Can anyone tell me in what applications you'd use a dead-blow hammer? I was recently given one but don't know when or on which material/objects to use it.

Try this link:

http://www.tpub.com/content/construction/14256/css/14256_127.htm

Went to a multi-million dollar home construction in progress and saw a worker using one on a sheet of copper. He was forming a fireplace hood of "hammered copper"...talk about labor intensive...and expensive!!

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That link was infomative. I guess I should have re-phrased that question though. When and on what in a car would you use a dead-blow? It sounds like (from the dead-blows many uses) that you could use it instead of a regular metal head hammer. Such as banging old rotors off an axle, punching a metal bushing with a driift etc. Anyone agree/disagree?? Thanks for the input, this site is great.

great site 95E320cab

a dead blow hammer does what it's name says. when you strike the full force of the blow is imparted to the item being struck. on a steel head hammer [ball pein] there is a tendency for the hammer to bounce. the dead blow also acts as a vibration damper again imparting most of the energy to the item being struck.

keep in mind that the face is a rubber material and will cut and chip if used improperly. IMO you want the entire face of the hammer to contact the piece so the force will get distributed over the full face and not concentrated to just a small area. this has to do with a load bearing surface.

we use a dead blow to tap a part in a vise, levers on vises to get that little extra force. lids to 5 gal buckets.

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I use one for various things, but where I make SURE I'm using it rather than a ball peen are situations like driving a bolt or stud or something where you risk ruining threads.

Have a great day,

Hi Larry,
Can you elaborate "driving a stud or a bolt with a dead-blow so as not to strip it" - what does that mean? I'm trying to envision it but can't.

I didn't say to keep from stripping it, I said to keep from ruining the threads.

As an example, imagine that you have removed the nut from a shaft such as an alternator shaft. You remove the pulley and hold the housing while you tap with a hammer to push the shaft through the housing. A steel hammer could ruin the threads on the very end of the shaft, the dead blow hammer due to its soft face will probably not.

Have a great day,

Right, of course, the head of the hammer will give in or collapse first before mushrooming or ruining the threads. Now I get it.

Actually, that is a "soft-face hammer" that you want, if you want to avoid damaging a surface. Many different choices - lead, nylon, rawhide, bronze, etc. Depends what you plan to hit.

Most "soft-face" hammers are not "dead-blow".

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Dead blow hammers are not really needed too often. For non-marring and non-mushrooming applications, the soft hammers (brass, nylon, rubber) should be used.

Dead blow gives a little more oomph by increasing the force dwell time - we're talking milliseconds here - instead of bouncing the hammer off the surface. This means a lot to the coppersmith by reducing fatigue on the job, or to a guy framing a house by pounding on the wood.

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The dead blow hammer that I have and the ones I've seen ARE soft face.

Have a great day,

Or..... after removing the pulley, thread the nut back on the shaft just flush with the shaft end and drive it until the nut bottoms..... remove the nut and if necessary, drive the rest of the way (carefully) with a drift.

Poor cat...... so many ways to skin him.

Frank

I use a 2 pounder on those peskey BBS wheels on BMW's. Suckers will stick 4 out of 10 times. However, do not do like my trainee did on my car. Install a lug loosely, NumNum sent one of my wheels off the car, out the shop and it bounced off the building behind me. Whoops, glad it missed anything important.

Rubber deadblows are also handy for breaking intakes loose, knocking stuck axles out of the cups, knocking oil pans loose, popping the lower plastic trim back onto 3 series Bimmer, and in general knocking things around you dont want dented up. We call ball pien dents elephant tracks. I've also used them to knock extension housings off, diff covers and stuff like that.





Joe

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