect. I learned on mechanicals, and prefer a speedy hammer, and the Ken's kit is faster than some of the other utility hammers I've seen.  

Ken told me that they have the kit on many 150# hammers, so I felt comfortable putting it on a 135# system.  The hitting the top stops happens most when parking, but it will also hit when running flat out.  Depends on the air pressure setting and linkage setting.  

If it were my hammer, not sure I'd bother altering an IronKiss.  The one I've run had a differnt feel than Ken's, but still had great control.  I would say they are on par.  If it was a Blu, especially an older one, that would be a different situation.  

My IK does have good control when approaching the dies,  but I am frustrated with an overall short stroke due to banging into the cylinder on return.   With the adjustable stroke the upper 3rd or so is off limits.  I don't think that Ken's kit would help with this (too much stroke for too little cylinder), but if/when I get into reworking everything that was something I was wondering about.   The motion/control looks very interesting.

Thanks for your comments.

 

Id be really interested in anyones experiences and pitfalls with these kits. I am luckily sorted for power hammers but ever since I saw Kens hammers I have fancied making one of these as a project. they seem so controleable.