Bradley 200 compact hammer project

[Old Crew]

I don't think that tightening the bolts on the rubber cushions would do much.

Frosty

It has the original brake but the adjustment was maxed out and was not fully brakeing the machine. I took it apart and tried to roughen or break the glaze on the brake material to no avail. I may try to modify the brake to have more travel on the adjuster but my best bet is probably to get new brake lining. The current lining is almost down to the rivets.

JLP

The hammer was in pristine condition It lived its life in the same city maintaince shop since new around 1910 . I got it with every thing as it was installed  It even had the original tools for adjustments. As I was playing with it last night the motor started to smoke so I immediately shut it down . Upon investigation this afternoon the upper pulley shaft was somewhat seized up.

The bearings are somewhat strange. They float in the housing with those 4 screws. They are an oil bath bearing in which the housing doesn't fully close. So i think tightened the bolts down to much when i was tensioning the leather belt. 

The 2 rings are a form of splash lubrication. The shaft rests on the bottom bearing half and the upper bolt tightens down on upper case half which tightens the bearing. There is a hole in the top case to put oil in and a weep hole on the side of the lower case half.  Fill it till it runs out the side!   messy ancient technology 

[Judson Yaggy]

4 hours ago, Old Crew said:

I don't think that tightening the bolts on the rubber cushions would do much.

We should probably move this to the power hammer section. 

The lowest of the linkage arms, the toggles that connect to the tup, should be close to horizontal at rest.  Yours are out of spec.  No hammer can ever get to truly horizontal but the closer the better.     Upping the tension will pull those arms closer to ideal.  If that doesn't do it, the rubber may be tired.  I know I would be after almost 100 years!  The rubber is the spring, if tightening doesn't change anything then the spring is worn out.  There are threads here on IFI and other places about replacing rubber on Bradleys.  As a stop-gap you could rotate the rubbers 180 degrees, they are slightly wider and less fatigued at the bottom of the rubber due to the inherent geometry.  

From the photos the babbit in the lineshaft portion looks ok, just a little scoring.  The leveling and alignment bolts are fairly common on old lineshaft stuff. Like you said, probably just overtightened.

The worn out brake is a problem.  These were designed to function with a factory brake, as were all industrial grade mechanicals.  Lack of a brake is one of the reasons why Little Giants are considered farmer not industrial grade.  Definitely fix that.

Tune up the brake, tune up the springs, and go to town!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

1 hour ago, Judson Yaggy said:

We should probably move this to the power hammer section. 

Looks like a moderator agreed. Old Crew I have no doubt but you will have that Bradley running like a Swiss watch in no time.

[Old Crew]

Judson

I have found a source for new rubber cushions already. I need to find a source for the brake material.  There are several oiling holes on the linkage arms that I am considering drilling and taping for a grease zerk. The line shaft bearings , the main bearings and the crankshaft bearings all have oil reservoirs . The ones on the hammer are open with a felt cover. Even the electric motor has oil reservoirs but at least it has lids. Any suggestions as to what type or weight oil to use ?

[Judson Yaggy]

Up here near Canada I use ATF in the cold season and 30W non-detergent in the summer.  You can probably skip the cold weather option!  Whatever you use, use a lot.  Mechanicals were intended to be drippy, it helps flush out any crud that gets in.  

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Here in AR, I use 80wt gear oil or chainsaw bar oil with a little STP to lube the 30 pound Star hammer. I had to pour the Babbitt bearings when I got it 20 years ago and they are still like new, haven't had to remove any shims in all those years.

[Andrew T]

You need 4 big wrenches to adjust this machine properly. The largest one is on the crank plate which adjusts the "throw" radius, I forged mine out of a piece of grader blade. You will need 2 to adjust the rear guide, and one more size for the rubber compression, which  should also fit the anvil and front guide nuts. I didn't have any large wrenches until I got my hammer.

You want more compression on the rubbers, your hammer head is cycling erratically in your video, it jerks and flutters around. Judson is correct, the toggle arms should be closer to horizontal. Don't be afraid to play with the compression you can always set it back to where it was.

Who are you getting rubbers from? The ones Stewart G has are for a beam hammer, not a Compact.

[Old Crew]

Andrew

I was going to get them from Stewart . I just spoke to him about the size . The ones he has are tapered and the narrow end is the same diameter as mine. he suggested turning them on a lathe.  A friend of mine has a lathe I will see how he feels about turning rubber.  I didn't see how tightening the rubbers would help but now 2 people have suggested that I do so.    So I will do so.  The machine came with some of the original adjustment tools and I have large sockets and wrenchs

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

If your friend doesn't want to do it with the lathe, you could probably put a bolt & nut with washers through them and turn them down with a drill press and rasp.

[Andrew T]

Consider keeping the oil hole the way they are. I use my Stihl bar oil in a little oil can.

4 little shots on the 4 faces of the ram, 6 shots in the linkage oil holes, 1 for the crank pin, 2 for the main shaft, and 1 for the idler pulley.

It's easy and fast, I do it every time before I start it up.

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That's the same way I do it for the Star.

[Judson Yaggy]

14 hours ago, Andrew T said:

I do it every time before I start it up.

Yup!

 

I've tuned rubber on my lathe after freezing solid.  Work fast.  

[Old Crew]

I listened to the good advice found on this forum and tightened the rubbers by one full turn of the nut.  This machine has BIG nuts   2-5/8 to be specific , it was the largest socket in my collection. When tightened the toggle arms were straighter and there was less slap.    I would post a video but IFI is super slooooooooooooooow today?

Thanks 

Andrew T and Judson Y for the good advice.   I still don't have it quite right as far as the belt tension goes ( or maybe the brake ) when I last used it the slack belt was tight enough that it would continue to hammer after releasing the treadle. I backed it of just a little and it won't engage from a stop now unless I manually turn the crank until the hammer is in the lowest position. If I keep the hammer in motion no problem?

[Andrew T]

You can remove the brake while you test and tune the slack belt. My hammer runs beautifully with out a brake. That would remove one variable. Get the slack belt right, then do the brake. Just make sure you can hit the off switch quick in case it wants to run away.