Making progress on my home made hammer but I have a habit of drawing outside the lines.

[hillsideshortleg]

I started this years ago and found that back in 2010 I was asking questions on here. I asked on a facebook group and didnt hear what my itching ears wanted to hear. I am posting pictures of my progress and really want to use a 7.75 in diameter cylinder. I was watching a video of a guy taking a self contained hammer apart to reseal it. I see there was very large ports and I got the idea of mounting a receiver tank on the back of the hammer and having large, maybe 1.5" lines running into the cylinder and making a very large port valve to control it.  This would then be a low pressure high volume cylinder movement. I have read on here the pros and cons of this hammer and that hammer and the thought came to me, is it just a matter of coming up with the controls to make the cylinder act the way you want. My confused mind is telling me, think outside the box. I was watching a video on a Massey Clear hammer and saw the guy making adjustments to the controls to get it to work the way he wanted. I enjoy PLC's and what they can do, and am wondering if my thinking is way off to make a cylinder act the way you want, using various forms of control of the air. I have no idea what I will use this hammer for. I have built other machines that i found uses for later and think I basically enjoy the challenge when we are slow. I use this to keep the guys busy when we are slow and cannot afford to buy a store bought one. LOL The last pictures are of the hammer and the slide we are building for it to travel in. we will line it with some form of nylon. I think the hammer will weigh around 250 lbs. Im really interested in feedback an making this a Frankensteine   of automation. The base is around 2500lbs and the vertical uprights are around 1000lbs before the slide box and hammer and cylinder. Thanks for any creative comments 

[hillsideshortleg]

Around 35 years ago I went to collage for Hydraulics and pneumatics and industrial controls. I have forgotten a lot and decided to stop by the Industrial Automation building of our local collage. The one i went to years ago. I was actually there 2 hours talking about the old times and how things have changed. The instructor entered in my parameters of my hammer and the cylinders I have at hand. He knocked down my 7.75" cylinder and said it would work but the low pressures I would be running at would make it very inefficient. So am switching over to the 4" cylinder I have. It's a 24" stroke and will cut the stroke down. What is a good stroke length for me to use? I found some 1/2" 4 way valves out in my shed as well as some larger 2 way valves. Talking to the instructor I think we may dump all the air on the rod end out of a larger valve as the piston is dropping. he knew nothing about hammers but liked the idea of using a PLC for the controls. I got the impression that he had experience in driving pilings in using pneumatics.

But anyway, what is a good stroke length?  Thanks you in advance

[ThomasPowers]

A large factor in stroke length would be what you want to use it for: size of stock, use of tools on the stock, speed of stroke; etc.