[TheForge] Tire power hammer/YAK long

[Roger R Degner]

I have returned home from the Alabama Forge Council conference where I
got the opportunity to watch Clay Spencer run a shop made #50 mechanical
hammer made with a emergency spare tire as the clutch.  He gave the name
of the inventor several times but I don't remember it at the moment.

I thought this hammer was the BEST running mechanical trip hammer I ever
watched work.
It always stopped with the hammer in the up position
He was using it with flat dies and showed many different types of top
tooling mainly spring swages/fuller but some hand held top tooling also.
When just using the dies it did a very good job of drawing

The tooling he used could be used in a treadle hammer which he did for
years but the mechanical power was much easier on the body

Now the bad news:
Clay doesn't yet have plans made
He is only having workshops with groups at your shop.  He says it takes
48 hours to made a group of hammers.
Cost depending on how many extra hammers are made per group run about
$1000.  BAM had 4 extra hammers and the total was $1070 per hammer.  The
best price but they had a very good scrounger was $500 each.

Clay said the minimum size anvil for a #50 hammer is 6" solid square or
round.  36" is needed.
The hammer he had there the frame was made of 5" tube.

Other main components:  Spare tire and hub from a front wheel drive
vehicle, one 1" pillow block bearing, bronze bearing bushings, a coil
spring similar to one on a little giant and a 1hp 1727 electric motor
with a flat belt pulley welded up from pipe.  The hammer head was 4"
tube plugged at the bottom drilled and tapped for the top die, pored
with lead to make 50#. 

The remainder of the linkage and hammer was welded up from pipe, angle
and flat iron.

I taped the demonstration and am converting it to DVD-R.  It will
eventually be avalible from the UMBA library for $7 shipped.  A full
list of videos are at www.umbaonline.org

The AFC group was very nice to visit.  They have two buildings for the
demos equipped with a little giant, a treadle hammer, forging press, one
of Tom Clarks Air Hammers vises tables forges and all the tooling a
typical shop could every want other than a cone mandrel.
The weather was a drastic change on the way home.  It was at least 50s
there and when I awoke at a rest stop at 4am on the way home to
Minnesota it was -9.  It was 1150 miles one way but well worth the trip.
They say next years conference will be the weekend after labor day in
September so mark your calendars.

 

Roger R Degner