Power Hammer Questions...

Daniel Rohde

Daniel Rohde

Joined
Jul 22, 2014
Messages
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I have had several power hammer questions and thought I'd just list them

-what are the advantages of a air hammer over a mechanical hammer(like a little giant)

-what are the advantages of a Japanese type hammer(with the belt holding the hammer head) verse something like a air hammer?

-what are some die changing systems that people have come up with for the homemade hammers?

-how do you heat treat a 4140 steel die? what RC do you want them?

-on the Japanese style hammers(like Murray Carters for lack of a better example) do the metal "C" looking thing that holds the hammer with straps does it flex at all? or does do the straps do most of the work?

-what height do you prefer the bottom die to be at?(Murray Carter has his at about belt high but little giants have them lower)

-could you work out a 2" ball bearing with a 35LB hammer?

-lets say IF I could us a 35LB hand hammer for hand forging on my anvil(my arm nor my anvil could take that) and I had a power hammer that was 35LB would they be able to move metal at the same amount per blow?(assuming the surface area and everything was equal)

-what is the quietis power hammer design out there? the Japanese seem to be prettty quiet

-what's the maximum beets per minute a 50lb homemade hammer should be desiged to do?

I'm just thinking through posibilitys and other things for my own hammer build AnvilFire.com has allot of good info to BTW

ANY questions you could answer would be great!!!!!

Thanks

Daniel
 
I've used most all types and sizes of power hammers over the last 20 years. 25 to 500 lbs. Air & mechanical.

I like the 100 lb Little Giant best of all for my knife-mking & damascus work. Have two of em now.

My second choice would be a Tom Clark or Sahindler(spl?) 110 lb air hammer.
 
Way too many questions and topics to deal with in a short reply. I would suggest you do some in depth research on the different hammers available.

I don't have a power hammer, but of the ones I have used, the Iron Kiss air hammer and the Sahinler air hammer were the best. They have really delicate control to full power whacks.
 
Sorry...I'll just post individual topics. I just though it would be better to have them all in one place.
 
An air hammer is going to give you better control than a mechanical one. If you have the ability to fabricate the frame and the kind of mind that can handle circuits (electrical or fluid), go for the air hammer.

If you are going with a mechanical hammer, a tire clutch will give you good control. It doesn't have to be a Clay Spencer (Little Giant-ish) style; I'm using a spare tire on a 100 lb. guided helve (Rusty-style) power hammer.

Force is mass times acceleration. If you are accelerating a 35 lb hammer at the same rate as a power hammer could accelerate it, then the force will be the same. If you can, I'd be very impressed, but not want to shake your hand. I might not have a hand left! :D

All mechanical hammers need a spring in the system to take the shock as the force is transferred. With the Japanese-style hammers, they're using rubber for the springs. The rubber flexes more easily than steel springs would, so it absorbs more shock and transfers less power. You'll notice Murray's hammer hits very rapidly. Many quick, relatively light blows. Seems like a good thing for forging knife blades, less good for processing down larger stock.

I prefer not having to bend over when using the power hammer, so I have my dies around belt buckle height.

4140 - Heat to critical, quench in at least five gallons of slow oil. I use the 28 second stuff from McMaster-Carr. Temper at 600 degrees. If welding on a base, do so after tempering, then pre-heat to 400 degrees, do your welding, then post-heat at 400 degrees.

My dies are on flat base plates that slide into keepers. Using something like that with large setscrews like Big Blu hammers use would probably be an improvement.

Guided helve hammers are the simplest design, but they're probably the loudest. Any power hammer will generate a lot of noise.

Here's a fellow who built a Japanese-style hammer with a tire clutch.

[video=youtube;Sq4NZin-MBY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq4NZin-MBY&list=UUZDisfARinNbak4vGPyTpiA&index=19[/video]

His is running more slowly than Murray's manufactured hammer, but is still hitting decently.

My hammer runs a bit slowly, and it goes around 200 beats a minute.

And here's mine by comparison:

[video=youtube;uzruqYkKGNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzruqYkKGNM[/video]
 
THANK YOU!!!
I think you have my questions pretty well answered. I will probably be going with some kind of mechanical hammer
Thanks again
Daniel
 
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