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Looking For Power Hammer

fabnut

Plastic
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Location
orchard park ny
I HAVE BEEN IN THE MARKET FOR AN OLD POWER HAMMER THAT FEW BUTTLER USES. ANY INFO ON WHERE I MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIND ONE. MADE A PLANISING HAMMER AND HAVE A ENGLISH WHEEL I KNOW WHAT THE HAMMER.

[ 04-14-2007, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: johnoder ]
 
No need to shout at us
Shouting around a power hammer is probably normal though?


I saw the latest issue of a local magazine here - "The Shed", it features a guy using a power hammer, I have an idea it is none other than one of fellow members here, GeoffM ??

Fabnut, sorry can't help you though.
 
Peter S. Yes, that is me. Fame! At last! :) A lot of people have appreciated the old machines in my shed, and I might be doing some more writing yet, if I can find time away from work.
Geoff
 
Hello,

Faye Butler is the correct name of the East Coast sheet metal man of whom I think you are referring. The Sheet metal hammers that you are describing are rare indeed and fetch a pretty penny. You should be looking for the following names primarily: Yoder, Pettingell, Whiting/Quickwork and perhaps Deinalt & Eisenhardt (sp). A lightweight Quickwork (with broken sliding crank) sold on Ebay last week for just under 10 grand, no dies. A big yoder with any tooling will probably fetch upwards of 20 thousand. These are coveted machines. There is a lightweight quickwork for sale that I know of. It has some tooling with it and has been in use in a working body shop. It will probably sell for 15 grand. Let me know if this is what you are in the market for and I can put you in touch with the seller.

Cheers, Adair
 
The post mounted Pettingells shown here are about as simple as you can get. Seems they would be easy to make. Maybe not adequate for later deeper stuff, but obviously entirely okay on the class of work shown.

What is more important here? What one can do with one or having an original old clunk you paid a fortune for?

PowerHammer.jpg


John
 
I think you are describing a planishing hammer. Simple ones can be made with a pistol type pneumatic hammer. The hammer and anvils are made from chisel blanks. Similar to what John posted above but all home made.
 
HWooldridge,
Within the metalshaping community the hammers that Fabnut asked about are not referred to as planishing hammers. Many people group the two together even though their functions are different. The Pettingell hammers pictured above are power hammers and they are built for stretching and shrinking sheet metal very quickly. A pneumatic planishing hammer while capable of some forming operations, is a tool used primarily to finish a worked sheet metal surface. A metalshaper might use a planishing hammer after major forming operations under a power hammer.

Power hammers also differ from the pullmax, Trumpf, and other nibblers that many metalshapers have modified for shaping operations. These modified nibblers/shears are direct acting, with fixed linkages, whereas the power hammers have a floating head like their larger brothers in the blacksmithing business.

Just thought I would clear up the differences between these machines that are often grouped together.

There are numerous metalshapers who have fabricated their own replicas of vintage power hammers. Their are others who have designed their own with modern adaptations or found object engineering, and there are others who have designed their own machines from the ground up. It is all predicated on the endlessly rising value of the originals thanks to a tremendous upsurge in people who want to build custom motorcycles and hotrods. More power to 'em.
<img src=http://ccookenterprises.com/images/yoder/yoder_lg.jpg>

<img src=http://allshops.org/community/CommunityAlbum/9980101699000.jpg>
-Adair

P.S.

Where did you dig up that photo, John?
 
"The post mounted Pettingells shown here are about as simple as you can get."

I wouldn't call those simple. The Pettingell design is one of the best and still used (and copied) to this day. The clutch and spring hammer link are anything but simple. If you want simple, look at the Helve hammers.
 
John,

I just re-read this posting today and I noticed that in describing the clutch on the Pettingell hammer pictured you said it "..is only on this unit because it was line shaft driven".

The cone clutch that I believe CCWKen was describing, the same clutch present in Pettingell and Yoder hammers, is integral to the operation of the hammer be it motor or line-shaft driven. Just as in many power forging hammers, the clutch is the means of varying the speed of the hammer, not just engaging and disengaging it from the power source.

Cheers, Adair
 
The Little Giant, and the 300lb Chambersberg, are open die forging hammers- not sheet metal hammers like the yoders and pettingills.

An open die forging hammer hits harder, and is meant for hot working thicker material- a 300lb Chambersberg will easily work 2" or even larger square bar.
These are blacksmiths hammers.

The hammer the original poster is looking for is a sheet metal hammer, and, although similar, they are different beasts.

The sheet metal hammers have deeper throats, and lighter weight rams.
 








 
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