[TheForge] Foundations and shop design

[Grant Marcoux]

Ekaterina:  How you mount your hammer on the deck should be determined in
part by the floor weight of the hammer.  The best way for heavy hammers is
to have an independent-of -the-rest -of the-floor pillar to place the entire
hammer on.  This pillar is the result of a hole dug in the floor to a
certain depth, a cement form placed inside, rebar reinforcement and concrete
poured to make a pillar.

The space between the pillar and the rest of the deck and surrounding earth
is filled with pea-gravel, which is a superb blast and shock attenuator.  As
the gravel settles, just add more to meet the edge of the deck.

Small hammers can be bolted directly to the deck if you have a thick enough
concrete floor.  My 25# LG is so mounted, with a plywood gasket.  The heavy
steel reinforced rubber matting is the best for this application.

Grant

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Ekaterina Harrison
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 9:15 AM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] Foundations and shop design


Hi All,

We are just getting ready to a pour a cement floor in the new shop, we
are building. I have the opportunity here to address and improve my
work environment. I am very excited about this. One of the things we
are doing is running steel under the cement across the whole length of
the shop to to provide more grounding points around the shop and
running pipe for airline hook ups and some conduit for stringing some
wiring to the other side of the shop.

  One of the issues that I have been trying to figure out is the best
way to mount a power hammer and treadle hammer. My current power
hammer is bolted to the floor with a 1" rubber mat between it and the
floor. As you might guess in the area around the hammer the floor has
sustained some damage and I, also, have had a hell of a time with my
tools jumping of benches when I work the hammer. So, it seems quite
clear that in the new shop the hammer should have its own independent
foundation. We have been considering several options:

We are planning to leave a graveled area just big enough for the
hammer( surrounded by the cement floor) or possibly cut out the
section of floor after we have figured out the best location for the
hammer. And then :

1- independant cement foundation 1' thick
2- block up hammer on timbers

OR -  I have, also,  seen some blacksmiths simply leave a whole
section of dirt floor for their various power hammer stuff. I have
been considering this as well. The draw back to this that I see is
simply difficulty in clean up. The plus is it seems to leave more
versatility for adjustment of tool placing, replacing and upgrading.

Issues I have been wondering about:
If hammer is set on timbers is there a balance issue to consider - as
in keeping it from tilting and moving?
I know that the treadle hammer ,I made, I never did mount it to the
floor, figuring that it was heavy enough it should stay put. I was
surprised just how much it did move across the floor.

Any suggestions, pro and cons, experiences of mounting hammers and
general shop layout would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ekaterina
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