Planishing Hammer Recommendations?

[Jason93]

Anyone know of a decent planishing hammer that they would recommend based on experience? Any and all insight is appreciated. Thanks.

[rookie]

Hi Jason and welcome to MetalMeet. You should do a search on plannishing hammers, it will bring up a bunch, from a low cost one using a zip gun to pro built using dedicated air hammers. Personally I like Anders's (and Ben's too) idea of using electrical motors and cam actuators that should cut down on some of the noise, at least the air exhaust part. Fill the frame with oil damped sand will help quiet it also. You can pick and choose from all and tune one for your usage.

Best wishes, Phil Gilmore (rookie)

[87gtmustang]

I dont know how much your wanting to spend, but I have phammers that work great especially for the price. I have one setup in my garage and at the shop, and we use it quite abit. If you would like more information on them, check out my link below, and feel free to email me also. They work good on small garage compressors, and they really work good with a big shop compressor. It comes with a flat, 2, 4, and 6 inch radius dies, and I also have 3/4 and 1" dies available. They are 4140 hardened to 56 rockwell, so they will stand up to alot of hammering! Good luck on your search, you will love it once you find one you like.

Brian =)

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Jason, PHammers are great tools. I have two if you count Ivan the red with the chipping hammer. However, the TV shows have kind of misrepresented them IMHO. You see them being used and then next thing the panel is back from paint....MAGIC....!

Fact is, there are things that Phammers do well and things they don't. What they don't do well is smooth panels, especially low crown panels.

Here's the deal, the SECRET to a smooth panel is a gradual transition of metal thickness edge to edge in the panel. If you have a thin or thick spot, you WILL have a surface feature that you will have to deal with. A Phammer hits so many blows per minute. It is virtually impossible to control tracking, BPM, and impact in order to have the same number of blows at the same force in each square inch of the panel. As a result you have X blows in this square inch, 2x in the next, .87X blows in the next resulting in thin, thinner, thicker, etc.

If you want a smooth panel, especially a low crown panel like a door skin or roof, IMHO you have to either use a wheel or a Yoder.

Originally Posted by Jason93

Anyone know of a decent planishing hammer that they would recommend based on experience? Any and all insight is appreciated. Thanks.