I'm looking for a planishing hammer and I'd like to know who makes the best one for the money. I've been looking at Northridge tools model bt-26.Any advise would be appreciated. PAUL
This guy makes a copy of the small Chicago Pnuematic hammer. A friend of mine has one. It's pretty nice. http://www.gogitzit.com/ If you want a bigger one you might be better off just to make one like Unkl Ian suggested.
If money is no object there is always this one. http://www.ccookenterprises.com/proline/proline36.html
I have a cheap lil harbor frieght one. i love it. Pat Foster turned me on to it. He loves his as well.
The guy I bought all my pasrt for to build mine builds the best for the money...period. He is in Macomb Illinois, he is the guy that started Metal Ace english wheels years ago, then the guys that have Metal Ace, bought the whole deal from him, all the wheel stuff, and he kept the hammer stuff. He has his stuff on ebay from tiem to time and the stuff is way nice and works so great, I bought all the parts from him(hammer and dies) and made mine cuase I wanted a big one (mine has a 44" throat) PM me for his email addy...
Oh, and he builds them like a CP hammer, with the foot throttle and all, thats the ONLY way to go as far as I am concerned, if you have used one like that, with the foot throttle, the other ones are way cheesy...
I'd second what rodbuilder said. Greg makes an awesome set of tools and some super slick complete machines. He lives right across town from me and has machined some stuff and welded some things on my cars from time to time. Here is a current ebay auction of his. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Air-...ryZ38664QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Also I don't think it is completely finished, but here is a link to a new site they are working on.. has a bunch of pics. http://airbosstools.com/pro16.html
I agree 110 % we have on at the shop and use it on a daily basis and never ,never have problems with it.......
Have you owned a planishing hammer before? For the most part they are the same basic setup.I ask this because I made the decision to buy an english wheel only to find out I prefer a planishing hammer better .Just saying for the $50 from HF you may want to just try it to make sure you like it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95584 I built mine,nothing fancy,works mint,took a whole 2hrs to build,but the paintjob was another 32hrs
Yeah, kinda funny, I've never talked to any of the guys who worked in aircraft sheetmetal, during WWII that used an Ewheel. Power- hammers and plannishing hammers, yeah but no wheels. It musta been an English 'thing 'till the early fifties, over here. Swankey Devils C.C. "Meanwhile, back aboard The Tainted Pork"
Thanks for the advise guys! I'd love to spend a small fortune on one but I'd like to keep it under 1000$.I hate fabricating tools ( my Harbor freight bead roller is a good example ,after all the work of stiffening it and building a stand it's still a Harbor freight tool.)I just bought a 4' finger brake from Woodward fab and I'm disapointed in it. It came with a cracked weld on a clamp down handle and just has a cheap feel to it ... I've never tried using a planishing hammer or an E-wheel but I think the planishing hammer will work best for the projects I have planned. I will eventually will have both but, my garage space only allows one more tool. I don't see any bad coments on the Northridge tools so I'm leaning towards their products. Again thanks for the advice! PAUL
Tudorjeff, yes Greg has been nothing but the coolest guy to deal...PERIOD...he is also wanting to work with and and brainstorm on making some shinking dies for this type of hammer. I guarantee anyone will be 110% happy with anything you get from him, his big hammer is the same as the Cook one and cheaper, his stuff is top notch...and he is open to differnet ideas that you want to try...
Mittler brothers has a decent setup for about 800 clams, foot pedal and all. We just got one in our shop but I'll admit I haven't used it yet, seems like a decent tool though.
For dipping your toes in the water its hard to beat the Harbor Fright... I know you said you hate fashioning your own stuff, but why not try something much simpler, like a helve hammer? http://metalshapers.org/101/mcglynn/history.html A very simple, easy to use forming tool with a lot of uses. Just don't get your fingers too close to the striker....don't ask...
Like the guys above said, for the money, the one from gogitzit and the airbosstools hammers are the best. Money not being the issue, Clay Cooke's hammer is probably the best hands down. Any time you try to save money on a tool, you will give up something somewhere. 99% of the time you get what you pay for! Tim @ www.irrationalmetalworks.com
I had an relatively expensive hammer several years ago that was stolen, forgot the brand but it was around $600. Was in a pinch so I grabbed one of the Harbor Freight cheap-os since I could get it locally. I really don't want to admit it but the HF one works better then the one I had. I figured it would break in no time but 5 years later and it's still going. One of the few tools they sell I could recommend, especially for home/ hobbyist use
hello, nobody hear about eckold? That's a swiss made very expensive brand, and sounds like it's the only hammer used in EU by the pro! As I need to buy 2 new one, plus a stand that need to be driven by a cobot, I'm really looking for a cheaper but realiable one. Are the one you are talking about for pro or for hobby? We need to used them 16h per days 5/7 days a week. Thanks for your feedback.
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