Power Hammer base Ideas

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

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Dreaming keeps me going in this world so bear with me here. I foresee being able to make knives till I croak :) so even though I'm kinda not able to do a much at the moment, I still like to plan. A bit of forging help would be greatly realized by getting my power hammer set up.

I have the great fortune to be able to live in a beautiful place that I wouldnt trade for the world. Well....I might trade with somebody from South Florida from December to April :) but...........

My place is STEEP going up to the barn. So a concrete truck is out of the question. Plus im poor :o.

How can I set up a 150 lb power hammer in Grand hilbilly fashion ?

I do have a backhoe to work with , maybe bury a couple or 4 anchors and chain the hammer down ?

Need advice and a future boondoggle :D
 
The one I was too poor to buy at an auction last month was bolted to a pad of crossed railroad ties 2 thick sitting on the concrete floor in his workshop. I'm sure if you could get enough old ties to build a solid pad by bolting them together and burying them enough that your hammer was at an appropriate working height and bolting it to it that would be grand hillbilly engineering. good luck work safe.

-Page
 
If I were you, I'd call Ray Rybar and ask him for some advice. He knows a lot about the Bradley hammers and could likely tell you how stiff a foundation you need to avoid cracking the frame of the hammer.

-d
 
Yep, Ray is a good 'un to talk with.
My hammer is over 2000#. I dug a hole 3 ft deep and filled it with 4 layers of Bridge RR ties. Topped it off with a layer of 8"x8" white ash. All tied together with mine bolts. Lay down a piece of mine belting before setting the machine. It don't move and don't vibrate the main shop which is 20 ft away. BTW, its under its own roof.
 
Concrete is definitely the way to go Mark... when there's a will, there's a way.

My 100# LG is bolted to a huge timber base kind of like the ones mentioned here, and it rocks... WAY too much. I have seen several bolted to proper concrete bases, and they don't rock at all. Only the moving parts move... imagine that!!!! I wish I could say that about mine!
 
Mark ,you have two ways to go:
Solid unmovable mass far greater than the total impulse of the hammer (A ton or two of concrete)
or
Resiliency. A impact and vibration absorbing base such as timbers and clay.This will take a large physical volume (ie, Big hole and lots of timbers)
Stacy
 
There's a 100 year old single lane bridge here downrated substantially for weight. Someone built a house on the other side. A concrete truck was far too heavy so they filled 55 gal drums and put them in pickup trucks and drove them across !!!...
 
Could you use two slabs of G10 2'' x 4' x 4' weighing 366 lbs each bolted together with the hammer? If so, you can have them for the shipping, BTW , I get great frt rates 70% discounts at everything classed at class 60. Be glad to give you a quote on the freight, if you can use them.
James
 
Hi Mark, the guys before me have great ideas that would work really well.
I picked up on the backhoe, steep and poor.
When we needed stability in shoring in deep undergrounds we ordered out #9 gravel aka "grits", #2's (2inch rocks you see in road construction),bags of dry quickcrete,or cement/mix (what ever was the cheaper for the day) and a construction topping called "Berm". Also 20 feet of orange construction fence.
Use a hole that is at,least 2 feet larger than your hammer base on all sides and dig down untill you reach soild ground or bed rock. Then with a layering of the orange fence first to prevent the #2's from sinking in to the ground add the #2's and#9's and quickcrete fill the hole evenly, using alternating layers, back in untill 1 foot from the top elevation.
Use the Berm or some may call it 57d (57size lime stone with dust added) to cap. The #9's are a 98% compaction material and are wet from the gravel yard so that you probably wont need to add any water. As you add the concrete mix in layers with the 9's and 2's the water will be adsorbed creating a No mix rock foundation. Hope this helps. Larry.
 
Considering that it is a Bradley, I do have some experience with the hammers. If you can get concrete under it in any way I would do it. The Bradley’s are not hobby hammers or the typical toys many work with, they are serious industrial tools and need a real foundation to work properly. In you position I would get some help in bringing in a pile of rocks and then dig your foundation hole and rent a cement mixer to set up next to that hole. Make up your rebar cage; I have some details on how to make a very nice adjustable bolt mount for the hammer that is incorporated in that cage. Get the sand and gravel to the location and cart in the Portland cement and make a day of it. Put mostly solid concrete under the front and supplement the rear of the pad with the rocks to lesson your work. I have another very large pad under my impact tester (41” deep x 30” wide x 36” long) in order for it to meet NIST specs and I could not get a truck to it so I just set the cement mixer up next to it and went to town.

I would do whatever work is necessary to get a proper foundation under that hammer, as it is too big to go moving around later on when you decide the other methods weren't good enough and a weak foundation would be a waste of one of the finest hammers ever made.

Every hammer I have worked on that had too much wood or other shock absorbing material under it, I could feel its lack of power, sometimes I could see the sow lock bounce with every stroke and thought it a tragic waste.

I run a 150lb Bradley on a foundation that is to specs recommended by the Bradley Co. It is a slab around 3.5 to 4 feet deep by 4 feet wide and the length of the hammer with reinforcing rod throughout. On top of this I have 2 inches of wood- no more. All I want is for the wood to keep the sow block from pulverizing my concrete NOT to dampen or absorb the energy of the blows. I have been working with this for 15 years now and many who have worked on my hammer are impressed with the amount of force it can work the steel with, part of this is because it is a Bradley but a big portion of it is due to a good solid foundation.

Call me if I can be of any help.
 
Kevin, do you love your Bradley? I can't tell;). They truly are an awesome hammer, there is a gentleman who lives down my way i look forward to getting to know more who owns one in working order. The Bradley's are sort of a throw back to the very oldest style of power hammer, with a modern twist they seem very simple and extremely well built, no wonder there are quite a few left.
 
Mark, according to the paperwork I have for my Fairbanks, the only concrete necessary is underneath the wooden base. They say for 125-250# hammer. 24 inche sof concrete with 14 inch timber on top.
The important thing, according to the company , is to have it centered for equal distribution. Also, they have a vertical timber directly underneath the anvil.
If you would like a copy of the foundation specs, drop ma an e-mail. bruce
 
Thanks for all the info Guys !

If I can stay in good graces with my neighbor, I may be able to transfer concrete from a truck up to where it needs to go. Hadnt thought about moving it via the bucket of the backhoe. I could temporarily take the fence down between us. Might Just work.
 
Yes that is one of the real old style helves, I am very surprised at how lunky it works. Newer styles are much smoother, faster and more forceful. Watching that made me love my Bradley strap all the more.
 
From looking at the foundation plans on the 150 lb hammer, the concrete base is 7' 9" long at the bottom X 4' 7" wide x 4' 6" deep. These are written as minimum on the depth and width.

So how many yards of concrete is that math wiz's ?
 
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