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  #1  
Old 03-12-2016, 07:28 AM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Default Mechammer discussion & question post

I have been lucky enough to be able to share for the time being one of Ben's new Machamer II machines, and thought that I would start this post so that myself, the new owner and others might have one place to go to share ideas and operational questions.

My first question: You mentioned that for me to add some more 'radius' to a die or dies, that I could just chuck the hardened lower die in the lathe and dress it with a grinder. Does it have to be an actual stone or will a 2" or 3" air powered sanding disc work as well?

My second question: Did Jimmy acquire any additional hammer 'inserts'? Which one is installed now? What change in operation would require inserting an insert of a different weight? How are they changed?

I LOVE the fact that the lower die holder does not need to be changed with each lower die change. The low travel, low profile of the foot switch is also good for me to use because of my leg issues.
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Old 03-12-2016, 02:23 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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I LOVE the fact that the lower die holder does not need to be changed with each lower die change. The low travel, low profile of the foot switch is also good for me to use because of my leg issues.
Will, just curious what hammer or tool needs that ? Sounds kinda ridicules. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Old 03-12-2016, 07:06 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Ben's Mechammer is very impressive. So often simplicity in design is deceptively difficult to execute, much less to do in a machine that really does what it is advertised to do. The multiple lower arms makes a lot of sense- quick and easy to convert between functions without having to reconfigure or change settings.

Then again, the tool is no substitute for the skill of the one using it. Ben- watching what you can do with it was even more impressive...
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Old 03-12-2016, 07:15 PM
longyard longyard is offline
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The "secret" to the Mechammer is the machining tolerance. Ben tried other places but it finally took it to a shop that does aerospace machining and now the machine "sings".

Speaking of great work, Clint, your sculpture work is stunning and I hate your iPad ran out of storage room while I was filming your presentation at Will's. I just finished reading a book about Saint-Gaudens and I appreciate sculpture more now than ever. Dick Bear happens to be back in Winston-Salem for the next few days and his sculpture work is a thing to behold, also.

Metalshaping is a "big tent" community. I feel very lucky to be around so many talented craftsmen and artists!
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  #5  
Old 03-13-2016, 05:27 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
I have been lucky enough to be able to share for the time being one of Ben's new Machamer II machines, and thought that I would start this post so that myself, the new owner and others might have one place to go to share ideas and operational questions.

My first question: You mentioned that for me to add some more 'radius' to a die or dies, that I could just chuck the hardened lower die in the lathe and dress it with a grinder. Does it have to be an actual stone or will a 2" or 3" air powered sanding disc work as well?

My second question: Did Jimmy acquire any additional hammer 'inserts'? Which one is installed now? What change in operation would require inserting an insert of a different weight? How are they changed?

I LOVE the fact that the lower die holder does not need to be changed with each lower die change. The low travel, low profile of the foot switch is also good for me to use because of my leg issues.
Hi Will , thanks for this tread.

On the frist question, you can use a normal grinding 2" or 3" inch grinding disk , put them in the chuck and dress it.
This however will not be necesarry on the future sets of dies, the radius on the side will be there.

The Hammer insert ore Hammer weight as I call it that Jimmy has is the standard hammerweight.

The other Hammerweights i had at the Roundup where home made, not that they where bad but the new ones are profesionally made and heat treathed.

There are 3 different Hammerweights, Light, Standard and Heavy.

One weight of your choice comes with the Mechammer Head or complete Machine.

The light weight is for soft materials like Aluminum, Copper, Brass etc.
Standard or Medium is for most applications.
Heavy is for thicker materials up to 14 Gauge, and some of the special tools like beading.


In the image below i pointed out the screw that has to be taken out to get to the Hammerweight.So if this screw is taken out you can slide out the Upper Die Holder, after that the Hammerweight will come out.
If not as it can be hold in by the oil that is on it just run the machine real slow and the Hammerweight will be blown out so you can grab it.
Insert a different Hammerweight with the O-ring pointing to the top.
Use Airtool oil when you insert the Hammerweight.



The Upper and Lower Die change will not influence the settings of the machine, That is why we have the phrase "Set it and froget it"
Once the machine is set to your working height you will never have to change anything,you swap both dies in less then 20 seconds and even the thickness of the material has no effect on the performance of the hammer.

I planished the material i cut out of a soda can , and right after that did some 14 gauge no changes made.

The foot pedal is realy low to the ground because i want to stand with both feet on the ground when i opperate a machine. This way you are relaxed and can focus on the part you are making without having troubles balancing on one leg.The footpedal also has a set knob so you can set the speed if needed. Just step on the pedal so that the machine runs and adjust to the right speed.

If there are more questions about the Mechammer Mark II please feel free to ask.

Just recovered form the Flu

Ben
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Last edited by Ben; 03-13-2016 at 07:42 AM.
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Old 03-13-2016, 08:15 AM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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John, it's really nice to see you back 'in form', and I will try to give you more opportunities to inject your 'opinions'. My power hammer has been working great and Per and Patman added some small 'special' dies that have increased it's versatility. I should have been more specific about the die holder(s) in that Ben's machine has more than one lower die holder arm and as you switch from arm to arm, no amount of change is needed to operate the machine.
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Old 03-13-2016, 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
John, it's really nice to see you back 'in form', and I will try to give you more opportunities to inject your 'opinions'. My power hammer has been working great and Per and Patman added some small 'special' dies that have increased it's versatility. I should have been more specific about the die holder(s) in that Ben's machine has more than one lower die holder arm and as you switch from arm to arm, no amount of change is needed to operate the machine.

Here is a link to a phote that shows two arms. They both pivot and are on te same level, so no changes in hight. All dies are the same hight.

The second arm has an insert that can be moved in and out so you can really planish where you want to.

The first arm with the stem has an insert that can be removed. We can machine one to your needs if you have a different set of dies that you like.

If they are higher or lower the the standard dies that belong to the machine some adjusting will be needed but i think that speaks for itself.

http://fairclothmachine.com/mechamme.../machine-2.jpg

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Old 03-13-2016, 12:55 PM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Originally Posted by longyard View Post
The "secret" to the Mechammer is the machining tolerance. Ben tried other places but it finally took it to a shop that does aerospace machining and now the machine "sings".

Speaking of great work, Clint, your sculpture work is stunning and I hate your iPad ran out of storage room while I was filming your presentation at Will's. I just finished reading a book about Saint-Gaudens and I appreciate sculpture more now than ever. Dick Bear happens to be back in Winston-Salem for the next few days and his sculpture work is a thing to behold, also.

Metalshaping is a "big tent" community. I feel very lucky to be around so many talented craftsmen and artists!
Thanks, Bill. Making shapes on purpose is what I love. Artistically, metalwork is about that surface alone and how it is manipulated whereas reductive and additive processes both approach the final surface from the opposite direction. I hadn't connected Ben, his Mechammer and his metal shoes until I got to Will's shop. Not that vehicle parts aren't of the same value. Then talking with Ben about the figurative work he had done with that big project that overwhelmed the sculptor- that has happened more than once in my world. very cool to meet other people who simply step up and do it. Sharing time with other shape people and learning more about different media and methods mean a lot to me.

The small ipad is just what we have and I appreciated your help with it. I'm still trying to consolidate the info I covered that day, your video, Jim's video, make it all coherent and easy to see on a small screen. Anxious to get the videos done and online but hard to get time right now to do much editing. Pretty busy in studio lately. The job I'm doing now is going over near you when it's done.

I've also been reading up on measuring in perspective per drafting methods, trying to coordinate any related info and not misstate anything. That method still requires ongoing numeric calculations to interpret the scaled dimensions, which (I think) can be simplified using triangle & compasses as I do. One of my Masters thought that basic expanded grid approach used in perspective measurement might work instead of plain old triangle & compass, so he had me do a statue like that one time under his guidance. It sort of worked- big pia and not as fast or accurate as what I partially demonstrated.

You're not far away, Bill. You and others area welcome to call and stop in whenever you're around.
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  #9  
Old 03-13-2016, 01:46 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
John, it's really nice to see you back 'in form', and I will try to give you more opportunities to inject your 'opinions'. My power hammer has been working great and Per and Patman added some small 'special' dies that have increased it's versatility. I should have been more specific about the die holder(s) in that Ben's machine has more than one lower die holder arm and as you switch from arm to arm, no amount of change is needed to operate the machine.
Kind of like if you have a planishing hammer with a mid arm, you can interchange between the 2 lower arms with little setup time as long as the lower die holding area on both lower arms is the same distance from the upper arm ? Anyway that’s the way they did it at Grumman, it certainly wasn’t my idea but it only makes sense after you actually use a CP type hammer. All the Grumman dies were a standard height too, so no setup time was lost during die changes. The few extra tall dies that MPT sells make no sense for a CP hammer, I’ve tried to tell people that thru the years.

I’m glad to hear your power hammer project is working out so well for you . I haven’t posted too much lately because I’ve been busy with my own projects and now I have to take care of my 93 year old mother who is senile, I just can’t believe how much time that eats up. I’ve had more time to post recently because I crushed my left hand last Wednesday and can’t work for a few more days. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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Old 03-13-2016, 03:24 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
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I LOVE the fact that the lower die holder does not need to be changed with each lower die change.
Will, I did re-read your post #1 and I guess you were meaning adjust the lower die holder ? I don’t know of any hammer that requires changing out the lower die holder for die changes and that is what I was questioning, it seemed odd to me but maybe it was just the oxycodone they gave me for my battered hand. ~ John Buchtenkirch
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