Air hammer for forging

[Thrashsmith]

One of the American YouTube blacksmiths whos videos I occassionally watch has been doing a few videos on making rivet tooling for his air hammer, and so now that I've finally got my compressor up and running I'm thinking of doing the same.
I'm completely new to air tools so I don't know if there's a recommended brand or type? I assume you can adjust how much clout they have via an inline regulator but I guess I'll need as much welly as possible. Is there a make or model that jumps out to you? Cheers

 

[outofthefire]

I'd just buy cheap and try it, I made a very basic planishing hammer years ago and took it apart after a couple of goes, the noise was horrendous. We sell pneumatic hammers to stonemasons that are supposed to be the best for carving stone two makes Cuturi or FK but they aren't cheap.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I did a ton of estate fencing that needed riveting in situ.
I hatched a plan to use an air hammer and a homemade attachment which was a heavy duty C shape made of steel, the air hammer screwed onto the top of the C and an adjustable anvil screwed into the bottom of the C.
The red hot rivet was inserted through the joint and the C placed over it, the trigger pulled on the air hammer and the anvil was wound in... It was rubbish, it didn't provide enough oomph even with a 1/2" shaft air hammer, I went back to using a freehand hammer and dolly even though it knackered my hands.

 

[Thrashsmith]

It wouldn't just be for riveting, I've heard they can be useful for repousse sheet work, probably useful for texturing too.

 

[outofthefire]

They are too hard to control accurately for precise repousse work. "You've heard and probably" then you're coming here asking advice. Buy cheap and try them out for yourself, if you find they work for you then spend a bit more money, but so far the advice from here isn't particularly positive

 

[Jonathan Webb]

I took the plunge & bought the cheap eBay (Harbor Freight equivalent seen on YouTube etc) as it's only for copper sheet forming. Under £100 on a good day if you look around.

They need a reasonable-ish airflow - 10cfm IIRC, so need a bigger compressor. I went for an ABAC 3hp single phase. About as big as I think I can get away with in my garage.

However, I haven't got my compressor set up yet so can't comment on it. I do understand that they're noisy though...

I actually came on here today to find out about an air line & what gubbins I need, to connect it up .

 

[armalites]

Air hammers are very noisy and they do need a bit of air but they are useful. I friend on mine has one which I think may be slightly more specialised but he has different forming heads that he uses when making panels. I watched his son use to dish a seat bowl in an aluminium sheet for a seat.

In the old days you had a spring that held the the bits in but some of the new one have a quick release chuck, this Chicago Pneumatic one comes with both and doesn't too high air consumption.

https://www.toolstop.co.uk/chicago-pneumatic-cp7110k-air-hammer-kit-with-4-chisels-p72846

One thing you do need is a whip hose(CP specify it in the instructions for all the tools I've bought) or it will knacker the quick release couplings, another thing to bare is mind if you buy CP or Snap On the inlet port is likely to 1/4 NPT and BSP. A 1/4 fitting will go in and that's what many people do but what I do is get a 1/4 NPT hose tail and make my own whip hose.

 

[Jonathan Webb]

Air hammers are very noisy and they do need a bit of air but they are useful. I friend on mine has one which I think may be slightly more specialised but he has different forming heads that he uses when making panels. I watched his son use to dish a seat bowl in an aluminium sheet for a seat.

In the old days you had a spring that held the the bits in but some of the new one have a quick release chuck, this Chicago Pneumatic one comes with both and doesn't too high air consumption.

https://www.toolstop.co.uk/chicago-pneumatic-cp7110k-air-hammer-kit-with-4-chisels-p72846

One thing you do need is a whip hose(CP specify it in the instructions for all the tools I've bought) or it will knacker the quick release couplings, another thing to bare is mind if you buy CP or Snap On the inlet port is likely to 1/4 NPT and BSP. A 1/4 fitting will go in and that's what many people do but what I do is get a 1/4 NPT hose tail and make my own whip hose.

I'm completely new to compressor fittings. I've been looking around online to try & get a grasp - a whip hose is a short length, but what is its purpose WRT knackering the connectors? Is it sacrificial in that you wear out the whip connector rather than the tool one? Thanks

 

[armalites]

No, the whip provides vibration resistance and stops the tool passing that to the connector.

They will last a while without them but I know that the day it's badgered is the day it's stuck in the coupling and you really need to use the airline for something else.

The other benefit is that a hose tail is shorter than a probe and coupling so the whip is more flexible and tool feels less bulky as it has less leverage on it

I use Pirtek air hose for my whips, it's a lovely soft rubber and the tools feel much nicer than with a fitting directly in them.

 

[graffian]

I tried mashing chain links with an air chisel, it was a long time ago and I can't remember how successful it was.
I cut the flat end off a long air chisel punch and put a dimple in the end.

I had to rivet a magneto gear on, I made the rivets from old wood screws and cobbled together something as a
guide for the air chisel punch and a hard bit for the other side[it was csk rivet], I didn't want to go mashing up a hundred quids
worth of lovely new gear hence the jiggy thing to guide the punch.
The air chisel squished the rivets over really nice. The rivets were something like 5/32" it wouldn't have done any bigger unless
they were chinesium rivets.