[TheForge] Answers to the questions posted earlier about the Bull Hammers

Thu Aug 1 20:48:00 2002

        It was me, yes, and I thank you for that information.  I just found
a guy in Groton Mass that has one of the new Bull's - I'm going to go try it
out.

Ralph


----- Original Message -----
From: "GHS" <[email protected]>
To: "THE FORGE" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 3:24 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Answers to the questions posted earlier about the Bull
Hammers


>
> Ralph,
> At least I think it was you, Ralph, had
> some questions about the Bull Power
> Hammer.
> I posted Tom Troszak, its developer, and
> sent him a copy of your post to
> theforge.
> I got this novella in response.  I hope
> that this answers the questions.
>
> Dear Mike,
>
> Thanks for the copy of the posting.  I
> don't think I quite understand
> the description of the problem, other
> than the fact that the guy didn't
> like the hammer after 30 seconds of use.
> Since I do not have time to
> participate or even lurk on discussion
> lists, please post this to your
> group and invite anyone to contact us.
>
> The Bull hammers do not operate like a
> mechanical hammer, or a
> Kinyon-style hammer. If someone is very
> used to the operation of their
> own hammer, the Bull hammer will
> definitely feel different at first. The
> use of the treadle on a Bull hammer is
> just a completely different
> paradigm from the treadle on a Little
> Giant, and requires a slightly
> different mindset or approach. I wanted
> the Bull hammers to be more than
> just a drawing hammer, and I started
> with a completely different concept
> in mind. The fine control (during
> drawing) is better than any hammer I
> am aware of, and the Bull hammer can
> strike single blows, identical
> repeating blows, fast, fast light
> planishing blows, and clamp for
> twisting.
>
> Interestingly, people who have never
> used any hammer before at all (even
> non-blacksmiths) can usually draw a
> taper on a paper clip on the first
> try (or perform the matchbox trick)
> using the Bull 125, due to the
> exceptional control.
>
> The guys who expect (or want) the Bull
> hammer to act exactly like "their
> hammer at home" are the ones who are
> sometimes a little surprised at
> first. I watched some experienced
> powerhammer blacksmiths trying out the
> Bull 125, and observed a trend.
> Blacksmiths who have mechanical or
> self-contained hammers are used to
> standing on the treadle of a their
> hammer to achieve full power for
> drawing.
>
> As you push the treadle of the Bull
> hammer down, the hammer strikes
> faster and harder, but the further down
> you go, the shorter the strokes
> get, and eventually the hammer stops
> cycling and clamps. This may be the
> "jackhammer mode" that the guy was
> talking about. Perhaps if he had
> taken a few minutes to play with it, he
> would have figured out that full
> power is found at about 75% of the full
> treadle movement, not at the
> bottom. I call it "surfing" the treadle.
> Single blows are achieved by
> "tapping" or stomping quickly on the
> treadle. The blows can be light, or
> soft, or identical repeating, depending
> on the throttle setting
>
> Of the particular blacksmiths I watched,
> three out of four picked up on
> the deal right away, but the fourth guy
> never could find the "sweet
> spot".  So I came back to the shop and
> made a few mods to the linkage
> and came up with a "no-clamp" mode for
> drawing which allows the treadle
> to be depressed fully, and the hammer
> just keeps on cycling at full
> power. This mod has been included on all
> new Bull hammers, and can be
> retrofitted to the older ones. I think
> it will help smooth the
> transition for people who are expecting
> "the same old response" when
> they stomp on the treadle of a Bull
> hammer.  But, if you are only using
> a Bull hammer for drawing tapers, you
> are definitely missing 4/5 of the
> fun and advantage of owning one.
>
> If I understand correctly, there was
> also a question floating around on
> how the pneumatic controls on the Bull
> compare with the controls on a
> Kinyon-style hammer.
>
> The answer is simple, the controls on
> the Bull hammers are really not
> related at all to the controls on a
> Kinyon-style hammer. I had not seen
> Ron's design before I made my first
> hammer, so I started with my own
> ideas. Ron's design is brilliant, but I
> am kind of glad I had never seen
> it when I started, because it would not
> have worked for what I was
> trying to achieve.
>
> The Bullhammer pneumatic controls are
> actually simpler than the
> Kinyon-style hammer. The pneumatic
> system consists of:
>
> (1) 4-way 5 port valve - spring return
> (used as the pilot valve)
> (1) 4-way 5 port valve - double air
> pilot (main valve)
> (1) Throttle valve (on the exhaust side)
>
> That's it. The reason that the bull
> hammers are able to do all of the
> different things (strike, draw, planish,
> clamp, etc.) is because of a
> simple clever mechanical linkage (patent
> pending, by the way) between
> the ram and the pilot valve. The
> relationship between the movement of
> the treadle, the throttle, and the ram
> can be configured (in about a
> second) to achieve all of the different
> actions.
>
> Using a double air-pilot main valve (on
> the Bull) gives a snappier
> response than the spring return valve
> used on the Kinyon hammer,
> mounting the cylinder rod-end-up (on the
> Bull) takes care of the
> diffential pressure issue, gives much
> better control, a faster cycle
> rate (all other things being equal) and
> uses less air to boot.
>
> There are NO other regulators, "pressure
> sensing switches", voodoo, or
> imaginary crap. If anyone wants to know
> how it works, look at one. We
> keep a couple of demo hammers in our
> shop, anyone is welcome to visit
> and check them out. We have more than
> 300 hammers around the world
> including, USA, Canada, Mexico, UK,
> Australia, Switzerland, Iceland,
> Phillipines, and more on the way. Unless
> you live on an asteroid (or
> Antarctica) you are probably within a
> day's drive of one.  Just call and
> tell us where you are, and we will
> gladly put you in touch with the
> nearest customer.
>
> If any "backyard bombers" on the list
> really want to see what is going
> on, all they have to do is call and
> pretend like they are interested in
> buying a hammer, and they will get a
> copy of the video. Even if you are
> not interested in buying one for real,
> we would appreciate the
> opportunity to show you the profound
> difference of the Bull hammer. You
> could even be brave and just say you are
> building a hammer and looking
> for advice...
>
> Lastly, but certainly not least(ly), we
> would like all of you on the
> list to know that we are pleased to help
> with homebuilt hammer projects.
> Quite a number of homebuilt hammers have
> been constructed to take
> advantage of our standard die system,
> and we have fabricated some custom
> dies for home built hammers.
>
> I am actively developing a complete
> "power unit" including a ram,
> cylinder, and the control mechanism
> based on the new Bull 75 hammer
> design, this would be sold complete and
> ready to bolt or weld onto a
> homebuilt or "junkyard" frame. This unit
> would have all of the same
> control features as the standard
> production hammers. If anyone is
> interested, please call and we'll add
> you to the list, and notify you
> when the units are ready to ship.
>
> Sorry we missed Abana, we are just too
> busy. We have many hammers on
> order, we are hiring more help to
> increase production, and I am
> traveling to Mexico to train and set up
> in some factories there, and we
> now have a Bull 250 in production...
> busy, busy busy...
>
> Thanks,
> Tom Troszak
>
> P.S. If anyone is interested, we have a
> website:
> http:www.bullhammer.com
> and there are quicktime movies of the
> Bull 125 doing drawing,
> planishing, etc:
> http://www.bullhammer.com/bullmovies.htm
> There are also some new projects
> illustrated:
> http://www.bullhammer.com/bullprojects.htm
>
> --
> my website is
> http://www.execpc.com/~ghs/
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