DIY Machinist Hammer Beginner Metal Lathe Project From Brass / Aluminum / Copper

Perhaps a rite of passage, a machinist hammer is a fun project without a whole lot of critical dimensions to gain further mastery over your metal lathe.

There are a whole lot of ways to build it, and a whole lot of ways to be creative with your project. While I will supply what I did, and you can copy it, you will probably have a lot of fun altering it to fit your expertise, materials, and machinery.

While you can obviously purchase a hammer intended for marring avoidance, it's a whole lot more fun to make one.

• 1" Aluminum round stock, about 1-2 feet of it.
• 7/8" brass round stock, about 5 inches of it
• 3/4" copper repair slip pipe coupler (7/8" I.D.)
• 1/2" Die and tap (or whatever you'd prefer around the same diameter)
• Metal lathe
• O-rings
• Sandpaper

Start by making the head of the hammer.

It's a symmetrical main body. I used a half inch by 20 tpi die to cut the threads on the end, so you'll start by turning at least a 5-6" piece of aluminum round stock on one end down to a half inch, by a half inch long. Turn down the first 1/8" a few thousandths below 29/64" so that the head you build on can thread on all the way (since the tap you thread the male thread counterpart won't create fully formed threads the at the very end of the hole).

Whatever type of copper sleeve you will use will determine the O.D. of the next bit you turn down. Mine had a 7/8" I.D. for a copper sleeve, so it had to be .875". This is really the only critical dimension of the whole project you have to pay attention to and be accurate with. Turn it down exactly to the I.D. of your copper sleeve, or just a half to one thousandth above. This will allow the sleeve to be pressed on and stay in place fairly well. If you miss the mark slightly, you can always super glue the sleeve onto the shaft you create. It only needs to be held in place well enough to be machinable without slipping. After that, the end of the hammer head will hold the sleeve in place.

I threaded one end to 1/2 x 20, and left the other end alone in case I needed to install it back into a chuck. I threaded the other end very last.

The middle of the main body is left alone, at 1", for about 13-15mm.

The other side is identical, so you'll repeat the above steps again on the other side.

You'll need at least 22mm or 7/8" of a copper sleeve to press onto your body, multiplied by 2

I left the I.D. and O.D. of the sleeve alone. I left it full length, pressed it on, then trimmed it off.

You can press it on however you'd like, but I did mine with the tailstock and a dead center. Refer to video.

I chose brass and aluminum to build the heads. You could use Delrin, plastic, steel, stainless, or perhaps a bit of old screwdriver handle you have laying around.

You'll create a 7/8" O.D. by 3/4" long piece out of the material of your choice, leave it connected to the unturned stock for now.

You'll center drill to create a centered hole for your drill bit (I used 29/64") for your tap to insert. I made this about 1/2" to 5/8" deep. You'll use the tailstock to aid your tap in straight (see video).

Then you can cut the head off the unturned stock with a parting tool, or cut off with a saw.

Remove the first .1 inch or so of the internal threads of the hammer head with a 9/16" drill bit, or small boring tool so that the head can thread onto the main body without a gap between them.

You'll face both sides well, so that they're perfectly perpendicular so that no seams show when installing the heads on the main body.

You'll repeat this whole process again for an identical, but probably different material.

I used the drill press for this. (refer to video)

I used a 29/64" drill bit, and a 1/2" x 20tpi tap.

Start out by punching a little divot exactly where you want the hole to be.

Use a very small pilot drill to drill to the depth you want. Be careful not to drill through the other side of the head.

I moved up to a middle size drill bit.

Finally, I used the 29/64" drill bit.

Notes:

• Be careful to have the drill press vise and main body completely perpendicular to the drill bit.
• Use a drill press vise for best results
• Use the stop on your drill press to avoid drilling too far.

I used some plastic 1/8" sheet material to create them. You could buy washers as well as long as the I.D. and O.D. are within the dimensions you want. I couldn't find any.

I drilled into the sheet of plastic with a hole saw with an I.D. bigger than the O.D. of the washer I wanted. I drilled two of them.

Then I drilled out the center of the circles I had created with a half inch bit.

After putting them onto the head of the shafts on the main body, I placed the heads I created on, threaded them on, and trimmed the washers down with the lathe. (refer to video)

I used both aluminum and brass for this step. Three pieces total.

I created mine about 11" long overall. I started with 1" round aluminum stock for this.

I center drilled one end so that I could use the tail stock and dead center to support turning it.

I started by reducing everything but the grip to 1/2". There will be threads at the very top of the handle, about 1/2" long. I then turned the shaft of the handle a few thousandths below 29/64" between the top of the shaft and the top of the grip. This allowed me to thread a 1/2" brass decorative piece of the handle all the way down from the top of the handle to the grip. You'll thread the top of the grip of the main handle to 1/2 20 as well. The reduced diameter between the two threaded portions allowed me to slide the die all the way down without threading the entire shaft.

At the bottom of the grip, you'll create a half inch section so you can thread that as well.

The decorative brass pieces will be made very similarly to the pounding ends of the head of the hammer. Except, you'll drill and tap all the way through them.

You can make them any length you want. My dimensions are shown above.

I made the two decorative pieces out of one piece of round stock, then cut it to create the two separate ends.

You need to face one end of either decorative pieces extremely well so that they thread on without a gap between them and the main body of the handle so that it looks like a seamless transition.

I then assembled the entire handle, then turned it all as one unit to the same diameter to achieve the very seamless effect.

You can add whatever you'd like at this point.

You could knurl the grip portion of the handle if you'd desire, or turn in little grooves for grip in the aluminum. It's really your choice.

I added a decorative bolt on the base of the handle. I just wanted something to cover the ugly end where it was threaded. You could do something more complicated if you'd like. I placed an M5 bolt in the end.

I added a few notches to hold O-rings. I used a V-shaped Chamfer bit in the lathe. (refer to video)

You may want to sand the entire thing while using the lathe to rotate your project. I used some heavy grit, 220, and then some steel wool (0000).

I then buffed the whole thing with a buffing wheel on my grinder.

I washed the entire thing very well and installed the O-rings.

I then disassembled everything, used loctite to keep things in place, and used a pliers with a bit of rubber to avoid marring the nice finish.

Thanks for reading all the way down, and feel free to vote for me in the metal contest, I'd really appr