[TheForge] Wanted suggestions on hammer tooling.

[Ralph Sproul]

        Ben,  You have to bare in mind the Little Giant hammers during their
hay day were mostly designed for agricultural implement sharpening, tool
making in special dies, and general drawing so drawing out plows, harrows,
discs, sharpening chisel points, etc the hammer could run faster than if you
going to attempt artistic work with low profile hand tools for placement and
one shot blows.
        The addition of a brake will greatly aid your control to do this.

        Besides the clamp on die cage with the hardy hole in it, the other
clamp cage option that Clifton offered (and I really like is to use angle
iron locked into the cage with a particular die made to drop in, lock with
the clamp cage, and do your work.  You can then remove the cage to do other
flat die work or low profile hand tool work.........or use the hand tools
with the inserts below (your choice).
        I find these work well and don't lossen up as the cage holds the
full flat surface of the angle leg within the cage instead of one pivot
point on a dimple to jar loose - the larger area clamped yields better
results.  I have not made a die with the hole in the center as of yet, but
it would be nice for punching (but you still have to retrive the slug out of
the hole.........so I've gone with bolster bushings instead-make a
sacrificial saddle to use under them to keep your dies protected).
        The nice thing about a round hole in a die is it will facilitate the
use of all your square tang bottom tools for swaging to shape on the power
hammer(with the right insert to keep hardy tangs relatively snug as a
dancing hardy yields lots of shunts). I've done this with my hydraulic press
to hold all my swages, but not for the power hammer as of yet, because with
a press - you can make a swage in one heat that has a flat bottom and weld
them to the angle iron I've mentioned if you need to do a project in the
power hammer instead of a press.
        My rough guess on the speed you should shoot for is 180-225 beats
per minute if you wish to do things other than draw out, or open die
hammering with no tooling. Still the brake will be something you want to
add.
        I make my hammer tooling from 4140 and 52100.  It is commonly
available in scrap yards as roller bearings and S cams for truck brakes.
Buying 4140 in round bar is the most economical and swaging to shape for
your tools.  (at least that's what I find works).......others may have
favorite alloys as they have availability to them.

Ralph
----- Original Message -----
From: <Loktr@aol.com>
To: <theforge@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2004 10:41 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Wanted suggestions on hammer tooling.


> Very shortly i will be firing up my 100 LG and have been reviewing the
> Clifton Ralph tapes in preparation.  He describes a clamp on "hardy
holder" as well
> as a special die insert where you remoe the whole bottom die.   Ive been
> thinking of making a bottom die with about a 1.50 hole in the center.
Drilling
> from the side of the die and putting in a 1/2" acme lock set up to hold
whatever
> tooling.  Turning a relief on the 1.5 die "post" and drilling a dimple to
> locate it.  I am curious as to what others think.  The shoulders of the
die above
> the post would normally be supported by the flat part of the bottom die.
I am
> worried about whether a 1/2" acme screw hole will get flattened to the
point
> of the screw not working.  I would drill and tap on the bottom side of the
die
> block.
>
> I have read that LG suggests running these hammers at 275 rpm,  Clifton
Ralph
> suggests going slower.  After watching him work I know I dont need to go
> faster but am wondering how slow is too slow, pros and cons?
>
> I am planning on running and endless flat belt and will machine the pulley
to
> give the speed i want.
>
> Ben
>
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
>   text/plain (text body -- kept)
>   text/html
> The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
> or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
> to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---
> _______________________________________________
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith@hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>