A S.T. steam hammer build

[Chipswitheverything]

I built one of the ST hammers , finished it back in 2016 after many years of doing odd bits. It made a nice project .  Wrote it up on this forum, I think you may have commented on it at the time Chris, but in case the reference is useful,    https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,6362.msg130090.html#msg130090 would find it. Otherwise, around August 2016 in my posts.   Dave

[crueby]

I'm seeing OK on Chrome

Regarding the change of valve type I had a feeling that I read somewhere the reason the hammers use a spool valve is that as the hammer hits that is much like the piston on a D valve engine hitting a hydraulic lock. On the D valve engine the valve will lift to avoid damage by forcing the piston against the solid liquid, on a hammer you don't want it to loose all its force when it hits the item you want to hammer.

Also you don't really want your nuts too big, better to let the piston have time to get moving before it hits anything, if the item only just fitted below the hammer you would just stall it. probablt 1" would be the max you could fit giving the hammer room to lift and then come down onto the work with reasonable force. Bit like driving a 16D nail where you don't have room to swing the hammer more than a couple of inches

Hi Jason,
I don't think the hydraulic lock is a good analogy with the hammer hitting. The D valve would lift if the exhaust side of the cylinder pushes back through the port and against the valve slider. When the hammer piston hits the object, there would be no feedback up the exhaust like that, the bottom of the cylinder is just vented to the outside air, and the pressure from the steam side would still be against the top of the piston. So I am not seeing the problem?

And I've never had comments like that about the size of my nuts!      Ohh, the walnuts!      One way around that could be to make the anvil at the base changeable, allow different height ones to be put on the base maybe. There is about 2-1/2" of travel on the piston, and you are right, would not want to give up too much of that to accelerate the hammer. I wonder if they did something similar on the real ones for when shaping big blocks of steel vs small ones?

[crueby]

I built one of the ST hammers , finished it back in 2016 after many years of doing odd bits. It made a nice project .  Wrote it up on this forum, I think you may have commented on it at the time Chris, but in case the reference is useful,    https://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,6362.msg130090.html#msg130090 would find it. Otherwise, around August 2016 in my posts.   Dave

Ah, yes, looks like I did comment on that one! Great reference on the parts, just bookmarked it!  Thanks!! 

[Jasonb]

Yes I may have been remembering it wrongly or just imaging it

The anvils were removable, I suppose if forging suare bar into round you would do better with a half round anvil and matching hammer face.

There is quite a bit about teh Hammer here, last image is to a video of one working with a lot of elves wielding the hot metal

http://stuartturnersteam.com/Machines/Hammer/Hammer.html

[crueby]

Yes I may have been remembering it wrongly or just imaging it

The anvils were removable, I suppose if forging suare bar into round you would do better with a half round anvil and matching hammer face.

There is quite a bit about teh Hammer here, last image is to a video of one working with a lot of elves wielding the hot metal

http://stuartturnersteam.com/Machines/Hammer/Hammer.html

Great pics and video! 

[mklotz]

I'm really looking forward to your build.  The remark about cracking walnuts reminded me of a wild plan I had at one time to build a live steam bar set.  A steam pump to pump liquids, a steam hammer to crack nuts and a steam driven concrete mixer to mix drinks.  I got the pump and mixer built but never got around to the hammer.  Your upcoming steam saw would be perfect for slicking cheese or sausage.

[Jasonb]

Your upcoming steam saw would be perfect for slicking cheese or sausage.

Surely slicing lemon would be more appropriate for a bar

[crueby]

I'm really looking forward to your build.  The remark about cracking walnuts reminded me of a wild plan I had at one time to build a live steam bar set.  A steam pump to pump liquids, a steam hammer to crack nuts and a steam driven concrete mixer to mix drinks.  I got the pump and mixer built but never got around to the hammer.  Your upcoming steam saw would be perfect for slicking cheese or sausage.

You are truly nutty. I like that!      I want a set!

[mklotz]

You are truly nutty. I like that!      I want a set!

"Nutty", what a nice compliment!  I always strive to work on the outer fringes of reality where nutty is the norm.

In the interest of patron safety, I intended to have the bar top boiler fed by a hidden air compressor.  Sadly, that vetoed the idea of a steam road engine to ferry drinks to the other end of the bar.

[crueby]

You are truly nutty. I like that!      I want a set!

"Nutty", what a nice compliment!  I always strive to work on the outer fringes of reality where nutty is the norm.

In the interest of patron safety, I intended to have the bar top boiler fed by a hidden air compressor.  Sadly, that vetoed the idea of a steam road engine to ferry drinks to the other end of the bar.

Have the road loco trail a small clear air line under the wagon holding the drinks. Or run the line back over the back edge of the bar, won't be that noticeable to the guests.

[crueby]

So, yesterday the outside of the cylinder was shaped. Today the cylinder was bored out to 1.25". Drilled first to 3/8", then used boring bars to take it out to final size. The smaller boring bars needed at first chattered a bit when extended out all the way to reach the bottom of the bar, but the final 1/2" diameter bar was smooth as silk. Some wheel weights were stuck on the side where it had been flattened to balance it out enough to run at normal speeds.


Then over to the mill to drill the bottom gland mount holes

That was the last operation where the cylinder needed to be on the faceplate, so it was swapped over to hold the bottom gland piece. That was drilled to match the holes in the cylinder while the rotary table was all set up in the right place.

Back over to the lathe to turn the outside - I wanted to take the sides in the same diameter as on the cylinder so the flat side will come out the same width as on the cylinder. The center of this piece needs to be taken down smaller to allow room for the mounting nuts/studs, but I wanted to keep the flat side wider to look more like the original castings do. So, that work will be done on the mill.

First though, drilled/bored out the center to 1/2" for the piston rod. The rod has flat sides, but the hole here is round - the gland cap will have the flattened sides only, which will be some careful milling later.

This face is the one that goes against the cylinder. The other side will be counterbored out larger for the packing gland, that will be done after parting it off from the bar.
While still on the faceplate, moved over to the vertical rotary table to mill the center section of the sides down to size, leaving the flat side.

To get the flat lined up properly with the one on the cylinder, I bolted the cylinder in place. Next time I'll take the time to line up the flat on the cylinder level with the mill table by rotating the assembly on the rotary table, then mill off the flat on the base piece.

So far so good!

[vtsteam]

Beautiful work on the cylinder!! 

One might disguise a mobile bar boiler as a novel espresso machine.

Perhaps cheap vodka as fuel?

[Twizseven]

Chris,

This is another build for me to follow closely as I have a set of Stuart steam hammer castings waiting in the queue.  They are ageing nicely.  In Jo's world they would be "being fondled" on a regular basis.

Colin

[Roger B]

Off to a rapid start again  I will try to keep up     

[tghs]

here's a official drink mixer,, was made to run on air, rescued from some old lab gear,, I'm sure it did more than just experiments over the years...