Kerrihard help please

rasret01

rasret01

Joined
Mar 31, 2009
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153
Our living history museum has a 1909 Kerrihard power hammer in (mostly) restored condition. We're having trouble with flat drive belt and/or cone clutch slippage. My question is whether the cone clutch should be steel on steel (as it came to us), or should there be some softer clutch material between the steel surfaces.

Any info is much appreciated.
 
A lot of the old hammers were steel on steel. A good lube is needed there for wear and proper function.
 
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If I remember right, the old Smith at the museum said he always lubricated them with white lead paste thinned with gear oil. Mind you he was a journeyman blacksmith from back when that still was a trade..
Straight gear oil or bar oil as suggested would probably be a better option
 
Just check some other sources on this to be certain. Lots of these old hammers are being run with steel on steel and lube, where originally they had Babbitt poured and then machined to clearance, and the owners simply don't realize or never could be troubled to redo it.

My Bradley has an eccentric on the main drive shaft that's currently in the same state, and I'll have to do more extensive machining to repair it properly, as the previous owner appears to have thought it was supposed to be steel riding steel. It works, but wears excessively and has made it sloppier than intended.

It was of course, not obvious to me either, until a guy I know who has rebuilt a number I'd these explained it.

Usually these machines were designed with a lot more care and forethought than we give them credit for, simply because of age.


Might want to check IFI or one of the Facebook groups to be sure.


I'm not certain what part your referring to, but a lot of clutch and brake mechanisms use leather covers for grip also.
 
Interesting. I've never seen a hammer that was steel on steel. You have any photos?

Not sure it will help but if you wanted to convert to using leather or rubber on the clutch here is a thread I started last year when the rubber on mine started to work its way off the clutch. Has some good photos of the strip of rubber that came on my Mayer Bros.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/assistance-needed-mayer-bros-clutch-issues.1419162/

-Clint
 
I think the key here is making sure everyone is talking about the same thing. I've seen a number of various old machines at the museum with iron on iron clutches.
On the Bradley mentioned it was an eccentric, and those I'd have a hard time imagining not coming with either a bronze or Babbitt bearing.
 
Geoff Flato said:
I think the key here is making sure everyone is talking about the same thing. I've seen a number of various old machines at the museum with iron on iron clutches.
On the Bradley mentioned it was an eccentric, and those I'd have a hard time imagining not coming with either a bronze or Babbitt bearing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. Being on the same page is the tricky part here though. Lots of times people working on these old machines don't know the proper nomenclature for the specific parts and there's a lot of vaguery tossed about. My example on the Bradley may be obvious, but I've seen all sorts of parts being run iron on iron in various hammers that are assumed to be correct, that aren't as intended.

I don't pretend to know anything about these hammers though, just advising caution. I know Don know's how a good little giant is supposed to run and is educated about them, so I trust his info in that regard. 90% of the mechanicals out in the wild though are in pretty shit shape compared to how they were originally, and because of simple ignorance, they continue to get sloppier.
 
That's definitely the key. A lot of people don't realize just how tight and nice a lot of old machines were. There's a few big old pieces at the museum (large drills and lathes mostly) that'd still keep up in a modern shop. They had an easy life though.
Most of the comparable machines out there would be absolutely shot.
Power hammers in particular always seemed to have a very hard life with minimal maintenance. The Canadian giant in the museum shop for example. It was ran with the bottom die loose for so long that it won't even stay in anymore. I'll have to tear the whole thing apart, build it up with weld, and remachine the pocket one of these days. That sort of thing wouldn't happen if someone fixed it when it first started having an issue

I normally end up doing a complete rebuild on every machine I pick up, pretty well anything old machine tool will have been abused over the years apart from the rare exceptions such as my surface grinder that spend its life in a cabinet shop sharpening planer blades about once a month
 
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