After I learned how hard it is to make good damascus with a hammer , I have started to build a power hammer. Most of it is pretty straightforward, but I would like to build it to accept commercially manufactured dies, if necessary. I would like suggestions on what type of dies I should design for, and the specific dimensions.

The hammer is going to be in the 30 lb range, give or take. I am using the gearbox from sort of giant squishing machine I found at the scrapyard, so it is pretty beefy, and it has adjustable stroke.  So far I have built the base and height adjustable pedestal, mounted the gearbox, and am working on the striking shaft, which will be three inch hardened steel rod.

I think pictures of your "giant squishing machine gear box" are in order, along with the rest of the build.

Here is the gearbox, as it is today:

 

I don't know why the image is sideways.

 

One of the cool things about the gearbox is that you can adjust the amplitude of the hammer swings, while keeping the apogee(?) of the swing at the lower anvil, or wherever you want to set it. There is actually a lot going on in the gearbox, which I have not really fully explored. I have the platform mounted about 2 meters high, attached firmly to an internal sleeve inside the vertical square tube. Once all the problems are solved, I will beef up the supporting structure. I do want to be able to take it apart, as it will be way too heavy for my hoist.

My next step is to build up to the bottom die, as well as figuring the spring arrangement out from the junk in my scrap pile. I am not really worried about the drive motor yet, as I have lots of sprockets, chains, and gears on hand. That should be the easy part.

So anyway, any die suggestions?  ??