Star power hammer restoration WIP

[White Fox Forge]

Hi, I bought a star power hammer today for 50 bucks. The clutch is broken on it, an arm is bent and the babbit is a little rough buy besides that it seems to be a half decent hammer. It's a #50 star hammer which means it's 50 lbs hitting force. I'm thinking of making a clutch out of break rotors or even a wheel barrow tire as in a tire hammer. 

[George N. M.]

Looks like a good project and it will be a great tool when repaired and reconditioned.  But I don't envy you the job of moving it around.  Do you have lifting tools or lots of minions?

GNM

[White Fox Forge]

I have it in the back of my half ton chevy suburban right now. I gotta make a five and a half hour commute back to the shop. I have a strong back, a hydraulic lift and a atv with a winch for means of removal. 

Is the star hammer a good brand? It's the same size as a 25 little giant. Does that make it hit with less power or noisier?

My plan is to rip everything down, wire wheel it, prime and paint it. Also oil the parts that need lubrication. I'll try to remember to take as many pictures as I can. I usually get caught up in the process and forget.

[George N. M.]

I passed on a 25# Little Giant a few months ago and I'm still conflicted.  The sale was about 2.5 hours away and that was OK but it would have been difficult to load into my SUV and I don't have any help here.  Also, I have a dirt floor shop (former horse stable) and I would have had to figure out a base.  I was thinking in lieu of excavating and pouring a concrete base of using a pad of railroad ties bolted together set down into the dirt.

GNM

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I have a 30 pound Star and it is comparable to the Little Giant, depending on how well it is maintained. It's a shame that the main clutch hub has been broken like that, not sure a tire could be modified to drive it. I would think about making a steel hoop that could be bolted/welded to the existing part of the hub for the clutch. The Star frame has an inherent weakness in the center where the hole is. The previous owner had made reinforcement plates and bolted them on both sides, the bolts show in my picture.I had to pour all new Babbitt bearings when I got it.

 

[White Fox Forge]

Thanks! I will look into reinforcing the hole. I have it ripped down and soaking in acid overnight remove the rust. It was a bear to unload myself but it came apart nicely. I only broke two bolts and I can replace those easily. I'm thinking of pressure washing the frame before wire wheeling because of how caked in oil and mud it is. Then I will wire wheel it. Will it need to be primed before I paint it?

[Frosty]

I used spray carb cleaner and a double time at the car wash to get my 50lb. Little Giant cleaned up enough to brush and paint. That car wash put up large "NO PARTS WASHING" signs within days, I still feel bad about that. I guess it was worse than I thought. I bolted mine two 4" x 12" timbers laid flat, glued and through bolted together edge to edge and it's held in place on the floor with 2" sq. pipe bayonets that fit the gozintas in the shop floor. I really wanted to raise it to a more comfortable working height anyway so that worked nicely. It would be pretty simple to use a modification and spike it to a dirt shop floor, a dirt or sand underlayment should reduce it's desire to go walk about. 

50lbs is the ram weight not the striking force, you can easily make more than 50lbs. striking force swinging a 2lb hammer by hand.

"The Little Giant Powerhammer" book has a lot of good how to information for things like pouring new babbit, rules of thumb for adjustments and such that apply to most any mechanical power hammer. 

I'd like a better look at the broken piece, I imagine it is the flat belt pully that acts as the clutch drum? To replace that you'd need to replace the pressure pad arms as well. If it's like my LG the flat belt pully turns free and it's the clutch cone that connects to the shaft on a keyed shaft.

I THINK from what I grasp you'd need to replace the drive pully and make a clutch. I'd be mighty tempted to modify an automotive clutch but that would undoubtedly take some serious lathe work and a lathe with enough swing to chuck up clutch plates.

On the other hand the basic tire drive is a pretty effective clutch mechanism.

Do you have a manual? I love brainstorming things like this, I'm even successful occasionally. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[White Fox Forge]

Thanks for the cleaning tip, Frosty. I'll send some more pictures of it. I cannot find a manual for it anywhere. The latge wheel spins free and contact is made when the clutch moves outward like a brake drum. Or so I can gather. It's an 11 inch cast wheel.

You were right about the striking force. I misspoke lol. The ram Is closer to 35 lbs but it hist like a 50 lber. Thats what gave the star hammer the bragging right.

I have a few ideas for the clutch.

1. Use 2 break rotors to make contact. There is a guy on the internet who did it this way and it seemed to work well.

2. Use a tire like with a tire hammer.

3. Use the original clutch/break system to contact a steel tire rim.

4. This was not my idea. I talked to the guy over at Little Giant and he suggested I make a maple hub and use the old clutch to make contact. It seems like a great idea. I may make a steel band to go around it to keep it from potentially splitting over time.

4 seems like the best route to go tbf. I was skeptical at first because it's wood and wood and metal usually don't mix the best mechanical. HOWEVER contact is only being made from the inside. Wood on wood. This seems to be the cheapest option. 

[Frosty]

An automotive clutch and pressure plate are designed for the job and have a lot more surface area than brake rotors. Making a wooden pully with a steel pipe clutch surface on the inside would be pretty easy. It could be pretty light walled pipe or see if there's a shop that can roll one from say 10ga. Then fit it to the inside of a wooden pully thingy. 

Or just fab up a replacement, balancing it might be a trick. How are you at precision work?

Frosty The Lucky.

[White Fox Forge]

I'm certified for basic machining so I can get to pretty tight tolerances. I'll scrap entertaining my brake rotor plans. That's a good idea with the pipe. I'll see if any fab shops have any. How do you suggest I secure the pipe to the wood?

[Frosty]

All the force will be in the shear between the steel and wood so I'd think screwed and epoxied would do it, say a staggered pattern every couple three inches.

Of course an aluminum disk that bolts to the bearing and the "pipe" clutch drum would be lighter and stronger but use lots of machine screws. Of course bolting a steel clutch drum and hub to an aluminum wheel could cause electrolysis issues but manufacturers have been doing that for better than a century so it's just a little research.

How about casting an aluminum unit? It'll still need a steal clutch surface but. . . Hmmmm.

Frosty The Lucky.

[White Fox Forge]

I'll try the wood first before I go fandangling a new steel or aluminum clutch. 

I got most of the bolts rust free. I'm debating if I should try apart the cam and leaf spring and give it a vinegar bath. I think it may be best if I just wirewheel the outside. I have no idea who thought salmon pink would look good on this power hammer. There is little bits a peices of paint still left on it lol

[Frosty]

I don't know why nobody thought of it earlier but one of the best rust busters available is a 50/50 mixture of ATF and Acetone soak. Acetone is a very good penetrant and ATF is a rust preventative lubricant. It works as well as the best commercial rust breaking oils. It work's WAY better than vinegar. Just don't put it on a salad!

There's a good chance it was never salmon pink, it may have been painted a company red that faded badly or suffered chemical action. 

Hmmm, Maybe an angry wife or girlfriend painted it for revenge.\

Frosty The Lucky.

[White Fox Forge]

Haha. I believe you are right about the color. It is probably faded red. Kinda funny to imagine tho.

Do you just rub the atf/ acetone on the hammer body and leave it for a day?

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That mixture is usually used as a penetrating oil like Kroil and it works wonders for freeing up rusted nuts & bolts. I've never tried it as a rust remover from surfaces. Might try it on a small piece before covering the whole frame.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[White Fox Forge]

Sweet! I'll try it out. Should I take apart the leaf springs to get at the rust?

[Frosty]

I'd leave the springs together and soak the stack. I got involved in acetone ATF mix's ability to bust rusted parts and lost track of you want to treat the whole hammer. It busts rust so parts can move against each other I suppose it'd make it easier to wire brush off but even after the acetone evaporated ATF is pretty flammable and power brushes throw sparks.

There are lots of "rust restorers" available on the market. a search with those terms gets pages of hits. The old school ingredient is phosphoric acid and leaves a flat black iron phosphate patina. Navan Jelly is an old and effective product. I've brushed it on to good effect but it works much better soaking. 

Another old name that comes to mind is "Ospho" back then it was what we primed rusty metal with before painting, I worked at a company that made tanks, some buried, some not and many needed special anti rust protection.

To paint that old lady I'd wire brush it (done) and spray it with a primer that converts rust to pure iron then give it a couple coats of acid etching epoxy primer then appliance paint. You can buy a cheap airless sprayer for not much and the 2 part epoxy paints are incredibly tough. My old Little Giant lives a sheltered life so it has multiple coats of Krylon Epoxy (Uh, maybe it was Rustoleum epoxy I don't recall) and it laughs at the oil and . . . stuff that leaks and sprays off the hammer's works.

In my shop colors of course, forest green and gold, I THOUGHT it was original in the day.<sigh> The first pic is how I mounted the motor and rigged the clutch linkage to the brake I made it default to stop when you're off the treadle. 

The second pic is the scatter shield I made over the brand new spring. All the dangerous moving parts are red, I put 1" Grizzly screen in front of the spring rather than sheet steel so I could see the spring. They tend to stretch before cracking before breaking. You can SEE the paint peal over cracks. Also, the screen tends to catch flying stuff because it flexes rather than bounce it off.

That's my old girl, I call her Bobby after my Mother. Different story that.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

    

[White Fox Forge]

I finished wirewheeling the frame and sprayed rustoleum rust disolver and then semi gloss enamel. It is looking good so far. I am going to tig weld up the clip on the side of the ram. Someone took a file/dremel and carved a huge hole in it.

I may have found a wheel for the clutch. I need to see if it fits first. 

 

I have a dilemma with the die. The top die is stuck in the dovetail. I tried jb80 and that does nothing. I'm also thinking of making quick change dies similar to the air hammers. A plate that gets bolted down. I would have leave the original die dlvetails and weld a flat plate on top. Kinda hard to explain so I will try to draw a draft up if I remember.

[Frosty]

There's enough of your clutch pully to use to make a pattern and cast a fresh one. We have an iron pour the last weekend of June, hop a jet I'll introduce you to the caster.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

The top die in the TUP (hammer) should slide out of the dove tails with a little encouragement from a hammer. That is unless someone welded it or the wedges that hold it in.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Will Brouwers]

Look up Alec Steele’s power hammer he has recently been restoring. He put a TON of time, effort, and heat into the die to finally break it loose. Heat, beat, repeat!

[White Fox Forge]

Sure! Thanks, Fosty. I am going to see if the wheel fits first but if it doesn't I will definitely take you up on your offer. I my drill a hole in the wedge and try with a slide bar.

I'd like to try a quick change die set like with Ken's custom irons. A bolt on set of dies. I don't know if I would have to drill into the cast iron base and steel head or if I could make a dovetail that slides into the sow block that I could bolt to. My current dies are kinda beat up so I could try the second option.

[White Fox Forge]

I got a quote from a machinist for a new clutch pulley. About $100 if i bring my own material. I was thinking of casting a big aluminum block, then having it machined down. Thoughts?

[Frosty]

The pully is also a clutch. I think aluminum would make a pretty short lived clutch. It needs to be iron or steel, aluminum would wear right through. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mike BR]

You could probably forge and fabricate a steel blank, if the machinist’s up with turning that.