[TheForge] Trip Hammer Report (Longish)

[Rich Maynard]

You've got a Fergie? Cool! Me too. Mine is mid fifties. I think Harry
Ferguson and Henry Ford had fallen out by then...

Richard Maynard - Artist Blacksmith
The Forge, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire SG10 6BS
 
rich at muchhadhamforge.co.uk
www.muchhadhamforge.co.uk


-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Washington, Aubrey O.
Sent: 06 December 2007 21:52
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: [TheForge] Trip Hammer Report (Longish)


Greetings All,

This is an up-date on my attempts to get my new/old Mayer Bros. 25# trip
hammer up and running.  My daughter's house burned down on Thanksgiving day
(night), so that took me away from the hammer for awhile.  But, in the
meantime I've corresponded a little with Sid.  The main problem is that
timing is off with the  bang-tap-miss thing going on.  Sid says there are
about 200 things that can cause this, but the first thing to consider is
that the spring is either too loose or too tight (most often too tight, in
his experience).  So, last night I finally got back into the shop to monkey
with it some.

I started by loosening the spring in increments, but that seemed to make it
worse.  Next I tried tightening it.  It seemed to get a little better, but
still not right.  Then it occurred to me that the fact that the hammer was
walking, hopping, and rocking all around the shop while I ran it might be
contributing to the problem.  (Duh.)  I'm not ready to bolt it to the floor
of the shop, so I made a wooden platform 2' X 4' X 3" to bolt it to.  The
next problem was how to lift the hammer onto the platform since I don't have
any kind of hoist in my shop that will lift 900 pounds (with the motor
removed).  What finally worked (barely) was a lift boom on the 3-pt hitch of
my 1948 Ferguson tractor.  That was the absolute limit of my tractor's
lifting capacity at the 6 foot level (though I could probably lift more
closer to the ground).  By the time I got the hammer wrestled onto the
platform, it was cold, dark, and dinner time.  So, it will be this weekend
before I can get it bolted down and try again on the adjustments.

I have ordered Dave Manzer's DVD on trip hammers from Anvilfire, but it has
not arrived yet.  I can't wait!  In the meantime, I'll entertain all
speculation about how to fix my problems.  (No, not those problems, Frosty!)

Aubrey
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