shim material for Little Giant?

NickWheeler

NickWheeler

Joined
Dec 3, 1999
Messages
9,437
Hey Guys-

Sid sells a really nice set of pre-cut shims for the 25# and 50# Little Giants.

He doesn't sell them for the 100#. Sid told me it's a non-oil-absorbant gasket material.

I've read about 40 Google results for that search, and still don't know what the heck to get.

Do you guys have any recommendations?

If you don't have a hammer to know what I'm talking about, there are shims in between the bearing stanchions and top bearing caps, and also shims between the hammer frame and ram guide. These need to stand up to the constant bath of oil that the hammer gets, and not lose their integrity.

Thanks for any help! :)
 
I don't recall offhand the shape of the 100# shims, but having set up a 50# with Sid's gasket kit (which is nice), and seeing how these things are put together, I wouldn't be too uptight about what one uses for shim material. Essentially, you don't want it to squish out over the years. I've seen really old hammers with leather shims, though I would think that's sub-optimum. If it was me doing a 100#, I would get some generic gasket material from MSC or Mcmaster, or Granger in a few thicknesses and go to it. Don't forget the thicker sizes, I think Sid's kit has a big range of thicknesses, and I found the variety helpful.
 
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Automotive parts stores should have shim stock, brass or steel. Non corregated tin cans is also a source, I measured a piece and it was about 012" thick. My opinion is shim stock should be metal.

Ex 50# Little giant owner, fly press guy now.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

The shim stock in the bearings really needs to be able to compress a little from what I have seen. :confused:
 
Nick,

On most of the hammers that I rebuilt/sold over the years, I wound up using 30 gauge sheet metal for all the shims. Something that works really well for the bearing cap shims is the vulcanized spacer material we use on knives (shhh....don't tell anyone, but its actually a non-oil absorbing gasket material;))
 
I used vulcanized fibre material for my shims. It's the same material knifemakers put on full tang knives between the steel handle and the handle its self.
 
HaHa! That's a funny coincidence! Thanks Ed and Tom.... now to see if I have any left! lol :)

I meant for the part about the gasket needing to compress to be more of a question than a statement. :o
 
I have a 50# that I'm rebuilding. For shims, I got some aluminum flashing from Lowes. It is thin enough to cut with scissors. By stacking about 8 shims, it makes about 1/16. Add a piece of 1/8 aluminum flat stock to make the 3/16 recommended initial shim. I doubt that it will compress enough to measure. If it does, it will take up some wear. With shims that thin, adjustment to the bearing spacing can be fairly precise.
Will post pics when I get it hammering.
Chip Kunkle
 
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