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Ok so I bought a Beaudry #9 power hammer back in November and am finally able to set it up. The flat belt system is confusing me and I am having a hard time finding literature or reference on how this stuff is supposed to be set up.

 

I have a jack shaft driven by a 10hp motor. Unfortunately the drive wheel is about half the size of the flywheel on the hammer. I wish I could find a larger one. As of right now I am testing with an old worn out canvas belt that I got with the hammer. My main problem is around belt length and tension. The belt is supposed to spin with the jack shaft around the flywheel on the hammer until you engage the clutch pulley. The only way I was able to achieve this was for the belt to be rather loose. I am also finding that the hammer is difficult to engage initially but once it is running it is very responsive to clutch tension. As of right now it takes almost all of my weight to engage the hammer then after that its really easy to regulate.

 

Am I missing something obvious? Ill add pictures tomorrow if it would help.

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Also, good clear pictures would help.

If it takes all your weight to start moving the tup then you have likely negated the flywheel and it is working against you when it should be helping.

It was exactly this problem on a DuPont hammer that caused me to introduce a flywheel to the Rusty design hammer.

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Are the ram guides well oiled?  All the moving parts free?  

Have you played around with the linkage between the clutch and brake levers, ie the link with the turnbuckle?  I'd start by easing the tension on the clutch pulley and making sure the brake comes free before the flat belt gets grabbed.  

Looks like there are only 2 v belts coming off the motor.  Any chance they are slipping?

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The brake is free and responds well to adjustments. We have ironed out a few kinks in the linkage. I think the main difficulty there is we have such little movement in the clutch system. I think I might lengthen the white bar going through the frame of the hammer. If it isnt adjusted to the extreme it bottoms out against the hammer.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow, the motor tower you built for that one looks a LOT like the one I built for my #9 Beaudry.  Nice hammer!  Make sure you do'n't have too much flex in that beam when stepping on the treadle... I had  to brace mine quite a bit and there's still flex.  A bigger drive pulley would make a big difference, Beaudry stated specifically that the drive pulley had to be as large or larger than the driven?hammer pulley, plus the flywheel effect of the bigger pulley would help a lot.  The pulley I got with my hammer was fabricated by the previous owner, Larry Langdon (RIP) and he did a very nice job of it too.  A local place with a plate roller could make you one easily enough I'd think, or you could find a short scrap section of 20" pipe (well drillers near you, scrap yards?) and weld a hub plate into that for a pulley...
 

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Hey Salem! I actually talked with you on the phone a few months ago about this hammer! I modelled my motor tower after yours if you couldn't tell. For now, I am running the small pulley on the drive side but I plan on making/acquiring a much larger one. I am also working on getting rid of flex I have a few ideas on minimizing that.  It has been a while since I have updated this thread but the hammer is running nicely now. I am still adjusting and learning the best way to run the machine but it is working.  There are a few problems I want to address with the hammer that I would like some input on here in the next few weeks. I cant work on it now I am at a week-long festival demonstrating.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You should look for some clipper belting tools. The belt will stretch  some over time with use. I like my belt to have little slack  takes less peddle to get it started. but could be wrong in the way I set mine up.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Arlin: I don't get on this site very often so this comment is probably too late to help you...

Good advice about the pulley diameter from Salem and just increasing the diameter of the drive pulley to equal or greater than the driven pulley on the beaudry will help a lot. I have one additional comment which is to relocate the drive pulley shaft so that the pulley is directly over the Beaudry pulley. At idle the belt will hang and run with the least amount of friction/drag on the driven pulley and likely increase the belt life from less wear. Ideally at idle, one should just hear the quiet, rhythmic slap of the belt as it runs freely around the driven pulley. It should also reduce the amount of travel that the idler pulley requires to clutch the drive pulley and make the treadle action more responsive. Moving the shaft is a lot of work, but in my opinion from a log-term standpoint a useful alteration.

Also the New England Blacksmiths website has what printed information I had about Beaudry, Fairbanks, and other hammers along with contributions from many others. I have long rued the day that I sold off the complete set of linen original blueprints for the Dupont/Fairbanks hammers last built by Barber-Stockwell in Cambridge, MA. 

Anecdote: The first time I started up my 100# beaudry I used some leather belting that had dried out in storage,  not having the $ to buy a new one. The shop was quickly filled with an orange cloud of leather dust. Once the dead stuff was done flying off the belt lasted another 20 years.  

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