Large power hammer forming metal - GIF

[hemmjo]

Something that has always fascinated me about those massive power hammers is how quickly and accurately both the force and the limit of stroke can be controlled. In college I took courses in the welding engineering building a couple of times. You would be sitting in class and hear a subtle thump - thump - thump which seemed off in the distance. Then you might hear a thump - thump - thump - THUMP - BANG which shook the whole building and seemed it was right under your seat. At that point the instructor said something like, " No worries, they are just playing in then materials testing lab"

I had to go investigate. Found the room with a large hammer similar to that in the basement of the building. Used for breaking welds for analysis different processes.

[mwmkravchenko]

Something that has always fascinated me about those massive power hammers is how quickly and accurately both the force and the limit of stroke can be controlled. In college I took courses in the welding engineering building a couple of times. You would be sitting in class and hear a subtle thump - thump - thump which seemed off in the distance. Then you might hear a thump - thump - thump - THUMP - BANG which shook the whole building and seemed it was right under your seat. At that point the instructor said something like, " No worries, they are just playing in then materials testing lab"

I had to go investigate. Found the room with a large hammer similar to that in the basement of the building. Used for breaking welds for analysis different processes.

The factory that makes some of the forgings that I design for loudspeakers has a few large hammers. When I was last there in person in 2018 they were running the 1000 ton. It shook the ground from 200 metres away. Since then they have set up a 2500 ton. And just as you say, even though they are dual die machines, the operators know exactly what they are doing, and the machines respond with nuance. The machine in the video is true air powered hammer.

For me seeing the induction heating was equally fascinating. It heats with little scale, and your end parts are nearly in a finished state in a dual dies setup.

This video shows true hammer forged metal, my guess is that's it's Titanium. A very difficult metal to forge. Super tough and requires high temperature heats.

Love your stories. Thought I'd share one too. Understanding how things are done has been a passion since I saw my first Time Life book on how things are made.

Mark