Anyang 88

[ironstein]

Anyone have an anyang 88? I am set to purchase this model, and i am interested in hearing from anyone with this model hammer. James Johnson seems great to deal with and from the research i have done he stands by the equipment he sells. This is the largest i can afford right now, i am just looking for opinions and advice. I am not interested in a "project" hammer. I want a new machine that is reliable and has parts readily available.
Thanks
Brian

[Ries]

I do, but mine is different from the one you would be buying- mine is a two piece, of which only a very few were ever imported. I like it a lot.
I got mine from James Cosgrove, at the now defunct Striker, so mine is both an Anyang and a Striker.

Mine is about ten years old. I understand they have improved since then.

Still, here is my opinion-
mine came with a substandard chinese motor starter. It would stick sometimes in both the on and off postions, and require repeated button pushing. I replaced it with a square D, and have had no electrical problems whatever since.
The stock 5hp 3 phase motor is still running great.

The oiling system is a bit odd- again, I understand it has been improved, but mine is very hard to get the sweet spot on- it either oils too much or too little.

Other than that, it has been great. I have never had it not work. I find mine very controllable, usually one or two hits is achievable, and with the 1500lb anvil (only on the two piece) it hits pretty hard for its size.
The current one piece 88lb anyang weighs in at 1900lbs.
Mine weighs 1620 Kg, or just over 3500lbs.
This, I think makes it a horse of a different color from the one you are looking at.

I can run 1 1/2" stainless on mine. I doubt the new one could.
I would bump it up to the 165, myself, which is a size that can do a whole lot more, without being a lot bigger.

[Greg Obach]

i've been looking at the similar hammer for awhile now.... but in my case, it'll be potentially going in a shop that can't have a poured baseblock...

the design of the hammer looks a little like the beche hammer?

[ironstein]

Yeah,
I see some similarities in looks with the Beche.

[Ries]

Nazels basically WERE Beches, so they look the most like a Beche of any hammer I know-
but aside from the overall design similarities that all self contained air hammers share, I dont think the Anyangs are very Beche - like. I would say they are much more Chambersburg related in styling.

This is what my two piece looks like.

[Rob F]

Reis, like this one?http://blacksmith.org/forums/threads/1477-Anyang-165
I just bought a unused pair of wally yater swage blocks from a smith in montana who is in the process of moving , he has a 165 striker that has only 40 or so hours on it for $7500
I prefer to buy used equipment such as this as long as it is in new shape and not worn down or abused. That way the bugs have been worked out and the machine is proven to function properly. Reis's motor starter is a good example of this. I would rather spend less money and get more machine. These are new enough hammers that replacement parts should not be to hard to get if that is a concern.

[Rob F]

Here are 2 more used hammers for curiosity 88 and 165 http://www.sterlingmachinery.com/7570/Anyang+C41-40

[Greg Obach]

Hi Ries

good to know !
- you hammer looks like it just bolted to the floor ... no cement base block ? so the anvil is within that riser base ... good idea

thanks for pic

Greg

[Ries]

If by cement base block, you mean a separately poured concrete foundation- No, the little hammers dont need a dedicated footing.
A Nazel, like some of Larry's machines, can weigh 25,000 to 60,000 pounds, and absolutely a big hammer like that needs a footing.

But the little hammers usually dont.
My 88 lb weighs 3500lbs, as I said, and has been working just fine just bolted to the concrete floor for ten years or so. I know people with 165 lb hammers who just have them sitting on the floor, as well.

I laid down a horse stall rubber pad, then bolted right thru that, into my 6" slab, and it works well.

As for the steel box on the bottom- thats a workaround for the two piece hammer- yes, I could have dug a hole in the floor, and inset the anvil so the hammer sat flush on the floor- but that would have been expensive, and would have resulted in the working height of the hammer being way too short, with no big gain.
The two piece design was envisioned for HUGE hammers- things like that 750 lb Chambersburg that everybody around here owned at one time or another- and when you have a six foot tall, 25,000 pound ANVIL, you certainly need to dig a hole to put it in. The chinese scaled down the design, which made the little ones sort of ungainly- which is why they sold so few 2 piece hammers here- the one piece chinese hammers are just so much easier to deal with, and most people are willing to put up with the smaller ram to anvil weight ratio for the convenience of a one piece hammer.

I was so dumb I had no idea what I was getting when I bought this machine- I had literally never run a power hammer when I bought it. As it turns out, I am quite happy I did get the 2 piece, but it was just dumb luck at the time.

These smaller chinese hammers are actually, well, small. So they NEED stands, most of em, up to the 88lb anyway. The 165 lb hammers are tall enough to use right out of the box.

[ironstein]

Ries,
Thanks for all your information and expertise.