Thursday, April 21, 2011

Added a Little Giant mechanical hammer to our smithy

After waiting many years I was able to purchase a 50lb Little Giant mechanical power hammer to assist me in the smithy.

It was located at Tyson's Forge in nearby Fritztown.
Some friends and I made the move during an early weekend morning when traffic would be light.
A local backhoe operator loaded and unloaded it. Total time from start till finish was about three hours.

We used a template of the hammer base to mark and drill bolt holes in four 8"x 9" white oak beams.
The beams are bolted together with 5/8" threaded rod and the hammer is bolted down with 5/8" bolts.

The backhoe lowered the hammer onto the template and bolts and then the base was bolted down.
Both were then lifted so two 2x4's could be laid underneath the beams and it was gently pushed into the shop onto some pipe.
The backhoe continued to slowly push to its limit and then we took over by manually pushing and using prybars to yutz it into position.
The approximate weight of the hammer is 1800lbs not including the white oak beams.
Manufacture date was sometime during World War 1.

I ran a 220 line to the motor later that day and started it.
All grease and oil points need to be lubed up and then I'll give it a trial run.

Here are a few images to show how things went.