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I Forge Iron

home built power hammer


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Yeah, Ive built a few hammers 2 cwt + ;)

It will get trickier as the hammer gets bigger as any design flaws will soon show themselves.

I suppose the best (easiest) bet would be a kinion type air hammer, though a 100 kg ram will not be the same animal as a 'proper' cast frame 100 kg hammer ( Massey / Alldays & Onions etc )

Keep an eye on BABA newsletter as the bigger hammers occasionally go cheap (as everyone wants a smaller one!) - it will work out a lot cheaper than building one in the long run.

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As long as you don't need an industrial hammer, a home built hammer is going to be just fine.

The LG and Tire hammer styles , in my opinion, will not allow a 100-200 lb ram to reliably swing all that weight without a seriously beefy frame. The designs I see around ain't beefy, they are cheap and easy. The forces involved in those hammers can put quite a wobble into a frame.

If I were to build another home built I again would chose a spring helve hammer, similar to the Rusty and Appalachian hammers. I built one 6 yrs ago , a 75 lb, and have made over $100,000 with it. Yes, it ain't as accurate or as powerful as a commercially available hammer, but it cost under a $100 to make (less labor costs of course). And it makes a great show piece and story during my big demos and studio tours.

I recently purchased a 300 lb Bradley, also a helve hammer. But the home built will never be obsolete.

You can see a pic of mine on my website, or here wayback in the archives under power hammers.

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Power hammer weights are given in Ram weight. My Bradley 300# has a theoretical ram weight of 300# but a machine weight of 11,000# without motor. My 25# Fairbanks weighs 1600# and my homebuilt 75# weighs about 2000#. This gives you an idea of the amount of steel required to dampen or absorb the amount of force that is created by a moving ram of whatever weight.

In your design remember to calculate a good heavy anvil into it. A good rule of thumb for ram(hammer) to anvil ratios is 1 to 6. That is the anvil should be a minimum of 6 times as heavy as the ram. Or more. Some would say 15 times as heavy. The anvil on my Bradley weighs 4000lbs. The Anvil on my homebuilt is very light in comparison, it is only about 350 lbs, while the anvil on my 25# Fairbanks weighs about 400. The homebuilt rocks a little because of this.

Another point to consider is the material to make the anvil out of. Solid, solid, solid. I tried to cheat on the original anvil on my homemade. It was pipe, 3/8" thick walled, the top filled and capped with solid bar and then of course the bolt on dies, but after 2 years of pretty hard use, it actually bulged out in the middle quite visibly. It now has a solid anvil and thicker top and bottom plates plus a series of gussets.

On the matter of choosing the hammer size that you need, I would experiment with a smaller hammer first then build a larger one afterwards.

The choice of hammer types is important too, the LG or tire hammers can be quite dangerous to the operator if something breaks right in your face. Thats my opinion anyway. A helve hammer has the advantage of having most of its moving parts behind the center column and therefore away from the operator. Helve hammers are less likely throw parts at you. I have busted the spring on my homebuilt twice, both time the hammer just stops, drops the ram to the anvil without harm and just drops the parts that broke. Once the pushrod bolts came loose and sent it backwards against the wall of the shop. Also no harm done.

Oh and use locktite and or lock washers/nuts. All hammers are prone to having a screw loose just like us blacksmiths.

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  • 2 weeks later...
As long as you don't need an industrial hammer, a home built hammer is going to be just fine.

The LG and Tire hammer styles , in my opinion, will not allow a 100-200 lb ram to reliably swing all that weight without a seriously beefy frame. The designs I see around ain't beefy, they are cheap and easy. The forces involved in those hammers can put quite a wobble into a frame.

If I were to build another home built I again would chose a spring helve hammer, similar to the Rusty and Appalachian hammers. I built one 6 yrs ago , a 75 lb, and have made over $100,000 with it. Yes, it ain't as accurate or as powerful as a commercially available hammer, but it cost under a $100 to make (less labor costs of course). And it makes a great show piece and story during my big demos and studio tours.

I recently purchased a 300 lb Bradley, also a helve hammer. But the home built will never be obsolete.

You can see a pic of mine on my website, or here wayback in the archives under power hammers.



I totally agree on the design differences. It seems that most of the larger hammers I have seen and read about are either air, or helve type. A reciprocating toggle such as the little giant or tire hammer needs to be balanced well if for no other reason than efficiency. There are other reasons, of course, such as stability. The larger you go, the greater the need for stability is multiplied. My 35# tire hammer is great for short periods of hammering but after a number of blows the slight imbalance begins to catches up with the rythm of the machine. If I continue, it tries to go for a walk. It's usually time to reheat by then, but multiply that wobble factor by 5 or even less and your flirting with disaster. Helves and kinyon type hammers basically just go up and down. Much more margin for error IMHO.
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