Has anyone bought or used one of those Allen Engineering planishing hammers that are on E-bay? Price that they are going for look good.
No I havent tried one of the allen engineering hammers.. I did try to build my own.. heres what I decided.. I hate the darn things.. far as I am concerned there just little noise makers.. I could get my patch panels closer and smoother with my ewheel and a good set of wheels for it.. ( I am still using casters as my wheels. and they work ok.. but not great) at any rate.. depending what your doing.. you'd need to do alot of planishing to make a hammer like this worth the cost http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3804721825&category=25278 john kelly and some other metalshapers may have another take on it but I say.. no thanks
oh and by the way.. I decided to dissassemble my air hammer and use some of the material to update my e wheel and build a pullmax style machine.. which I just may get around too one of these days...
From the pics, it doesn't look all that hard to make yourself...or different from the contraptions that Eastwood sells that are basically a holding unit for your own air chisel...all you need is the foot pedal conversion and the right tips for your Hammer. The rest is steel stock welded into an octagon.
One guy I talked to said the hammer was faster but the ewheel done a better job. He said he roughs it in shape with the hammer then finishes with the ewheel. I just sent a check out for this can't wait to get and try it
We have a nice old Watervleit Planishing Hammer at the shop. It does a great job if used properly, like any tool. I have found it useful in area like grillshells that are wrinkly and on roof section jobs that are hammerwelded back togehter. You have to hold the hammer perpendicular to your work! I put a nice crease in my T cowl as I was learning by letting the edge of the anvil hit the work!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is simply another tool to add to your quiver. My .02 sorry, didnt really answer your question
I won one of the Allen Engineering high end Planishing hammers that were placed on Ebay. When I got the unit the upper hammer was very sloppy in the power unit and bounced all over the place in use. A call to Allen Engineering got a prompt reply and a new upper hammer insert which solved the problem. They seem like very sincere people and have invited me to contact them if there is any further problems. I have not used it on a specific project yet, just some test panels and it shapes and smooths body thickness metal really fast. I did a test on a panel first using the wheel and then planishing the wheeled area. As has been stated it is another tool that can be used to fine tune a panel and do some finish shaping. Its a well known fact that if you have a hammer and a tree sstump you can make any body panel you can think of. The power tools and english wheel just speed up the process. Frank
It depends on what you what to planish. I use a benchtop English wheel almost solely for planishing. Anything else is done with a slap hammer on a dolly. I really don't see the need of a planishing hammer past that. How do you plan on using it?
I've been contemplating getting one from the "Tin Man", Kent White. His basic one, with tooling is about $2000, but comes with much more tooling than just planishing. He makes his own dies, and sells shrinking attachments, doming, rubber heads, reverse curve tooling, flanging, and others. Again, it just makes your work go faster. How much is your time worth?
I have an English wheel, but there are places that a wheel can't get into. I have used a planishing hammer at Fay Butler's school, and I liked it. I am getting ready to start on a big project and would like to have one in my "toolbox" before I start. I am just looking for the best deal on one. I am not opposed to building one, but I don't want to spend too much time on one. If someone had plans for one for sale so I could just set down and start building and have it done in about 2 days without much debugging, that would be OK too. Time is at a premium right now.
Shit, if you went to Butlers school why are we telling you all this!? Killer made his own a while back.
I have a couple questions about building one, does the hammer strike the anvil "on dolly" or "off dolly" or are they adjustable to do either? I have seen many homemade ones on various metal working sites but where do you get the proper hammer and anvil? Nobody seems to mention that...??
A planishing hammer is used to planish (smooth) the bag o nuts look after banging the shape into the sandbag... Mine works bitchin. Cheap harbor freight air hammer and an old rollbar. The lower "anvil" is a bolt now. Gotta foot throttle too... cause I'm kewl like that...
I like the english wheel better but there are times when a planishing hammer is great. Mine is a little bit unsophisticated but it works for what I do. One thing that has helped mine is to have a real regulator for pressure changes at the tool. The teasable trigger is nice, but the regulator still helps. If you have a very lumpy surface that you are trying to smooth, start off with light hand pressure (metal against the lower die)as the metal gets smoother put more hand pressure against the lower die and raise the air pressure as well. Just like hammer and dolly work. You hit lightly at first with the dolly held semi frimly against the back side, and hit harder with more pressure from the dolly as the metal gets smoother. It takes a while to get a feel for it. John www.ghiaspecialties.com
dan all I have seen hit ondolly.. althought I am pretty sure you could make an adjustment to create an off dolly situation.. someone here posted a link to an upper anvil that was available from one vendor or another. the lower anvil that I was using was a hardened bolt...
Uppers are available from Mac,or http://www.yardstore.com/. They also have rivit guns.I'd suggest a 4x. I built a Planishing Hammer with an adjustable lower arm,so you can hammer on or off dolly.
Killer, yours looks great. I love the feet, looks like an old bar stool. Does the foot pedal regulate the air or is it mechanical linkage to the trigger? I may think more seriously about building one after seeing yours. It really inspires me. Are there any sites that have a build-up of one? Don't let Fay Butlers class fool you, he doesn't cover planishing hammers very much. It is mostly power hammers. I know enough about them(power hammers) now that I will probably never own one. They are too big for my garage and too noisy, but mostly they are too expensive!!
[ QUOTE ] Are there any sites that have a build-up of one? [/ QUOTE ] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metalshapers/ metalshapers.org
I am not trying to say anything bad about Butler's clinic, he will teach what ever you want, but leans more toward the power hammer. If you want to learn about the English wheel there are probably better people the learn that from. Fay's clinic costs too much money to not get what you want. He is probably double what everyone charges, but you spend a lot more hours there. I was there for 3 days. The first day was from 8AM till 11PM, day two was from 8AM till 12 midnight, day three was from 8AM till 1AM. He teachs a lot of metalurgy and you learn a lot of what the metal is doing. My honest opinion is it geared more for the person that is going be or is allready a professional at this and not a hobbiest. Tman, I can't tell if are serious or are just putting me on. Anyway, don't let me discourage you if you were serious about going to his clinic. Call him and talk to him to make sure you will get what you want.
Also,use your favorite Search Engine to look for "planishing hammer". If you can do some basic machining,you should be able to build one from the pictures.
Or you could build a Handheld english wheel..... Link to Epay...... If you have any questions about it Email me and I can send you more pix. Chris Nelson Kansas
Is the bolt lower anvil smooth or rounded? I imagine it would have a round top on it similar to a dolly? That aircraft tool site has lots of neat stuff. If I was going to buy one of heads, which would work best? Thanks-
Rivit guns are rasted acording to their power.2x,4x,6x,9x etc. The bigger the number,the more powerful it is. You'll need a 4x, and a big compressor to run it.
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