This whole discussion reminds me of the "what does it take to start a hot rod shop"? thread.... and I said that the problem many small businesses have is to be able to capitalize their growth... and that is the number one reason for small business failures - not the "lack" of business... but the cost of doing ANY business.
Your 10K planishing hammer is a classic example of this. It takes money to make money. Sure... you can do the job without it... but you can probably do it FASTER and BETTER with one...
In a Time and Materials business it is the cost of being efficient and put out the best quality your capable of.
Years ago I bought a 48" jet stomp shear that was rated at 16 gauge. Brand new it would not cut even 24" of 18 gauge. Plus I'm a big counter balance at 265lbs. They sent a tech out, he asked for a new machine, they sent a 2nd machine. Same thing. At this point I just wanted my 36" pexto back. So I drove to LA and bought a brand new 48" pexto stomp shear and use it to cut 18 gauge all day long with out and issue. It was twice the price bought 10 times the machine. I have had the same with english wheels, lancaster shrinker and stretchers, Tin snips and die grinders. You get what you pay for.
Ah ha -- good info Luke -- either way -- it was a great looking machine! Not sure if it works correctly - but it sure looked like it would.
Hey no prob Greg I am building a CP style hammer using an AIRBOSS hammer the head looks like a quality piece and it comes with a few lower dies for $500 although like Roger states your either making money or losing money and thats why I've been "working on it" for 6 mo. too busy trying to make money
Do you happen to have a photo of it? I looked through the website and couldn't find anything.
I contimplated building it myself, it just seems most of those types of projects around here get out of hand and only 3/4 of the way finished before we have to get back to money making projects.
Still up in the air.
Anyone else have some photos of some hand made units?
It was definitely an involved side project...
The hammer head was purchased from Michigan Pneumatic and cost ~$800 plus the cost of hammer dies. http://www.michiganpneumatic.com
Not the best picture (in the background). It's massive...
There is a shop in Grass valley that made motorcycle gas tanks and did race car fab work, he is selling his equipment including some planishing hammers. I bought a welder from him a month ago. I think this is the place: http://www.fatkatz.com/
David
I have a 12" C.P. style hammer from Gogitzit. It's an exact duplicate w/ a couple mods from the original. It's a smaller hammer though. They were talking about duplicating the 36". I have a full set of Cook dies for it also. The best part is the machine was $1400.00 and it is a bad a$$ peace. The dies we're more than the machine. I also have the Eckold and it's a peace of art.
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The Cook machines are not the same design. There are different styles of planishing hammers. I agree Metal Meet is the place to do research. I am always fascinated at the guys who build their own. I can barely get enough time to use the machine never mind build it.
I have what is I guess the original design of the Cook Mini whatever they call it. It is a small machine but will reach into the center of a 24" part. Anything larger and you are probably looking at 2 man operation. I have Cook and some home made dies and honestly at my skill level it is a toss up if the extra cost is needed.
Depending on what other machines you already have you might look into the Min deal as it does more operations. Baileigh? and a couple others have larger machines that give you more options. It is sort of a mini Pull Max that can planish. There are so many styles and everybody has their favorite.
What sucks about doing metal work is after you buy one machine you raise your level of skill and now need a larger one and 2 more of something else. It is never ending.
Out West and in the South near Nascar you always see them pop up.
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