Welding Project – Hammer Time

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I got a question recently asking if I had any ideas for a cheap welding project for welding schools with budget constraints. Welding projects that would produce something useful that the student could use for years down the road.

Sot now it’s Hammer time…. Da da da da don… can’t touch this. You remember MC Hammer?

Ah, never mind. That was just dumb.

I went thru the scrap pile and found a few drops of round stock.

I could make a hammer that would be an interesting project, be useful, and also make really good use of materials.

What I found was a short piece of 2 inch round stock and a longer piece of 1 inch that would make a good handle.

But after thinking about it, as far as a welding project for a student, it might be better to let the welder start with a piece of 1″ round stock for the hammer head, then build it up with welding beads until it was more like 2″ in diameter. I mean why not? Why make it easy when the end goal is to teach welding with minimal expense.

But I went with the 2 inch diameter round stock because I didn’t have all day to weld beads on the head like as student might.

I did grind a bit off 2 opposite sides of the 1″ round to get more depth of penetration and then tack welded the head to the handle.

Using all 160 amps along with some 3/32″ 309 stainless filler rod, Two passes. One to wash into the groove that I ground and then one cover pass for added reinforcement and for looks.

When that weld was done, I decided to pad one side of the hammer head with silicon bronze so that I would have a heavy hammer that has a soft face that won’t ding up machined surfaces or anything that I don’t want to dent. (I actually padded both ends for the sake of getting a few arc shots, but only one side would be better and would provide one steel end and one bronze end.)

It must work great too because when I came back a few days after I welded the silicon bronze face… to weld the handle… I couldn’t find the hammer welding project anywhere.

After 10 minutes of thinking I misplaced it, I decided to wander over to the machine shop area of the shop to ask if anyone had seen my hammer.

The machinist said ” man that thing is perfect. I needed to bump this turret around and its perfect for that”… unsolicited review from the machinist… can’t beat that.

So I got the hammer and welded several beads using lincoln exalibur 3/32″ 7018 rods.

If I had more time, I would have welded another layer or two of 7018 on the handle to make this little welding project even more memorable, but I really needed to get back to work and make some money.

What’s the Bottom Line? This welding project would be a good one for anyone. Especially students. But the ideas here will probably spur more and better ideas that provide something useful that does not cost a lot.

( As always, feel free to visit us at our sister site, WeldingTipsAndTricks.com. )

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