Power Hammer that I did.

[MerlincMan]

Gentlemen,

I thought that I might post this in a place dedicated to the whole thing.

 

It has been a road - longest single self-imposed project I have completed. My new Power Hammer - Sweetie named her "Hamela Hammerson" because, as I have said quite frequently, all machines are female. 

So, a couple of years ago I finally got an anvil and a little propane forge. I set about drawing out a piece of rebar and within ten minutes I decided that my health required a power hammer (excellent excuse, no?). The Little Giants are out of my price range, and there aren't any around anyways (except for the one that showed up at the scrap yard when I was halfway through with this one - for 6 grand!!)

I began with a cookie of steel (the crank) and some 1" pillow blocks. I had a spring left from my vice build (blacksmith vices are as rare here in CO as Power Hammers and Shapers) - it's a porch-swing-suspension spring from Lowes. I began building the toggles - beginning with some 1/2" eye screws into which I welded some 1" cookies bored to 1/2" to accept pins to hold them in the hammer head. I bent the toggle-arms in my little forge - and broke my new vice doing it (cast-iron was a poor decision from the screw manufacturer - but I've got a chunk of cold-roll to re-make the screw head for my vice).

The head is half of a nasty piece of hot-roll that I've had as a book-weight since my days at the tool and die shop. Most of it is blue and straw colored chips on my shop floor now due to having deliberately chosen the hard way. I machined dovetails into the sides for the ways, and a dovetail for the upper die (made of some FX2 that I've had for as long - got another piece to make drawing dies)

I decided that I wanted to do this project the complicated way; isn't that why we do hobby machining anyways?

For the sliding-dovetail things, I welded some 1/2"x3/16" cold rolled to some larger bars, then put UHMWPE tape on them to create some rather slick sliding ways.

The clutch/flywheel is from a Volkswagen dasher/rabbit/jetta (just happened to find it on Ebay for a steal) - I took the main spring out and added in a tapered roller bearing in a spider-block configuration to press the plate where the spring used to. Got the starter pinon and had to anneal it (ish) to drill and tap for 1/4-20 set screw to hold it to the shaft of the motor. The flywheel is cast-steel (tested with a drill - made chips, not dust) so I could weld a square that I bored and pressed a bearing into to hold it fee on the shaft.

My original motor was from a swamp-cooler (that I got for free on CL because the goober thought it was dead - they had just never lubed the squirrel cage!) - it was 1/2 horse @ 1750- RPM. This was too slow, so I found another 3/4 HP @ 3600 RPM and it seems much better now (Though the head is rather light for what this setup could move). That original motor may well go towards the rolling mill that I decided to make, halfway through making the power hammer 

The frame is in two main parts - the anvil is one giant chunk of solid that I cut in half lengthwise, then welded together on the long-grain. The spine is hollow 1/8" tubing that I filled with cement (1pt cement-lime, 2pt fine sand, 1pt sika acrylic fortifier and enough water to make it pour) - it has no ring to it. The base is a big heavy chunk of solid. The machine is HEAVY and nicely solid - though welding the tubing to giant chunks of solid was hard, and my welds broke more than once (I failed to pre-heat the solid chunk first, as I don't really have a big torch, and no acetylene.) Added some gussets to make it more footy.

I machined a dovetail into the lower die-shoe, and made the lower die from some off-cut from the chunk I used for the anvil. Again, I've got another chunk so I can make a drawing die - two sets of dies total: flat and domed. I was not confident in doing tapered dovetails and wedges like how the Little Giants hold their dies, so I drilled-and tapped for 2 1/4-20 set-screws; works great (all they have to do is not slide while in use - the tails are nice and tight, and they butt into the end solid so there is no slop).

Random pieces parts to make the foot-pedal, and I insisted upon Zerks for all the pivot points because grease is greasy, and stays put better than oil - and I think this is rather what Zerks and grease are made for in any case.

Simply put, I am so very satisfied!!

It doesn't hit as hard as it might, and I still have the other half of that giant piece of hot-roll that I used for the head, so I can make some weights to hook and bolt to the head so as to make it customizable - not that this is all that great, but hey - why not!

I didn't do the adjustable pitman arm like the Little Giants either, the Dupont Toggles seem to cope just fine with different stock thickness, and I'm not likely to be doing huge work anyways.

Flat-black spray paint covers a multitude of sins, and all the deadly-bits are glossy-red because, why not?

It's smacky, it's fast, and it's mine!

Say hello to Hamela Hammersen!

Thanks for reading and looking 

I am very happy!

Now, to finish drawing out that piece of rebar from more than two years ago...

YAY!!

 

 

 

I thought that I might add, I am interested in some informed feedback.

Thoughts on more dies - coining? Fuller? Something else?

I think it weighs somewhere like 10lbs.

Motor RPM is 3600, pinon is 12 tooth and ring-gear is ~140 (1/11) if memory serves, so she does something like 327 SPM (smacks per minute)

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. That's a clean build, I like it. What's the hammer weigh? 

How are you going to keep the anvil die in place, being able to slide like that will sap some effectiveness from the blows. 

About the next batch of dies I suggest you angle them so you can feed long pieces through the dies and miss the hammer frame. 

Well done.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

9 hours ago, MerlincMan said:

here in CO

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

Now that is a slick power hammer if I do say so. Welcome to the power hammer fraternity, where now you will take less time to make your mistakes. Frosty covered most suggestions I would have. As far as dies a set of flat ones if you intend using handled tools with it. Can you slow down the SPM or does it run full out all the time?

BTW: We won't remember your location once leaving this post, hence the suggestion to add it in your profile, so it shows up with every post. Also we love still pictures just make sure they aren't large ones.

PS: As far as salutations go, don't forget the ladies, we have quite a few on the forum and some of them put my work to shame. Even though I have been hammering hot steel for 30+ years Jennifer (jlpservicesinc) has taught me some new tricks and corrected some bad habbits with her videos.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Irondragon ForgeClay Works
PS

[MerlincMan]

On 5/8/2022 at 12:02 AM, Frosty said:

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. That's a clean build, I like it. What's the hammer weigh? 

How are you going to keep the anvil die in place, being able to slide like that will sap some effectiveness from the blows. 

About the next batch of dies I suggest you angle them so you can feed long pieces through the dies and miss the hammer frame. 

Well done.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thank you for the reply!

 

     Regarding the weight, the truest answer is that I do not know, I tried to weigh the blank from whence it came, but it made my scale angry (and I don't have a bigger one). I estimate somewhere around 10#.

     Regarding the sliding in the first video, that was solved in the second - I simply had not tightened the set-screw enough. Hasn't done that since then.

     Finally, regarding the angle of the dies - I had very much intended to do such a thing from the beginning (it is an LG clone after all), but the stock from which I machined the head, and the manner by which I was able to create the sliding ways was such that I had to sacrifice that detail - I cannot make angled dies on the top as they would interfere with the sliding ways. All is not lost however as the frame is far enough back, and the dies are wide enough that I can sneak on either side. This does introduce an angle to the blows (as can be seen on the chunk of rebar in the video), but I am able to address that by hand on the anvil.

     That, and I don't really have too many plans for big things. Plans being.... more like suggested directions anyways...

 

 

Thank you again!

[JHCC]

Very nice, and welcome to IFI!

[MerlincMan]

On 5/8/2022 at 9:35 AM, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

Now that is a slick power hammer if I do say so. Welcome to the power hammer fraternity, where now you will take less time to make your mistakes. Frosty covered most suggestions I would have. As far as dies a set of flat ones if you intend using handled tools with it. Can you slow down the SPM or does it run full out all the time?

BTW: We won't remember your location once leaving this post, hence the suggestion to add it in your profile, so it shows up with every post. Also we love still pictures just make sure they aren't large ones.

PS: As far as salutations go, don't forget the ladies, we have quite a few on the forum and some of them put my work to shame. Even though I have been hammering hot steel for 30+ years Jennifer (jlpservicesinc) has taught me some new tricks and corrected some bad habbits with her videos.

If it is indeed a fraternity of Power Hammers, then one must by grammatic requirement omit the Ladies no?  I never imagined that there weren't smiths of the Pink variety, but seeing as effectively none of us are Knighted Vassals, or Liege Lords, neither "Ladies" nor "Gentlemen" is strictly correct.

I will see where I can put my location in my profile - thank you for the suggestion.

Regarding the flat dies - those were the first ones that I made actually; I think I showed them in one of the videos. But a set is always 3 (x2) so I feel a weird compulsion to make at least one more set of dies.

Finally, regarding the SPM, the Volkswagen clutch is surprisingly well suited to this task - seriously, it is as sensitive as my foot on the pedal can make it. It is rare enough when things work how I design them, but to have them work better than expected? Now that's just a treat! 

     With foot pressure alone I can hold the hammer at TDC or tap it at whatever speed suits me - up to full speed. I was very surprised by how well it works.

 

Thank you for your response!

11 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Very nice, and welcome to IFI!

Thank you my friend!

[Frosty]

Grammatic REQUIREMENT!       . Certainly NOT an American English speaker are you? Shall we try for gender neutral? Say Peoternity? I tend to use the term "club" to describe a group of people who share a distinguishing something. For example the, "Lucky to be alive club." 

20 minutes ago, MerlincMan said:

but to have them work better than expected?

That's how I felt about NARB, it not only worked but exceeded my expectations on all counts and was repeatable! #2 worked just like #1 the differences were insignificant. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

Actually, Thomas Powers and I are long term members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a medieval re-enactment group, and are both "Masters" which is the equivalent of "Knights" in the group.  Prior to this achievment we were "Lords."  Thomas has a power hammer.  I don't except for my leg powered treadle hammer.

If you haven't already, I strongly suggest that you look into joining Rocky Mountain Smiths.  They are a really good group and have very good gatherings.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[MerlincMan]

21 minutes ago, Frosty said:

That's how I felt about NARB

NARB?

9 minutes ago, George N. M. said:

 Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA)

Rocky Mountain Smiths.  

SCA you say? They bestow titles of nobility? 

     We do not recall having bestowed such authority, nevertheless, We are kind and majestic, and We will henceforth permit such effrontery, for Our Dominion is marked by its kindness, restraint, and magnanimity. 

                  You may refer to Us as "Highest, Most Serene Supreme Majesty", but We will also accept "Awesomest" in a pinch.

As for Rocky Mountain Smiths, I will certainly check them out - thank you (genuinely) for the suggestion. Friends are becoming fewer and further between as the years continue to accrue....

Do... do they also grant titles? 

[Frosty]

I'm not going to pinch you no matter how awesome you THINK you are. I can introduce you though.

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/48314-narb-lives/

DMV grants titles. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[George N. M.]

It would be a little presumptous and weird to use your SCA titles in mundane society but I'm sure someone has.  There is a formal place for titles, rank, and honors but I've never been one to put a string of letters after my name or use rank or titles except in appropriate, official situations.  Even in legal correspondence I seldom use "esq." after my name or use my military rank except in places where it is relevant. (He said in splendid humility ;-)) 

Frosty, in many states it is the County Clerk which grants motor vehicle titles, the DMV handles drivers' licenses.  I've known either the county clerk or county treasurer to handle registrations and license plates.  It may be different in Alaska.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ThomasPowers]

Even in the SCA I have been known to end my string of letters with EI, EI, O.    On the other hand I got my first armigerous award as Thomas the Beggar at the same event that Pippin the Fool got his Laurel; so we were "Lord Beggar and Master Fool".  I'd be happy to address you in a fake Scottish accent as "Your Lardship".

Of course I also explain that I have two BS's---one for either foot!

As for Power Hammers; I've owned a few: First was a 25# LG I paid US$75 for (traded  it for an A&H anvil later), Second was a no name hammer, 50# narrow dies, running, that cost US$250 (sold when I moved from AR to OH), third was a 60# Champion, US$750----running (Still in my shop)!  Then there was a basket case 60# Champion for US$600 (Still in my shop), lastly I bought 3 power hammers as part of the "Hoard"  Hawkeye Helve, 25# LG and 50# LG;  what I sold off from the hoard paid for the purchase of it so the stuff l kept was *free*; including the 25# LG.  Just sent in parts of it to LG to do a rebuild now I have power in my shop to run power hammers.)

You can see why I'm a bit perplexed by people talking about how expensive they are...Of course I'm expecting to spend more than the cost of several previous hammers getting the rebuild done right and proper!

[Goods]

If you were worried about ever needing to work longer stock, you could always come back weld some bent tube arches to the frame a cut the center of the frame out. Basically, make a “pass through,” similar to this old Williams and White:

Keep it fun,

David

[Frosty]

That's a cool idea David. A person could include a gozinta facing backwards so you could install a helper to support long stock on the far side. Working long pieces tends to make them sag on the far side of the dies. 

Angling the dies would only involve a second step machining them out. Cut the dovetails and shim or jig the stock to cut the die faces at a 15*(?) angle. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Anachronist58]

On 5/7/2022 at 10:44 PM, MerlincMan said:

Got the starter pinon and had to anneal it (ish) to drill and tap for 1/4-20 set screw to hold it to the shaft of the motor.

Would love to see a still image of this feature, and of any other features you might care to share.  Do you have a sense of how much, if any, shock load is being transferred back to the ring gear / pinion interface?

Congratulations, very pretty hammer machine...

Robert Taylor

[MerlincMan]

23 minutes ago, Anachronist58 said:

Would love to see a still image.

AFIK, no shock loading at all due to the virtues of the Dupont linkage. My mounting of the flywheel to the shaft, via the block, does have a 0.010" - 0.015" wobble that subtly changes the gear mesh (that can be heard in the video as a warble in the gear sound). I may shim under the offending side someday, but it hasn't been enough of a concern for me at the moment.

More care in fabrication would have prevented the "issue", but it is hard to argue with success

And thank you for the compliment - my feeling of satisfaction with this thing is immense.

20 hours ago, Goods said:

If you were worried about ever needing to work longer stock, you could always come back weld some bent tube arches to the frame a cut the center of the frame out. 

That's pretty cool! 

I've filled Hammie's spine with super-crete though, so as to force the vibes to stay in the work.

Sweetie (the human one) however claims that when Hammie is running, she can feel it in the floor - in the house - 60 feet (and 2 foundations) away...

I'm curious as to whether or not it was actually necessary to do the concrete. In machining, some mills are so filled for super-precision. I don't know how much of that is psychosomatic, but vibration-damping is a thing, and it seemed good to address that thing here, especially when I was using what was effectively a giant wind-chime (steel box beam) as the spine.

Didn't want to loose my hearing while saving my bones.

 

Where does everyone stand on vibration damping in a DIY power-ham?

[Anachronist58]

Wow. Hamela so pretty!  Thanks for the images and excellent analysis.  Not that there appears to be any necessity to further inflate your ego, . Good on ya!

Robert Taylor

 

[MerlincMan]

19 hours ago, Frosty said:

Angling the dies would only involve a second step machining them out. Cut the dovetails and shim or jig the stock to cut the die faces at a 15*(?) angle. 

Chewed on that design detail for around 2 months while I was making the head. It would have taken quite a bit of weld-to-cut (embiggening the stock) on the head-piece (upper die-shoe) to make that happen, I ultimately decided against it and just made wider dies. I can sneak past the spine (as I do in the rebar-video) and address the weirdness that this produces by hand on the little anvil.

As it is, you can see in my pics that I had to weld some re-enforcement to the face of the upper-die-shoe after cutting the receiver for the upper die. After grind and paint, it made it look "cast" (in my view) and gave it a neat look, so I'm happy with that.

And, why didn't I just buy a bigger blank?

Steel prices have gotten indefensible here, and I had most of this scrap lying around anyways.

Aside from that, 4x4x8 solid is.... not exactly common stock.

3 minutes ago, Anachronist58 said:

Not that there appears to be any necessity to further inflate your ego, .

Believe me my friend, there is more than sufficient deflationary pressure; thinking too highly of myself is the least of my realistic problems 

.... Hence the overcompensation 

[NoGoodWithUsernames]

I like the use of a clutch, any issues with burning/smell? Definitely makes for easily replaceable wear parts. Have a dimensional list or cut sheet? Could probably sell plans for it as it looks pretty well thought out and designed from across the interwebs. Angled dies seems to be the only "complaint" so far. 

If you don't mind sharing, what was your approximate cost of materials?

[MerlincMan]

22 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

You can see why I'm a bit perplexed by people talking about how expensive they are...Of course I'm expecting to spend more than the cost of several previous hammers getting the rebuild done right and proper!

I don't know why, but Colorado is a tool desert in a lot of ways. Post vice? Nearest one in a Kansas auction (and it's broken). Anvil? $1,500.00 if you can find one. Tool-and-Cutter-Grinder? Nearest one in Phoenix. Atlas 7b Shaper? Not-Gonna-Happen.

Power Hammer? 100# LG at the scrap yard, runs on 440VAC (!), is seized into one monolithic chunk of rusted-cracked-poorly repaired cast-iron: $6,500.00 (but delivery would be free...)

I know there's that guy in Beulah Co (about 30min west of me) with the YouTube channel (seems rather famous), but he's a collector, not a seller.

[MerlincMan]

3 minutes ago, NoGoodWithUsernames said:

I like the use of a clutch, any issues with burning/smell? Definitely makes for easily replaceable wear parts. Have a dimensional list or cut sheet? Could probably sell plans for it as it looks pretty well thought out and designed from across the interwebs. Angled dies seems to be the only "complaint" so far. 

If you don't mind sharing, what was your approximate cost of materials?

Regarding the clutch: This clutch doesn't seem to even know that it is working; I don't know what HP/LbsFt a VW Dasher/Rabbit/Jetta produces, but the motor I'm using is a 3/4HP, 3600 RPM, 1/2" D shaft, 120VAC, GE motor. I have a feeling that this clutch could eat that motor for a snack if it were so inclined. The wear plate was brand-new (ebay ad claimed that it had only been engaged twice) and the friction surfaces showed little to no glazing. 

Regarding dimensions: I designed it in my head, taking measurements as necessary to mate assemblies. I spent hours staring at photos of LG hamms, then staring at materials while drinking too much coffee, then combing through Ebay to see what I thought might work. (The clutch was a total leap-of-faith, the ad had no dimensions, and auto-makers refuse to disclose meaningful information like the physical size of a clutch so, I just bought it, worried for a week, then had a delightful surprise when it arrived).

Regarding selling plans: I learned ANSI drawing as a boy; I have a caliper and a drafting table; if there is any real desire for such a thing, I would very-much do so. In that vein, unless you're super-crazy, anyone passing through my region is welcome to come tour/examine the gizmo. If it were a thing, I'd host a design day/ consultation for anyone who wants to replicate the work.

Regarding the cost: All from memory:

Clutch: $20.00

Starter Pinon: $18.00

Motor: $75.00

UHMWPE Tape: $20.00

Zerks: $30.00 (should not have used Lowes for them)

Pivot Pins: $40.00 (also, Lowes is bad) (also, also - I really ought to have put in some bronze bushings for the pivots - not vital, but would have been best practice - still could, but probably won't).

Pillow-blocks, 1 press-in, 1 tapered roller bearing: ~$60.00 (three different purchases, Ebay, have 1 pillow and 1 taper left over).

Frame steel, shaft: ~$60.00 (@$0.50/lb in 2019)

Anvil/Foot steel: ~$125.00 (@0.80/lb in 2022)

Giant cookie for the crank: $75.00 (apparently, it's a tool-steel of some kind? No idea, just wanted a 7" cookie)

Toggle arms (bought new): ~$18.00

Paint: $20.00

Already had FX-2 for the upper dies, giant chunk of hot-rolled for the upper-die-shoe, sand, cement, Sika.

Spring was left over (set of 2) from Vise build - was porch-swing suspension kit - also from Lowes, also too expensive.

Foot pedal is combination of old-scrap and chunk of bed-frame.

Pedal linkage is partially from my garage-door-opener (removed when I cannibalized its motor to build a trommel, didn't need an opener for that door), and partially some 3/8" chain linkers (again, Lowes - again, $$$).

I think that's everything.

I don't want to know how much I actually spent 

Price now will be COMPLETELY different - most everything is scrap/used, and what isn't is now lost in the Supply-Chain debacle.

 

But, if one wants to do as I have done, I'd recommend budgeting ~$1500.00 - $2000.00 for materials - assuming they have a well-tooled lathe and mill. 

 

 

[Frosty]

I believe were envisioning different things where angling the dies is concerned. What I'm thnking wouldn't require welding or larger stock. Upon further thought last night I'd cut the dovetails and use a female dovetail on a base plate that clamped to the mill at whatever angle I wished. The only downside would be the striking surfaces of the dies would be slightly narrower but you have plenty of meat there now.

Lead shot in the frame tubing is what I'd use. Concrete will stiffen it up considerably but not damp the compression waves conducted through the steel tubing frame. filling with lead shot is an industry standard for many applications, not all but many. The automatic drop hammers we ran on the soil sampling drill rig I operated were filled with lead shot and they hardly bounced if the casing or sampler fetched up on a boulder or bedrock. It turned the deafening ring from the manual safety hammers to a heavy thunk with the auto hammers, fetched up on rock it was a metallic clunk but no ring, zero. 

Lead shot in the frame laying on the steel base plate should damp the sound considerable. Unfortunately there WILL still be compression waves radiating from the hammer's foot into the ground. Perhaps putting a sheet of plywood under it will work. Some guys use thick rubber like conveyor belt stiff.

My 50lb. Little Giant is mounted on a pair of 6" x 12" beams in large part to fit the dies and treadle more to my comfort zone but also to damp the thumping. It helped but didn't make it go away.

About the clutch wear question, it's a good one thanks for asking. I don't know what a VW weighs but let's call a fully loaded one 1,000lbs. The wear on the clutch comes from starting it moving from stopped. Estimating with my mark-1 eyeball There is the clutch plate, shaft, crank plate, pinion, link arms, and hammer, toss in a few lbs for nuts bolts, etc. I'd use 100lbs. for ease of estimation. So, when you press the treadle on a stopped hammer the clutch is accelerating maybe 1/10 it's rated use capacity.

Does that make sense? (I hope)

Frosty The Lucky.

[Anachronist58]

5 hours ago, MerlincMan said:

Believe me my friend, there is more than sufficient deflationary pressure;

Tool-and-Cutter-Grinder?

Knowing this, I will let my compliments flow freely...

Tool and cutter grinder? My my, you are quite the go-getter!  I could not stand to be apart from the machines I worked with, so I bought my own for my 'retirement'.

Robert Taylor

[MerlincMan]

3 minutes ago, Anachronist58 said:

Tool and cutter grinder? My my, you are quite the go-getter!

I think it's pathology more than drive - I felt irritated at the thought of having to find someone else to grind my HSS tooling - that and, when I worked in Tool and Die I spent most of my days on the Micromaster (B&S Surface Grinder). The T&C that I got from Phoenix functions quite well as a surface grinder. Also, owing to the love of all things tool and steel, I got a Hot Shot HT oven and one who heat-treats without the ability to grind to spec is.... I dunno, weird I guess?

Yeah, it's pathological.

And the funny thing is that after I had collected most of my machines from various places, my friend from the Tool Shop called to tell me that my former boss was selling all the tools, so I could have purchased the very tools that I had learned on. I had to laugh at that one because I had asked to purchase one of his spare tool-boxes while there, and he didn't want to sell it.

Now, apparently, he can't get anyone to buy his tools (and that part is actually sad - it's a 50 year collection).

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

Does that make sense? (I hope)

Not just sense, but dollars too!

The design that I used for the sliding ways, to hold the upper-die-shoe, is such that while I probably could have put the female dove in at 15deg off axis, the bulk of the meat of the die would then be sticking out front like a noodle in the wind - I had even scribed and began to chuck up the tooling to cut just such a plan, but in double checking clearances, I thought better of it because the upper die would have become deceptively small to clear the plate that holds the sliding ways, and not stick out front all noodly like.

I also thought about mounting the dies at 90deg - so the whole hammer would be used effectively sideways (infinite throat you might say) but, and I am not embarrassed to say, that would have deviated too far from the LG design. Entirely aesthetic decision (and quixotic at that!). If I recall correctly, it also would have introduced other weirdness into the design.

As for the lead shot - that would have been absolutely wonderful! Had I thought of it, and were lead not mailed by weight, I think I might have gone that way! I think it would have tripled the weight though... 

- so as to maintain my contentment with the machine, I'll say that the concrete contributes a level of "composite rigidity" to the spine that was absolutely necessary to prevent "misalignment in the dies due to repeated impact stresses"....

Sounds plausible?

I guess I could put Hammie on some crazy rubber mat, but I thought that might introduce some instability/wobbliness to it.

Bah, Sweetie can just complain about the thumps! 

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

When Big Blu 155 Max was installed at ESSA they used a 1 inch thick horse stall mat under it on concrete floor, which was cut around the outside perimeter to isolate the foot print from the rest of the floor. The mat did a good job cushioning it with no weeble-wobble.