The Shopdog Powerhammers

Powerhammers do the heavy and fast shaping in a metal shop.   The construction must be robust.  They are inherently noisey and dangerous. The noise and vibration almost prohibits their use in an urban neighborhood setting. Permanent mounting is the best way to restrain these beasts.  Otherwise the machine will want to walk across the shop as it is running.

Power hammer function. How do they work?
The lower die is fixed in position on a heavy mass of steel to resit vibration and concentrate the machines hammer blows.  The upper die is mounted so its movement is somewhat indepent of the crank arm that imparts motion to the die and heavy sliding mount. The action is similar to a human arm holding a hammer and striking a blow to an oject on an anvil.  The upper tool is adjusted to initially be short of contact with the lower die; as the machines speed is increased the flexibility in the mounting of the top die allows inertia to extend the upper tools travel and contact the workpiece and eventually strike the work against the lower die. A power hammer almost always has an ability to vary speed and the impact of the dies.  In the past a vriety of contrivences such as cone clutces and slipping belts have been used to regulate speed. The Shopdog Power Hammers use an electronic control box and foot pedal to deliver one blow. soft blows or hard blows with absolute depenability.

The Gallery below shows a number of styles of Shopdog Power Hammers that have been constructed.