[TheForge] Re: But how fast does the Alldays & Onions go?

[Mike Spencer]

Bob wrote:

> They used to sell an after market cruse control....with a magnet
> glued to the drive shaft and a servo connected to the throtle.

Interesting.  Never saw one of those. That would be good if the engine
tended to bog down significantly under load.  I had expected to need a
governor but, in fact, it seems to drop at most 2 RPM (at the hammer)
when the tup is raised and the the max load comes on.

> It only took me 6 months to get my fixer-up air hammer going last
> year.  I can't imagine how hard it was for you to keep at it as long
> as you did, great job.

Ha!  Well, the hammer wasn't going anywhere, y'know? :-) After the 3rd
or 4th candidate to power it failed, I confess I was getting a little
discouraged.  People wanted $3,000 for a very old engine too heavy for
me to move easily or $2,000 for one that had been sitting unprotected
in a field for a couple of years.  I didn't have any pressing need or
demanding creative inspiration for which the hammer was required.  But
now everything looks like a nail (so to speak. :-)

And anyhow, I *like* futzing with old machinery.  Someone posted here
(was it Ries, maybe?) slagging the old behemoth hammers and touting the
slick, highly engineered, modern ones.  Quite right in terms of
efficiency, productivity, business acumen etc.  But not nearly as much
fun for the up-front money.

And if I get bored, the guy I got the A&O from has another lawn
ornament he ardently wishes to get shut of, an 8' tall punch press of
the same vintage.  Huh, I should live so long. :-)


On a parallel note, Steve Daubs, a smith not far from here, bought a
250# LG that I used once.  I made a hardy with it around 1982.  Then
that guy's shop burned down around the hammer, another guy hauled it
home 200 miles where it sat in his yard for 20 years until poor health
led to a sell-out.  Steve bought the rusty, seized-up, burned-out hulk
and fixed it up. I saw him in the mall parking lot this spring and he
was happy as a PiS with his nifty restored tool.  Finds it easier to
control than the smaller LG that was in working order when he got it.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^