Air Hammers & Kits

Having purchased an air hammer, you will soon discover that this versatile pneumatic tool is perfectly suited for myriads of application purposes. Scoring, planishing, shaping - when the tasks you have in mind are obviously impossible to perform manually or will be both time consuming and extremely tiring, then the air hammer is the way to solve the problem. The power provided by the air hammer will help you easily tackle a variety of jobs in the house or garage.

Air hammers are gun-shaped tools that consist of a hammer body, a barrel to accept a variety of tools, and a handle with a trigger that activates the repeatedly extending ram with a metal tip/insert. Powered by pressurized air, air hammers are attached to the compressed air source through an inlet connection located in the tool’s handle. When the user pulls the trigger, compressed air enters the tool through tubes connected to the air tank and gives power to the reciprocating mechanism. The insert/tool located in the barrel is then activated, causing a repetitive motion and driving the hammer tip into the work piece.

Air hammers accept various tools ranging from punches, hammering tips, and separating forks to chisels. As this power tool is commonly used with chisel bits, it is usually referred to as an air chisel. A hammering tip is used for planishing and shaping, while chisel tips will be irreplaceable for cutting and scraping jobs. Straight chisels are used to shear off unwieldy bolts and rivets, while hooked-edge bits will cut fine lines through metal. Special chisels will cope with splitting sheet metal, exhaust pipes, and automotive body panels. Punch tools will be useful for inserting pins, aligning holes, and freeing frozen fasteners.

Regardless of the tip you choose, the air hammer will pound it into the work piece a couple of thousand times owing to the pressure of several dozen PSI. Lower pressure may be used for simple jobs on soft metals, like aluminum and copper, while heavy duty stainless steel cutting and shaping tasks will require the use of maximum air pressure level. Operating an air hammer always requires precautions from the user, thus before starting the job, the metal insert should be carefully locked in place with the help of a retainer clip attached to the open end of the air hammer to keep the bit from falling out.