- #1
Bill K
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Hi
I am new to this forum. I am an amateur blacksmith/machinist/all around tinkerer. I took a class with a blacksmith and decided I needed a treadle hammer. Most treadle hammers use springs to lift the treadle and hammer after each blow. I decided to build one using a counterweight instead of a spring. It seems to me that there should be no difference. In the end it is a force that does the lifting, produced by either a spring or a counterweight.
I have attached a photo of the red spring model and my unpainted counterweight model. The way they work is demonstrated in these videos:
Some said the counterbalance hammer would be harder to work because you had to overcome the inertia of the counterweight. My argument is that you have to overcome the resistive force of the spring in that model, and there is no difference.
My question to you all is whether or not there is a difference pushing the treadle down against a spring as opposed to a counterweight? Also is there an advantage to the recovery of a stretched spring as opposed to a counterweight.
I am new to this forum. I am an amateur blacksmith/machinist/all around tinkerer. I took a class with a blacksmith and decided I needed a treadle hammer. Most treadle hammers use springs to lift the treadle and hammer after each blow. I decided to build one using a counterweight instead of a spring. It seems to me that there should be no difference. In the end it is a force that does the lifting, produced by either a spring or a counterweight.
I have attached a photo of the red spring model and my unpainted counterweight model. The way they work is demonstrated in these videos:
Some said the counterbalance hammer would be harder to work because you had to overcome the inertia of the counterweight. My argument is that you have to overcome the resistive force of the spring in that model, and there is no difference.
My question to you all is whether or not there is a difference pushing the treadle down against a spring as opposed to a counterweight? Also is there an advantage to the recovery of a stretched spring as opposed to a counterweight.
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