Matt Walker

Yeah, the hyd calculators are nice. Here's the math in case you are interested. A 5 inch piston has an area of 19.63 sq inches, a 3000 psi pump puts 3000 pounds on every square inch of the piston. Resulting in 58,890 pounds of pressure, so about 29.5 tons! If the pump pressure is lower the force can be the same with a larger piston. Some Porta-power kits operate at 10,000 psi so the cylinder is small/light enough to be handled by hand and still make tremendous force.

No problem Alan! And Yeah, when building the press I didn't know what all I might want to do with it, think pushing drifts if a hole were cut in the bottom die holder. And yes at this point the tank would need to be moved for drifting through. And I will admit a shorter stroke would allow for a more rigid frame, which would be better a lot of the time. But a longer stroke cylinder is negligibly more costly than a short one. And I had that much frame material on hand. If you found things you want to reference it might be a good idea to copy it, because I'm not sure how much longer the site will be maintained. This anvil (#270 Trenton) is mounted in a fabricated steel box filled with concrete. The anvil was suspended from an engine hoist, about an inch deep until the concrete set. Nuts buried in the box for bolt on shelves all around. I have enjoyed it. And it really killed the ringing. http://matthewdwalker.com/visit_my_studio/270_trenton_anvil_swage_blo.html

Some notes about a press, http://matthewdwalker.com/visit_my_studio/forging_press.pdf

Just wanting to share this because it's been a (two weeks so far) miracle for me. I'm thinking anyone who works with a hammer might benefit at some point. I have no stock in raisins or gin. I would like to know if it helps or doesn't for sore elbows, wrists etc. http://matthewdwalker.com/gin-soaked-rasins.html

Having been there also, I can agree with everything Alan says about the device and Paul.

Wow, so nice!

Wow!

"I do not like the auto return detent so I’m going to buy a second “spring center” detent." The detent on my splitter is simply a spring pushing a tiny ball into a grove. Take out the spring and ball and detent is gone, best I remember. Been a while since I had it apart. Here's what has served me well for many years http://matthewdwalker.com/visit_my_studio/forging_press.pdf

Hey Alan, I think our new guild member in Blountville has one.

Lead can be used to good advantage to add weight. When this hammer came to me the three pieces of square steel welded together in the center didn't seem to be enough. I added the 6 pieces of square tube and poured full of wheel weight lead, tremendous difference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tljZtBYDeSU When I built this hammer apx. 30 years back the anvil was what I could get at the time. It was Ok for a while but when I began making damascus the anvil was clearly too light. I put the piece of 12 inch duck work around the steel and poured with lead. Unbelievable difference in blow efficiency, and it has proven to continue to work for many years. I was originally concerned that the lead might get loose, but it hasn't happened yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVpZkcxdI1c Originally I made the calculations about how much weight was added but have since forgotten. Adding the lead was a huge improvement to both tools. Off topic: but while you are on my Ytube page I bet some here will enjoy this use of a 45 long Colt shell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZgbNO8us30

Another way to skin the cat

Nice clean work. I second Alan's invitation to visit our forge group.

This is what works for me

Hi Jan, Yeah, my compressor sits outside in it's own little shed. There is a small ramp ground into the top of hammer head where it contacts the wheels. Just got this worked out last night and haven't worked hot steel with it yet. I think on first impression I'll like it better than the single pilot system I've been running.

Update on this hammer: I just started experimenting with using 2 pilot valves. This seems to allow a little more control of the timing, length and area of the stroke. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub44mMKv0l0