[TheForge] Air Hammer Guides

Sun Apr 28 17:56:01 2002

        Dave, Thanks for the suggestion on the dies.

        My problem with that is I am not using a totally solid ram.  It will
be a block of steel welded to the end of a piece of tubing.  The die
mounting plate and die will bolt right up to the 6 x 6 square block no
problem...........the trick is to keep the
2 x 6 x 6 steel block attached to a piece of square tubing that will be 5/16
or
3/8 x 6 x 6.
        The dies will just weld to the mounting plate and the mounting bolts
can simply be drilled and taped into the heavy block.  I forgot to tell you
that I'll be running my dies square to the hammer not at a 45 degree angle
like Little Giants are.   This will allow me all four corners for bolting
and I'll make a pass thru in my tower like a Fairbanks mechanical hammer
would have.  I was toying with the tower being two pieces of plate to allow
the pass thru as well as shelves in the back for die storage, and pins for
spring swage storage.
        The best system would be to reach down in the tube and weld the
block from the inside, but you'll be fighting the angle all the way with 30
inches down the tube.
        This is why I was going to go with a diagonal brace above the ram
face and into the corners of the tubing.  This way I don't cut, weld, or
grind on the surfaces that touch the UHMW guides.

Ralph


----- Original Message -----
From: "lama" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Air Hammer Guides


> Ralph, this is how I got my dies to be the same size as my ram.
> In this case 4" x 4" x 4".  (click on the sketch)
> http://magichammer.freeservers.com/page5.html
> I haven't had any trouble with this design. I am using the same idea
> for the big hammer which will have 10-1/2" x 4" x 4" dies.
> dave m
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ralph Sproul" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 7:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Air Hammer Guides
>
>
> >         John,  I toyed with some of those same questions.  I ended up
> making
> > my tubes for the air hammer out of 8" for the outside slides, and 6" for
> the
> > ram.  I want to be able to put a 2 1/2 x 5 1/2 die on the ram head for
> > working with.
> >         I ended up going with a 10" open die space, and both tubes are
30"
> > long.  This will mean I'll have 10 out, 20 in.   I don't know why, but I
> > decided to go the 1/3 - 2/3 for keeping the dies in line better by
having
> > alot of bearing surface on the upper slides.  To accomplish this I used
a
> > 20" stroke piston as the ram will obviously have to come up out of the
> guide
> > tube by 10" also.d
> >         The thing I'm working on now is how to attach the 2 x 6 x 6
block
> of
> > steel I have to the ram tube.  My plan is to mill the block to fit very
> > snugly into the 6" tubing.  I was planning on making a verticle 1/2 flat
> bar
> > x 8" tall go on the diagonal from the ram head to the diagonal corners
of
> > the ram's tubing.
> >         I plan to keep the air use down by having a slide system on the
> > pilot switch to control length of stroke.   I also have not worked out
the
> > ramp or trigger system for this as of yet.  I was just going to get the
> ram
> > and slider built and go from there with the spaces available.   All part
> of
> > a proto type hammer.........design as you go program.
> >
> > Ralph Sproul - Bear Hill Blacksmith
> > Webster, NH
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "John Newman" <[email protected]>
> > To: "the forge" <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 1:04 AM
> > Subject: [TheForge] Air Hammer Guides
> >
> >
> > > I have finally started welding up my air hammer frame.  I just thought
I
> > > would get opinions on dimensions of my guides before welding that tube
> > > to the rest of the frame.  Ralph Sproul and Shannell's  UHMW guides
> > > seemed like a good idea so that is what I am building.  I have a
6"x1/4"
> > > square tube that I have drilled and tapped to hold 18" of 1/2" UHMW.
I
> > > am putting a 20"x 4.5" square tube inside.  The distance from the top
of
> > > the bottom die to the bottom of the guide tube will be 10", with a 2"
> > > thick die this will leave 12" of bearing are at full extension, is
this
> > > enough? is the extension too much?  I am using a 12" cylinder to start
> > > with, because I have one, but I am going to make sure it can be easily
> > > changed  to a longer stroke.
> > > I'm putting a hydraulic press on the back side of the hammer (another
> > > idea taken from Ralph) I am thinking of using the same sort of guides
> > > for the press.  Will they work? or are they even neccesary, would two
> > > nesting tubes be enough?
> > >
> > > John Newman
> > >
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