Dead-Blow Hammer Recommendations Please

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The do make a smaller size A with 25mm dia ends.

Are you hitting the work after tightening the vice, if it is just nipped up then you are more likely to get things jumping about as well as getting jaw lift when finally tightened.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

My Thor A

[Dr_GMJNParticipant @dr_gmjn]

Posted by JasonB on 06/03/2023 14:45:27:

The do make a smaller size A with 25mm dia ends.

Are you hitting the work after tightening the vice, if it is just nipped up then you are more likely to get things jumping about as well as getting jaw lift when finally tightened.

OK I'll have a look for the 25mm Thor Hammer.

The work is usually nipped up, but not fully tight. It seems to sometimes seat on one side, but not the other, and takes a few ever lighter taps side-to-side to seat it (sometimes I can hear when everything is seated OK). I thought that something with less spring might make it easier and less hit-and-miss. It's like every time the vice is tightened, it can very slightly displace the work, and when I'm trying to get something square, it's a pain. By the time the vice is fully tight, there's always that bit of doubt left that something hasn't lifted.

I'm probably chasing an irrelevant issue, but the more I do, the more I'm aware of what might go wrong. Plenty of times I've milled something supposedly square, and it's not quite spot-on for some reason. During the winter when it's too cold to work in the garage, I occasionally watch YouTube videos on machining like this one:

The Best Mill Tip You Will Ever Get –WATCH THIS ENTIRE VIDEO– – YouTube

The next job for me is to re-make the split bearings for the PR, so it seemed kind of relevant.

I think there's an Model Engineering show at Harrogate next Friday and Saturday (strange two days to choose), so I'll see if there's anything there.

Thanks.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

I made my small dead blow from a 22 22 15 unequal copper tee with threaded brass inserts for nylon and Alu threaded inserts with some old scrap 177 pellets in the gap. Handle on the 15 part of the tee.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

I wonder if you should be looking at the machine vice jaw lift as the jaw grip increases.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

If making a small but persuasive dead-blow hammer, it might be worth using Tungsten heavy-alloy pellets of some sort for the loose-fill … Not sure what’s available, but I would think it worth investigating.

MichaelG.

[alan-lloydParticipant @alan-lloyd]

Check out Hemingways Machinists Hammer, easy to make and nicely balanced

[JAParticipant @ja]

Posted by alan-lloyd on 06/03/2023 20:45:45:

Check out Hemingways Machinists Hammer, easy to make and nicely balanced

I made one and I use the little hide/copper headed Thor mallet in preference.

JA

[VicParticipant @vic]

I used to use a Thor Copper & Hide on my mill but I switched to a Thor Dead blow and I much prefer it.

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