Planishing Hammer

[jamlit]

For those interested in the harbor freight planishing hammer, here is some info for you. I just got my new planishing hammer last night and had a minute to take a look at it and try it out. I found it to be decently made and the dies looked of a decent material. I clamp the unit in my bench vise just to play with it for a minute. The only piece of sheet metal I had on hand was a little thinker then 16 gauge, so I made do with it. As I have never used one before, the first thing I notice was you need to wear gloves and you hands take allot of vibration. Over all I thought it worked rather well considering the metal I had was just over the rated material spec. I plan on setting it up on my base stand which is at a better height and play around some more again soon. I will post some pictures of the samples when I get set up better. I have added a few pics here of the hammer and the piece of metal I played with last night. I only spent a minute or two on the metal so its not an amazing work of art.

the hammer


The hammer with foot pedal


Sample metal piece

[MicroZone]

Yes, finally! It looks like it does the job decently well. That is great to know. This will be one of my next purchases.

[goodfellow]

I just received mine as well. I'm surprised at the fit/finish -- it's very good. The only problem I had was with mounting the dies in the lower anvil holder tube.
After use, the dies became stuck in the tube and needed quiet a lot of work with a chisel and heavy hammer to get them out of the holder. That is not something I wanted to do on a regular basis.

I finally mounted the holder in my lathe and bored out the receiver hole a few thousands in order to provide enough clearance for the dies to be easily removed by hand.

Other than that, I polished the heads of the dies. First with an agressive rubbing compound and then with a few applications of polishing compound.

[jamlit]

Originally Posted by goodfellow

I just received mine as well. I'm surprised at the fit/finish -- it's very good. The only problem I had was with mounting the dies in the lower anvil holder tube.
After use, the dies became stuck in the tube and needed quiet a lot of work with a chisel and heavy hammer to get them out of the holder. That is not something I wanted to do on a regular basis.

I finally mounted the holder in my lathe and bored out the receiver hole a few thousands in order to provide enough clearance for the dies to be easily removed by hand.

Other than that, I polished the heads of the dies. First with an agressive rubbing compound and then with a few applications of polishing compound.

So how did the dies work after the polishing. Did you see any difference. Post some pics of your work for us to see. Thanks for the input.

[jamlit]

Well I had a little more time to play with my new tool. I havn't done a thing to it except put it together and use it. I cut a small piece of 16 gauge sheet metal and started shaping it. Here are some pics so you can see how I made out

[MicroZone]

J - that is awesome, from a flat piece of metal to something that looks like a half of a ball-bearing.

I'll be in the chat later tonight. I'm working on the outside of the shop now.

[caldwellcpl]

Jamlit,

I have the same hammer, and although I haven't spent a lot of time with it, I haven't managed to make something as "round" as the piece in your last picture. Have cut circles about 10" in diameter, but the best I have managed is a metal "taco" shape.

How'd you get the good bowl shape. Did you tuck and shrink and then planish?

Thanks for any tips,

Bob

[jamlit]

just worked it back and forth and around until it started forming the way I wanted it to. Since it's the first real time I have used one and the first thing a did, I don't think I could explain it. I am going to try and make a steel ball, Make the two halves and weld them together. Will post pics when I get it done.