Dead-Blow Hammer Recommendations Please

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Pete. on 01/03/2023 22:41:16:

Narex make the most suitable hammers for machine use imo, they are fully plastic […]

.

That’s presumably the one to which Jason was referring.

… I admit I had never seen one until you posted that.

MichaelG.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

I have a piece of brass or bronze bar about 1" diameter by 6" long that I use. Works a treat. Used end-on. If the job is aluminium I might put a scrap of ally over it before tapping.

Two tricks to tapping down a job in a milling vice etc are: 1. Tighten the vice up before tapping down. 2. Follow through on the tap. Don't just tap and pull away. Bring the bar (or hammer) down on the job and sort of hold it there firmly for a second or two so it dampens any rebound bounce in the job.

Edited By Hopper on 01/03/2023 23:27:36

Edited By Hopper on 01/03/2023 23:28:08

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I was thinking more of this type as that is what Doc is likely to have seen being used on You-tube, usually come orange or black.

I'd be interested to know how the deadblows work on lightweight hobby mills that may just be stood on a wooden bench, do the stop the machine rebounding?

[Mick HenshallParticipant @mickhenshall99321]

I melted some lead into two lumps and use them on lathe and mill also have a brass hammer which gets occaisional

Use

Mick

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by JasonB on 02/03/2023 06:58:54:

I was thinking more of this type as that is what Doc is likely to have seen being used on You-tube, usually come orange or black.

[…]

.

Sorry, Jason … I had no idea that YouTube had prompted the opening question.

I thought it was just a reasonable, logical, request for opinion.

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

See Doc's reply at 13.45.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by JasonB on 02/03/2023 10:01:06:

See Doc's reply at 13.45.

.

Done

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

My tapping down tool is a small Thor mallet with a copper face and a hide face, if tapping down on to parallels I check the both parallels are gripped at both ends. Getting the blow just right seems as important as the implement used to apply the blow. Getting a feel for the process seems to be an important skill to learn and listening to the tap also indicates when the job is solidly down.

Mike

[JAParticipant @ja]

Like Mike and others I use a little Thor mallet. You do not need much force for tapping down work in a vice and a dead-blow mallet transmits more than you think.

My observation is that people buy a dead-blow mallet because thay want one, not because they need one.

JA

[Bdog507Participant @bdog507]

Good afternoon all.

My vote is for a number one Thor copper & hide hammer.

I have more hammers than any sane fellow should have. Out of the mallet types it's 50/50 between copper & the shot filled plastic variety. Copper hammers don't bounce much, so they're similar to the plastic variety in that respect. However, the plastic hammers don't mark surfaces so if it's something that one doesn't wish to mark, such as a gearbox sprocket cover it's plastic every time. Marks are not so relevant if one is going to machine it anyway.

Cheers.

Stewart.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I have a Snap-on deadblow hammer It works well

They do a wide range
https://shop.snapon.com/categories/Dead-Blow/629188

This one is small
https://shop.snapon.com/product/Compact-Slimline/10-oz-Slimline-Soft-Grip-Dead-Blow-Hammer-(Red)/HBSE10

Not cheap though.

Robert.

[Martin Johnson 1Participant @martinjohnson1]

I bought a Thor No2 for the job and find it a bit too big for most model engineering work. So I agree with Robert that a No1 would suit most folk. Copper / hide heads are the way to go.

Martin

[Bdog507Participant @bdog507]

Posted by Robert Atkinson 2 on 02/03/2023 12:39:48:

I have a Snap-on deadblow hammer It works well

They do a wide range
https://shop.snapon.com/categories/Dead-Blow/629188

This one is small
https://shop.snapon.com/product/Compact-Slimline/10-oz-Slimline-Soft-Grip-Dead-Blow-Hammer-(Red)/HBSE10

Not cheap though.

Robert.

Oddly enough I've just been using my 10oz Snap-On dead blow for driving in some front fork seals.

Snap-On also do dead blow ball pein hammers. They're eye wateringly expensive, but are excellent for centre punching etc.

Cheers.

Stewart.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Thor do a size A copper/hide faced mallet, it has 25mm diameter faces, our millwrights would have called it a toffee hammer but I bought one just to use on my VMC mill for tapping duties.

Mike

[David Watson 3Participant @davidwatson3]

Along time ago I bought a Yellow Hammer, I think hat was the brand name and it was yellow in colour and quite heavy. It came with a set of detachable inserts. It has a brass, steel, aluminum and nylon screw on inserts.

My late father still had it and I now use the nylon head to release the draw bar on mill.

[mark costello 1Participant @markcostello1]

A lead hammer feels more solid to Me.

[Dr_GMJNParticipant @dr_gmjn]

Posted by Pete. on 01/03/2023 22:41:16:

Narex make the most suitable hammers for machine use imo, they are fully plastic so won't damage the machine in any way, are dead blow and have replacement faces available.

I ordered one of these – arrived today. I must admit it's blow is not very dead – in fact if anything it bounces worse than my existing Thor copper hammer. There doesn't sound to be much more than a pinch of "lead" in it either.

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

Copper naturally absorbs shock it will always be better than plastic in this regard, if you want a copper version (didn't mention in original post) I would have recommended the copper faced version below, or rubber faced faced option etc…

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Well that seems to confirm what most here have said in that they tend to either use a copper mallet or just a lump of copper. So why was the Narex suggested if copper is better with regards bounce and the copper Narex is not a dead blow and Doc already gas a copper option?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Not wishing to engage in that debate ^^^

May I recommend a Google search [images] for dead blow hammer inside

… quite a range of interesting designs around

MichaelG

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

Posted by JasonB on 04/03/2023 20:58:42:

So why was the Narex suggested if copper is better with regards bounce

Because an opinion on dead blow hammers was asked for.

Because a specific task was mentioned, tapping work down in a vice, my copper mallet leaves copper smeared on what I use it on, so it wouldn't be my first choice for using on workpiece.

I use both for different things, dead blow hammers come with many different faces, because it has a dead blow feature shouldn't change the face material chosen for a specific task, I don't use my copper mallet for centre punching because it's a small area and digs in to the face, I do use my dead blow ball pein though.

[Dr_GMJNParticipant @dr_gmjn]

Just to conclude this thread:

I did mention I had a copper/hide hammer in my second post. I've actually got about six Thor hammers of various sizes and types, but that's another story. I wanted a smaller hammer than the smallest Thor one I've currently got, specifically for the model engineering work I'm doing.

The Narex hammer (the smallest one available at 180g) is described as being "bounceless" and having "zero recoil".

Which sounded fine. On arrival, it was the perfect size, but it is absolutely not "bounceless" and does not have "zero recoil". After doing a quick subjective test between the Narex and with a similarly sized solid metal hammer, and the Thor copper face, they all bounce by about the same amount when struck on a solid metal surface (BTW on another point raised; I've never hit anything hard enough with a copper hammer to leave traces of copper on the surface).

The only one of the three to have zero recoil was in fact the hide face of the Thor hammer. Unfortunately the face is really too large to precisely tap a lot of the jobs I want to use it on, and also not particularly well defined.

I think a very small hide hammer would do the job, but I'm not sure they're available.

Anyway, I contacted the Narex supplier this morning, who said they would give a full refund, so nothing lost, but yet another hammer gained.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

A question for the dead blow users, does the hammer need to be raised swiftly enough so that as you bring it down the lead moves away from the back of the face and then settles on impact. Strikes me if you are just tapping something then the weight be it solid or shot would not really move much?

Doc what size is your small Thor as they come is quite a few sizes, should have a number on the main head.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

Jason,

The shot moves relative to the hammer body on the down stroke only.

They are still "dead" for tapping because the friction between the shot particles dampens the resonace that causes bounce. Lots of small masses connected by friction rather than a single mass.

Robert.

[Dr_GMJNParticipant @dr_gmjn]

The Smallest Thor hammer I've got is a No.1

I'd think that there's some correlation between the mass of the shot in the head, w.r.t. the mass of the head itself which determines how effective it is in eliminating rebound? As I got the Narex hammer out of the box an shook it about to hear the shot, I pretty much knew there and then that it would be useless. You can feel it's just too light overall, and it sounds like there's just a pinch of salt in the head.

For me, the rebound of the hammer isn't the problem per se, it's that the workpiece can rebound and un-seat itself from the vice (or whatever) as a result of the impact. My assumption was that a decent dead blow hammer would remain in contact with the job, and stop the workpiece rebounding as well. Just like if you drop a steel ball onto a couple of flat plates, the whole lot would jump up, whereas if you dropped an equivalent mass of rough steel granules in a bag on the plates, they wouldn't.

Anyway, my dead-blow hammer experience is now over. As someone suggested, I might try and design my own.

[Author]

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