Subject: Re: Drop hammer forming ???

From: [email-masked] (Toby Rockwell)
Date: 6 Apr 1995 07:18:43 -0400

Chris ([email-masked]) wrote:
: HELLO....HAS ANYONE DONE ANY DROP HAMMER  work , at a small shop or at home ? I
: see in the old sheet metal books how they had drop hammers that they pulled up
: with a rope +pulleys.  then "let her rip !" 

At my shop we do drop hammer work every day.  Original machines were 
operated with a rope.  we have one such machine with a 90# hammer or head 
or punch.  that is no longer in use as it would never meet OSHA specs.  

Our other drop hammer is a Pneumatic Drop Hammer and is air operated with 
safety doors to protect the operator.  many old ones were foot 
activated.  Imagine getting a 90# weight dropped on your hand from 6' 
up?  ours is  double palm valve activated. 

: I need to do some forming and was
: wondering if I cold make a plaster pattern and drop it into rubber. Or is there
: a better way ?.......or maybe not....thanks....Chris

Our dies and punches are all made from steel.  the punches are generally 
softer than the dies, of course, and some of our oldest punches and 
dies are not hardened at all.  All are metal, however, I believe that 
plaster would disintegrate. 

I have never heard of much success with 
other materials tho I did speak to someone recently who was trying to do 
something with epoxy and a drop hammer.  

The blow can be set very light--which can be done with the air 
hammer to a very high degree, or with the rope hammer by simply being 
very careful not to whack real hard, but I still think that it would be 
easy to destroy punch and maybe die too.
  
I hope I have answered your questions, please feel free to ask again if 
you want to know more.  Barbara Rockwell
 
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*  Barb Rockwell                 |      [email-masked]        *
*  203-229-3333                  +      [email-masked]       *
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From: [email-masked] (Rick Cook)
Date: Sat, 08 Apr 1995 23:48:42

>something with epoxy and a drop hammer.  
I have a friend who's done quite a bit of work with epoxy dies for forming
fairly thick sheet metal. It is effective but as I understand it, he
applies the pressure slowly.

--Rick Cook

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From: [email-masked] (Lughaid)
Date: 15 Apr 1995 10:15:57 -0400

I currently use a drop hammer for "striking" coined medallions at
Renaissance Faires. I use D2 steel dies, since with the designs I do, and
a 125 lb hammer head, I get about 45 to 70 tons /square inch when striking
Bronze Medallions. (OSHA would NOT approve! ) We also have a 1850 vintage
hammer with cast iron ways and a 250 lb head, used in a re-constructed
mining town in Arizona.

We are embossing or imprinting .1" bronze sheet, silver, and gold. How
high I lift the hammer before dropping it determines the force used. (More
of an art than a science, when we are combining two of over 75 designs on
a particular "coin".)