I've been tooling up the shop lately. It's hard to take the time, and spend the money, but I really need to make this work easier on my hands. This is my 36" helve hammer. Powered by a 1/2" air drill. This thing POUNDS! It took just minuets to make my first "body part" This is after planishing.
pretty cool. did you build it? Id have fun with something like that. Probably destroy a lot of metal but have a big smile all the time doing it
Yeah, I built it from plans on the net. Pretty simple. I can't wait to try some different tooling and a shot bag. Right now the lower anvil is a section of bomb rack. Br*** with a really dense rubber.
I could take some tomorrow, but if you go to the metalshapers site,one of the guys posted really nice pictures and instructions to build it.
Hey Tinbender, Just lookin at that makes my sholder feel better How much rebound does it have, does it ''dance'' bout the floor any? Do ya think it will work on a 4'' concret slab? Kinda looks like the one Jim Bailey posted years ago on Terry Cowan's site, is it? thanx, and what your thumbs "Spending a nation into generational debt is not an act of comp***ion "
Hey pimpin, I just got it running today. So far it's very stable. Where I have it now is over some cracks in the floor and there was fresh dust in the cracks after it ran for a while. So it will defiantly need something to absorb the impact on the front "foot". The tire works great on the back. I mount a lot of stuff like that. The front is the stand from my bailegh bead roller, with no padding. I think that the same bomb rack material I used on the anvil will be enough to protect the floor. It should quite it down too. I think this is the Jim Bailey design.
Nice Job.I just finished building a similar version myself.Jim Bailie was the craftsman that built the original,(and several versions) This man has some serious skills.If you go into his albums there is a Lot of very good info hidden in there.Sometimes you have to click on a picture to find more info.It is for sure worth the time to check out all his threads I went with a sewing machine powered version, and I love it. Thanks for posting.
Sweet Jesus! That trailer ball hammer looks AMAZING!!! ear plugs and muffs please... So how do your wrists feel after a good beating?
My hands and wrists are getting bad. Too many years of collision repair, and well, I've been pretty hard on me in general! I'm hoping this and a few other things will let me keep working metal. I fooled around with it some more last night. Padded the front foot, and played with adjustments. It's really smoother than I thought. I have to pay attention, as if you take too big of "bite" I will push hard on the piece. But in just the short time I've used it I'm liking it a lot. Too easy to build, NOT to have one! I should have done it years ago............like soooo many other things
I will when I get a chance. I'm still making changes. In the picture it's almost all the way up. It springs up another inch or two and slams down hard. Probably twice a second. The faster it goes the harder it hits. Too fast and it stops. Just the spring moves. It's adjustable too, so I'm just learning how to operate it. I'd never seen one til I made this one, other than pictures.
The Jalopy Journal
