setting up trip hammer

percy

Well-Known Member
With a 50# little giant hammer what is the best way to set it up. On concrete floor and if so how thick would the concrete need to be.
I have a lean to that I am adding on to also and would like to leave part of the floor dirt. would that be good to do a hammer on? Maybe
dig out an area and put in some cross ties and set the hammer on them or what.
Any info is appreciated a lot.

percy
 
It's been a while since I've had Little Giant hammers in my shop (went to an air hammer), but if I remember correctly, a proper concrete base for a 50lb is a lot of concrete, with recommended rebar reinforcement. For many years of running both a 25 and 50lb in my shop, on a "dirt" floor here's what I did...... purchased some RR ties (since I had two hammers, I purchased a total of 4 RR ties).....cut each one in half (this will give you 4" (approx) chunks of RR tie), place 4 pieces sides by side, and bore 9/16" hole through all of them....approx 1/3 of the way inward from each end. Then, using either 1/2" all thread, or 1/2" mild steel rods threaded at each end, "clamp" all the ties tightly together, then sit the hammer on top of the "platform" you've built. In "dirt" using the hammer will slightly "dig" the platform into the ground. On concrete it will distribute the force out over a wide enough area that you can place it on a 3-4" floor. On concrete I've seen the entire hammer/platform "walk" a bit when you really get after it, and if that happens, you can always hold it in place with some large pieces heavy angle iron, and concrete anchors. After building a new shop, with concrete floors, and in-floor hot water heat, I sat the platform/hammer right on top of the concrete floor, and mine never moved.
 
Thanks a lot for the info Ed I appreciate it. I am not going into the forging business, I just want to play with it a little. Too old to change my ways now.
I make my own mokume now and would like to just hammer some steel a little. One thing it would give the guys in the area that make a few knives a chance to
see multiple ways to do things. I think after getting all the equipment up and going I will have other knifemakers over once in a while to use the equip. and learn from each
other. There are several younger ones here so it might help them out some. I could stay the way I am and be happy but it could help some others decide how they
want to take their knife building career.
Have a Merry Christmas season Ed and again thanks a lot.

Percy
 
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