Has anyone built or used a homemade helve hammer? If so could you E-mail me or post some plans, (scribbles on the back of a pizza box are welcome too). With closeup photo's and perhaps some measurements. Money is a bit of an issue with a purchased hammer. I have seen the rusty hammers and I could go that rout, I just don't know how well they work... any thoughts. Thanks.
Jared,
I've seen some very interesting helve type machines, used by the South American smiths. The machines often use an auto leaf spring to transfer motion between an electric motor and the ram.
I've seen videos of these machines in use on YouTube. I tried to find one of the videos, but couldn't quickly come up with one.
Jared
Take a look at this hammer below. It is a rebuild of one that was manufacured long ago. The concept is pretty straight forward and this is the type that I may try to build sometime. If you go to Google and then switch to "Images" and then search for helve hammer, you can come up with a bunch more ideasOr Click Here.
Yea... Brian. That is a sweet machine. I love the wood and the steel working together like a good knife. That Hawkeye is the one that I saw that got me thinking about the simplicity of such a machine. I started the build today. I didn't get any pictures of it though... I will take some and try to see if I can get the forum machine to agree on size and post them. LOL
http://www.iforgeiron.com/uploads/500/DSCN2305.jp g" target="_blank">
Thanks Cheyenne,
I looked it over and did some more research. It seems that those auto body guys are building a lot of helve hammers. Really fast ones. A lot of good stuff in that tutorial can be adapted to a larger machine though. Good stuff. Thanks.
By the way, does anyone think that 3ft is too long of a helve arm. I saw one on U-Tube that had a 5 or more foot long helve arm, but it seemed kind of clumsy as it was camming over so I made mine with a 4X4 pressure treated 3 feet long. Any thoughts
Jared
On the hawkeye hammer, I scaled out the arm with the assumption that the wood beams are 6x6. The arm is 32" long, so I would say that you are on track.
What do you have planned for the spring / toggle assembly, are you going to build something like that on the Hawkeye hammer?
Keep us posted on your build.
Brian
|quoted:
Jared
On the hawkeye hammer, I scaled out the arm with the assumption that the wood beams are 6x6. The arm is 32" long, so I would say that you are on track.
What do you have planned for the spring / toggle assembly, are you going to build something like that on the Hawkeye hammer?
Keep us posted on your build.
Brian
Good to know I'm on the right track. I would love to do a toggle assembly like that, but I already have loads of leaf springs from some large trucks. I don't know if my skill level is up to an assembly that complicated.
Here is some of what I have gotten done 4X4 tubing & some 3 1/2" pipe. Let me know what you think so far. My spring might be too strong I'll have to get a motor on it to see.
It is looking good so far. I will be interested in seeing your crank assembly. As I am looking at this, I wonder if the Hawkeye setup with the linkage in the middle would cause less shaking of the machine. Regardless, I imagine you will have to add some weight to keep it from dancing around. I have seen where people have filled the tubes with sand and lead shot to get more mass.
Anyway, it looks like you are moving right along. Keep us posted on your progress.
Brian
I worked on the hammer today. I had to buy some more pillow block bearings for my jack shaft. I also mounted the motor. No test run yet and I got caught up in the work and forgot to take any photos. But to give you an idea I am 5'6" and the hammer is about waist high. So it is not just massive like some that I have seen.
And yes I will be adding a heavy base but I'm not sure what yet. I'll think of something. Probably heavy plate on top and bolted to a wood base.
I sent Brian and Steve a copy of a test run video. I don't have a U-Tube account so I could't post it here. The hammer went through a redesign after the first test run and runs much smoother. That is the thing with designing something yourself from pictures that you have seen (trial and error) will get you there eventually.
Here is a video of my little helve hammer I built. I'll have to put a foundation down in my barn and bolt it to it to keep it from walking around but it hits really hard. If I can get it to hold still maybe I can get some forging done. If you have any suggestions let me know.
Jared
I would suggest placing a couple of bags of concrete around the anvil post and see if that dampens the motion. If it does, you could frame up around the post and pour some concrete in the form.
Brian
|quoted:
Jared
I would suggest placing a couple of bags of concrete around the anvil post and see if that dampens the motion. If it does, you could frame up around the post and pour some concrete in the form.
Brian
That makes sense it didn't rock that bad on level concrete but the dirt floor didn't help.
