Good evening everyone,

  It has been some time since I've been around these parts, and I'm hoping y'all will be able to provide supplemental knowledge, or let me know how far off I am.

 

  I have acquired a near new/very lightly used Runfa 40kg/88lb power hammer (Anyang Clone, also from China) from some friends of mine fairly recently, and will be trying to install it at a community forging space. I recall that the documentation that came with it was pretty scant, and what was translated was done poorly, so even if we find it again, I'm not expecting much help from it.  We used the power hammer in another space, and it was great, although mounted to the available slab, which was probably thinner than it should have been, and consequently transferred vibrations a good 100 feet away, even through 2 pieces of brand new 3-ply conveyor belt.

  My primary question this time around is about mounting it properly.  The new location is covered, but largely unpaved, has easy access to pour concrete, and access to forklifts for moving equipment.  once a final placement is chosen and the slab is poured.

  I would prefer to mount it to a poured concrete monolithic block with 3 courses of rebar reinforcement and embedded mounting hardware, much like the old Little Giant plans.  I'm thinking at least 3500 lb PSI concrete, with fiber, about 24-30" deep, and 6-8" wider than the base of the power hammer, with the previously mentioned conveyor belt as a shock absorbing spacer.  Do y'all think that setup would be adequate?

  Some of the parties that manage the space have mentioned that it would be nice if there was some portability of the setup.  They have mentioned mounting it to a heavy steel plate, much like a Little Giant (50?) that they have already mounted to a piece of 3/4” plate.  Would this be safe and provide proper support? I'm not holding my breath, and would much rather protect the frame of something that would personally cost me 14k to replace.

  Depending on timing, and other setup stuff, this may or may not be used for a popular upcoming event.

Oh! btw, this is my old account.  Couldn't get into this login for some reason earlier.

It sounds as though you're looking at two ends of the mounting spectrum: permanent vs. temporary, but your preference leans toward permanent. The obvious drawback to permanent is its permanence & cost. 

I'm in the final stages of setting up a 60kg Say-Mak on a permanent foundation. My priorities were to minimize vibration to the surrounding environment while maximizing the capability of the hammer, so I built a reinforced concrete foundation 24"D x 30"W x 8'L which then becomes an inertia block for the hammer. I also used vibration dampening material underneath and around the block. A fun project if you like engineering, own the building & don't plan to move anything.

But is such an effort necessary? This is where the wisdom of the other parties opting for a temporary solution comes in to play. I believe there are lots of hammers that get installed on temporary mountings. At the end of the day, the goal is to use the hammer so how much more performance will you squeeze out of it with a dedicated foundation vs. a plate foundation? Will anyone even notice the difference in use? I'm not trying to be obtuse, but my thought is to clarify your constraints and priorities, and from there I suspect the most reasonable mounting option will become apparent.

--Larry

To follow onto Larry's thoughts, if you think seriously about what locations you would use a moveable hammer, you may find that there are only two or three places that really make sense. In that case, it might be possible to create a series of mounting blocks (with their tops even with the floor surface, obviously) that you could rotate the hammer between. That gives the advantage of mobility (if needed) and the advantage of more solid mounting (which is always a plus).

I don't know how the mounting bolts on your hammer are set up, but you might be able to use the same kind of setup as Torbjörn Åhman's for his Bêché 75kg hammer. I've linked this video about the foundation bolts to start at the moment that demonstrates how they work:

(The full playlist of him preparing the foundations and mounting his hammer can be found HERE.)

Hey Larry and JHCC,

  I've only seen a few functional powerhammers up close.  Less than 10, and 4 or 5 of them are at this site.  Only the LG50 I mentioned earlier, and a broken (I hear that the die came loose in the bore) Striker 88 (same clone, different company) were mounted on a plate, and it makes me a little anxious looking at them, because I have doubts about how well the lower portion of the frames are supported.  I have seen people share the aftermath of the bottom or back portions cracking from the dynamic crushing forces generated by the hammering action, and don't want that happening to this one.  My priority is protecting the equipment, as I have seen what can happen to neglected equipment, both at community/teaching forges, and in an industrial (quarry/asphalt/readymix) environment.  I'm just worried that the plate wouldn't provide enough support.

  My buddy also got a hold of the Anyang manual, and sent it to me.  The whole thing is much more fleshed out, and the drawings are almost a perfect match to the Runfa. The foundation plans look similar to what I had in mind.

 

  As to multiple locations, there are multiple power hammers in a functional state already at the site, and a few more in their bonepile that could be repaired if needed.  Only a couple 

  Those bolts with the wooden feathers seem like a pretty nifty idea.  Definitely could open up some options with those multiple pads.  I was also already planning on casting the concrete pad to be level with the existing floor, which is unfortunately clay soil with not enough sand and rock.  I may backfill with some Class II roadbase as well.

 

Mostly unrelated, but to provide some background to my concers:  I've seen a 36×48 Telsmith jaw crusher sheer the die frame off of the eccentric, and a Cedar Rapids compact 36×48 jaw roll it's toggle block, and it would also shatter it's toggle bolt (launching ~48" of 2" screw about 150 ft across the yard due to spring tension) on a regular basis.  All of those problems were due to lack of support.  While not exactly the same kind of forces (and of an immensely greater magnitude.  Think 200+ horsepower and 20+ tons of welded steel and cast iron.) those incidents give me much respect and caution for slamming mechanical forces.

Thanks for the additional clarification, helps to get a sense of your background, skills and perspective. Sounds like you have thought it through well and along with the Anyang manual, have a good sense of a path forward. Good luck & look forward to seeing some pix of the project.

--Larry