Hand Tapper or Hand Hammer

[mklotz]

I think you could but like Marv posted in the "dead blow palm hammer" it needs to be long enough so you don't pinch your hand when using it.
The other thing with using brass or nylon for the surface is protection of the item being hammered. Also for punches you reduce the chance of knocking off a little chip of steel and either sparking or having it fly to the eye!

I like the idea of lead shot for the weight. I was wondering if solid lead poured into a brass head would work as well as shot?

Cheers, JR

A lot of the "deadness" comes from the numerous little bits of lead colliding with each other. A solid slug of lead would provide weight but would be less dead than shot.

Lead shot, available from reloader supply places, has all sorts of uses around the shop. Beyond the obvious one of providing easily conformable weight to objects, a leather bag 3/4-filled with shot makes a great conformable gluing weight and a nice surface for doing repousse work.

[jjr2001]

Did I hear you say "model steam engine run on air pressure"? Those, along with atmospheric and Stirling engines, have been my hobby for quite a while. Although I've built a boiler works, it's far more convenient (and safer) to run them with an airbrush compressor. Here are a couple of samples of my work...

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/r...e-engine-41518

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/c...1429#post59687

and this one really does run on steam...

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/t...7364#post36925

They are all very nice works of art Marv. The rope drive is very impressive, never seen anything like it before and of course the
"toilet steam engine". That is quite unique. If it were mounted on bearings at each end I think it would get to a very high rpm.

Cheers, JR

[mklotz]

It would indeed. And if one of those bearings had a gear on it you would have a way of having it drive something.

Here's another one that is always a hit at engine shows...

http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/e...6488#post66523

Click the thumbnail at the end of the post to see it in action.

[jjr2001]

Never seen anything like it. Must be the most unique engine in the world.
Looks like the alignment would be critical.
Very nice. Cheers, JR

[mklotz]

Never seen anything like it. Must be the most unique engine in the world.
Looks like the alignment would be critical.
Very nice. Cheers, JR

It's an exercise in frustration to make and get running. The pistons, which are turned and then forged into a right angle, must be exactly a right angle or they will bind when the cylinders rotate. This need for orthogonality applies to the cylinders as well.

However, once running it's a real crowd generator at shows. I even had one fellow who, watching it rotate, said it couldn't possibly work. Of course, he was the same guy who insisted that the grooves in the rope engine had to have a non-zero helix angle. They don't.