Broke my Power Hammer

A C Richards

A C Richards

Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Messages
3,816
I broke my power hammer today. It is a 100# Beaudry and I broke one of the spring arms. It cracked at a previously repaired spot. It really sucks I am right in the middle of a big project. I re-welded it and stress relieved it. I hope it holds long enough to finish the project. I do have the press. I like to do some of the finish work on the hammer though. It can get things really smooth and it also helps to seal up any surface imperfections.

Anybody have a spare set of spring arms laying around??:D:D I really doubt I could find some. I did find a company that specializes in Beaudry's but I probably won't hear from them until the AM and they probably want an arm and a leg for them. I also found someone at a blacksmith site that forged a set. I guess I will look at making my own. Oh well I just had to vent a little. Thanks for listening.
 
almost forgot! I am glad you are OK Chuck, I have heard some HORROR stories about these springs embedding themselves in walls and such when they go.
 
See if you can get in contact with Jim Fecteau http://huntingtonriversmithy.com/

One of the two springs you see here is a replacement that he had forged for him by Steve Parker. I'm not sure if there was special tooling that was made to re-create the springs. If I remember he looked far and wide for replacement springs but found none to be had. May just want to chat with him if you can and get his wisdom about Beaudry springs.

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Justin, That is who I found the pictures of. The only difficult part for me would be the bends. And I don't think they will be overly difficult. I was just at a complete loss when It finally broke. both arms have been repaired in the same area. Really heavy welds. It has held up for 12 years. I don't use it all the time but it does do a lot of work for me. Thanks for the link. I was waiting for a blacksmith forum I signed up for to contact Jim. I will keep you all posted.

Sam,

Thanks for your concern. One nice thing about the Beaudrys is that the springs are loaded in. When they let go it collapses in on itself and the head just falls onto the die. It is not like the Little Giant with that heavy coil just waiting to explode. Still ti does cause a slight pucker when it all comes apart.
 
Chuck, you're on the right track. Jim and Steve gave a pretty good account of the progress while making the arms for Jim's hammer.
Besides, if that's Darrell's site you're registering on, not a bad place to visit. Pretty interesting at times :-)
 
Birdog it is Darrell's site. I have not looked much more. Not enough time. Have to clean the shop to work today. Mike is on his way up and hopefully we can get some damascus twisted up.
 
Sorry to hear that, Chuck!

Justin mentioned Steve Parker, he works at a huge commercial forge shop. I have 3 pair of tongs he made and he is very good at what he does. I would not have a problem having him make parts for my power hammer.
 
sorry to see the spring go on such a nice hammer

if all else fails... i suppose you could have the shape cut out on a waterjet... then heat treat it your self.... ( but i think a forged spring will be much better but you could vary the alloy )

good luck
 
Don Hanson III said:
Sorry to hear that, Chuck!

Justin mentioned Steve Parker, he works at a huge commercial forge shop. I have 3 pair of tongs he made and he is very good at what he does. I would not have a problem having him make parts for my power hammer.
Click to expand...

Hehe, to say Steve Parker is very good at what he does is an understament =) Having seen him do demos with power hammers and the work that he does with massive hammers in the industrial shop he works at, I'd argue he's one of the premier powerhammer-blacksmiths left in the world. There arent too many people who can do what he can under a big hammer anymore unfortunately =(

He makes it look so easy to just walk up to any power hammer and produce perfect pieces first time every time =D
 
Put the hammer back together. I am still amazed that the only thing holding the spring arms in place is pressure. No real locking mechanism. I use the hammer and the weld seems to be holding up for now. I do not want to really wail on it until I get it fixed properly. I use the press for my major work and just do the surface finishing and final size adjustment on the hammer. I need to go see if I can find some larger pieces of 4140 and use that for the arms. I am still waiting to hear from all the feelers I sent out. The pictures I found of them making the arms gave me a huge boost. Mike Turner is up for the weekend to help me muscle the twist I am trying to do and we have been discussing possible improvements to the arms. Beefing them up a little in the right area. I need to get the knife done I am working on so I can repair the hammer. At least it is working at about 80%. Don't want to push it any further than that. Thanks for all the encouragement.
 
No I found it here, http://www.farwestforge.com/Forum/bsgview.php?cat=T

Jim just emailed me with an article and great photo documentation of the whole process. Very interesting. I really think I can do it now, esp with the article. Now I just need to find some 2.5-3" 4140 round stock.

Used the hammer again today a little bit. It seems to be holding together for now. Keeping my fingers crossed, it needs to hold together for one more heavy forging session and then I will really try to get the arms fixed. I am going to make at least one full set maybe 2. I'll see how much the material will cost me and how long it takes for the first set. I am going to have to make a bending jig anyhow so I may as well make a couple sets. It actually looks like fun, kind of looking forward to it.
 
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