Subject: Re: Hammer Dies

From: [email-masked] (Clay Spencer)
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 11:07:27 -0600

At 4:00 PM 1/25/96, [email-masked] wrote:
>I have often wondered about "half and half dies."  Do they cause excess
>wear on the ways of the power hammer by applying force off-center?  I
>have considered making a set several times but have not been able to get
>the answer to this question.  My #50 Mayer was built in 1918 and I think
>replacement ways would be a bit tough to come-by.

Yes, you will get more wear on the ways anytime you do not use the center
of the dies.
How much more? depends on distance from center of dies and force of blows.
Probably the most critical item in wear and breaking of side guides is the
clearance between the guides and ram. Large amount of clearance is
responsible for breaking guides on Little Giant new style hammers. Keep the
guides tight with just enough clearance for easy movement.
If you have removeable guides, you can machine new guides. If they are
built into the hammer frame, you probably will have to braze or weld.
Clay

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From: "Szucs" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 1996 10:14:07 -0500

>replacement ways would be a bit tough to come-by.

	Let me begin by saying that I don't have a power hammer so I may be
	talking crap here.  I base this on my experience as a machinist.

	Would it be practical to use a fairly thick plate to distribute
	the load more evenly across the ways?  How about 1" to 6/4
	thick, maybe 3/4 the length of the bedway.  Tope surface is
	parallel the lengthe of the die in question and tapers down
	as you move outwards.

	In addition to this might you not scrape the bottom so that you
	get about 0.001" concavity over the middle 3/4 (more maybe?) of
	plates bottom surface so that when you tighten it down you
	achieve a very positive contact of the outermost bounds of the
	plate with the ways?

                                Die sits here

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	The art is somewhat lacking but I think this gets the general
	idea across.

	Of course you will lose capacity between the dies.

	Just a thought.  Any comments?

	-Andy V.