[TheForge] Repairing power hammer dies

[Dicksplint at aol.com]

In a message dated 06/07/2006 8:22:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
osan at netlabs.net writes:
Thos would seem to imply that at the bottom of its stroke with new 
dies, the ram is hanging on with but an inch of metal.  I find that case 
to be highly doubtful.  Do you mean something else?
I mean there should be a safety mark on the ram.  If you take an inch off the 
top and bottom dies the ram could over extend.  I don't know how the Import 
hammers are but on Nazel hammers there is a safety mark on the ram.  If the ram 
extends to far past the safety mark the piston will bottom out inside the 
cylinder causing a very big problem.  I think stock Nazel 2B or 3B dies are 1 or 
1-1/2 inches taller to avoid knocking the ram piston out of the bottom of the 
cylinder.  If you grind or machine that safety margin out of the dies its time 
to replace them.     

Richard