COPPER PNEUMATIC HAMMER PLANISH...

NELSON - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 1:43pm

Recently I`ve been trying to locate an electric hand held planishing/forming hammer. I`d like to be able to take the hammer over the sheet,and not the sheet to the planishing stand.It seems to be a good tool to surface finish big works,and would serve the purpose of work hardening the copper sheet too. Have any of you used such tool? All I`ve seen advertised are pneumatic planishing hammers with stands.I`m a little concern about the extra noise of pneumatic tools. Any alternative other than hand hammering? I had to do a task that involved moving the forarm as in a hammering motion.Did it for hours nonstop,for two days,and I can hardly lift the hammer now. Tennis elbow? I don`t know,but I do know I gotta go to the doc.Thanks for input on planishing hammer issue. Nelson.

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Try this (or something like it)

kevincaron - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 2:45pm

You could also use a hammer drill, (something small like a Dewalt) and just use the hammer function.

http://www.nextag.com/SGT91125-Smoothing-Hammer-Air-549598489/prices-html

http://www.nextag.com/Ingersoll-Rand-Air-Hammer-559763035/prices-html

http://praise.en.alibaba.com/product/200124426/203640822/Electric_product/electric_hammer.html

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Thanks Kevin: it sort of

NELSON - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 6:26pm

Thanks Kevin: it sort of crossed my mind when I thought about my impact drill.I`ll check out those sites, but I think going airless if possible... Nelson

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The difficulty with using an

Rich Waugh - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - 9:35pm

The difficulty with using an electric impact tool for that is that most all of them I've seen have a very short stroke. Actually, most of them use a rotary motion on a plate to set up the impact, so the "stroke" is only a few hundredths of an inch. Not sure how well that would work for planishing.

Air tools, on the other hand, usually have a pretty decent stroke, and I often use a muffler gun to planish sheets of metal. They sell planishing bits to fit standard .401" air chisels and I have a couple of them. They also work just dandy for upsetting the ends of bars, etc. For the noise, I just wear ear plugs and muffs over them - stops both the percussive and bone conduction noises.

Rich

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Try a pnuematic air hammer

visitor - Monday, March 24, 2008 - 8:45am

Try a pnuematic air hammer like this one:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47868

You can take the chisels and cut off the ends (which are punches and cutters) and grind down to form slightly radius'd shapes or weld on a larger piece of steel for planishing or forming. Works great and cheap if you already have a compressor. Give it a try.

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I have to agree with Rich

Bill Roberts (not verified) - Monday, March 24, 2008 - 10:21am

I have to agree with Rich here......the electric alternatives don't seem to move enough material. I too have used the hand held air hammer to texture sheets of copper. Makes quick work of a 4'x8' sheet. Also done some large scaled repousse with the same approach.
Bill

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Tennis Elbow ..ow

Will Jones - Monday, March 24, 2008 - 9:56am

I really hope you havent got tennis elbow Nelson - cause I had it about 2 yrs ago, and I couldn't believe how debilitating it was, or how long it took to recover - in fact I'm still not 100% and I still wear an elbow bandage whenever I'm doing any intense hammerwork.
My advice would be, till you see the Doc, Don't do a thing with that arm, and get a strap on it a.s.a.p. (the kind you pull through a buckle, and velcro fasten, not the elasticated type support bandage)
Re: hammers, I've only used mine a little for tracing initial outlines for repousse work, but I'd have to agree with everyone that pneumatic's the easy option - I must make up a few different heads for mine and experiment with more uses for it!
Will Jones, www.ironwill.org.uk

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Hi all: well,everybody is

NELSON - Monday, March 24, 2008 - 1:21pm

Hi all: well,everybody is pointing at air hammers.That is exactly what I needed,a relyable source of information from people who`s had experience with them, or simply know better. So only rest to thank Richard, Bill, Will, and the visitor too. Great! Nelson.

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I have a very cheap hammer

Lawrence Parramore - Saturday, October 4, 2008 - 7:37am

I have a very cheap hammer drill, it is far more powerful than my air hammer or my real air planishing hammer, so I am selling my air planisher.

I got a surprise when I found it even dints 10mm steel!

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Thanks Lawrence for your

visitor - Saturday, October 4, 2008 - 3:56pm

Thanks Lawrence for your input. nelson.

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Repousse hammer question

visitor - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - 4:53pm

Will,
New to repousse and would like to use an air hammer with my repousse. At what point do you use the hammer, at the beginning and attempt to "hammer" the backgound, or do you "hammer" as the last step. I am visualizing screwing this up big time with the hammer that I have. It's about 1.5 inch diameter with many small wires (if you will) coming out of it for the pattern. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Lorrie

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