Little Giant gurards

D

deloid

Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
458
I'm getting my late model 25# in a couple of weeks and I decided to do a tune up/restoration and I would like to add a guard.
Don Hanson shows a nice looking guard he made for his 100. I'm hoping for advice on a build or purchase of a guard for my 25.

Pics of your guards would be great.
 
I ran three different LG hammers in my shop for over 20 years before switching to an air hammer...

The whole reason of a guard on the LGs is in case you have a spring break. Over the years I think I broke a total of 6 springs on my hammers, and what I learned is:

A mesh type guard WILL NOT protect you! I still have two scars on my left shoulder where shards of hammer spring shot through a mesh type guard and gashed me.
When the spring on a LG breaks, it generally breaks into three pieces, one piece will shoot down to the right, the other will shoot down to the left, and a small piece/shard, with terribly sharp/jagged ends will shoot straight out at the operator.

After I got the stitches out of my shoulder, I put full sheet metal guards on all my LGs.
 
I've had 4 different LGs in my shop for 13-14 years and only had one spring break, it all just fell straight down. Not saying what happened to Ed can't happen, just saying it hasn't happened to me. Best bet is to put a guard on all Little Giants.
 
I did both!
I put a wrap around mesh frame guard with a 1/4" thick sheet of steel on the face between me and the spring.
 
Chip & Don, I see the front pics of the guards you made. did you use existing bolts or tap new holes for the cage? Any chance of a pic showing how it is attached?

Ed and Karl,

I don't see your machine guards on your web site. Karl I know that yours "shop tour" is down now any chance of a pic for this thread though? Ed, is yours somewhere in your web page?

I'd like to balance function with aesthetics. Most importantly though, I'm done with my adrenaline rush phase of life and I have too many scars and injuries from that lifestyle. I will gladly admit that I am an overcautious wuss.

Dean
 
Dean, I bolted mine to the top ram guide bolts. On the left side I brought a piece down that bolts to the middle guide bolt, to keep the thing from pivoting. I'll try and get a side shot latter.

I had a full cage on my old 100 LG but it rattled and was a pain to get to all the oil points. Took it off 4 or 5 years ago.
 
Dean, here's a side shot.

new100-21.jpg
 
I used 4 pieces of angle iron, welded to the guard. Then I bent and twisted them to fit to the top and bottom blots on each side of the ram. On mine, I bent them so they would not interfere with lubing all the places on the ram. Will try to get more detailed shots for you. Mostly it was ham fisted together. Used 1" angle and some expanded metal from the scrap yard. Since my welding leaves a lot to be desired, I probably spent as much for welding rods as I did for the rest of it.
I really love my 50#.
Chip Kunkle
 
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