Thoughts on CP 717 air hammer

[kb1982]

Looking at picking up an air hammer for work. I work in low pressure injection molding and its common to end up having plastic encasing our 1 1/2" waterlines along with some hydraulic lines. Im thinking this would make digging out the lines a breeze compared to the old hammer and chisel method. Plus I'm tired of whacking my chisel holding hand. Ive read alot about the Astro big nasty, but not having a varible trigger is a deal killer working around high pressure hydraulic and water lines. A little pinhole can dump gallons in a hurry. So far Im leaning towards the Chicago Pnumatic 717. Anyone have any experience with one? Just for reference, we inject anywhere from 30 lbs to 180 lbs of plastic every shot into 40 to 60k pound molds. 30 plus lbs of plastic encasing the lines between mold changes is common unfortunately.

Sent from my LML713DL using Tapatalk

 

[plinker]

There are a handful of threads discussing the CP 717, mainly for automotive & trcuk/equipment use.

I dont know how hard the plastic gets, but a 717 may be overkill for what you need. The trigger is pretty featherable on the 717, but it will hit hard, a lot harder then any typical .401 air hammer. Any air hammer can walk or all of a sudden take off and start cutting where you dont really want it to if you're not careful.

It may be worthwhile to pick up a .401 air hammer to see if it will do what you want it to. A CP 7150 is pretty good and around 75$ or so.

A punch/chisel holder would help the manual removal method.

 

[vssjim]

I would look at a CP 714 and a non turn bit in a quick coupler for anything that is delicate and where you need good control

 

[Professional Tool User]

It depends on how hard you need it to hit. If you don't need to hit it that hard, a .401 air hammer will do the job.

 

[rlitman]

I would look at a CP 714 and a non turn bit in a quick coupler for anything that is delicate and where you need good control

That's a good point. An air hammer is more likely to walk when the bit is free to turn. The non-turn chisels require a quick change chuck with ball bearing retainers (as opposed to the beehive spring).

What sort of hammer and chisel is being used now? You'll get more control with a .401 rivet gun than you will with a larger .498 like the CP717, but at the cost of impact energy. But too little energy will just bounce around and do nothing, so of course you also don't want something too small.

If you're chiseling plastic, then perhaps a bronze chisel would be less risky around steel dies?

 

[cvairwerks]

For breaking out plastic and having good control, look at a "Buck Rogers" 2x rivet gun.

https://www.yardstore.com/acat-2x-rivet-gun

 

[rlitman]

For breaking out plastic and having good control, look at a "Buck Rogers" 2x rivet gun.

https://www.yardstore.com/acat-2x-rivet-gun

That's a nice tool, but it would be an expensive lesson to discover it doesn't have the power to chip out the plastic (though the CP717 would be a far more expensive lesson).

As I see it, control has more to do with the size of the gun than it does with the trigger (I'd call it about an 80/20 split). I say this, because my CP9361 pencil engraver is really nothing more than the same design air hammer scaled down to accept 1/8" hex stock, yet it has no trigger at all (nor the ability to adjust its speed, except for perhaps regulating the pressure, which tends more to just make it run unreliably rather than slow it down). It's just on/off, and it still has all the control desired by paleontologists extracting dinosaur fossils from rock.

l'd suggest a different approach. Pick up a $13 disposable HF air hammer, and try it out in some places where a slip won't hurt much, to get a feel for the power. If it's strong enough to get through the plastic, then the Buck Rogers above or some other quality .401 rivet gun, perhaps with a QD chuck and non-turn chisels will be perfect. If it is insufficient, then a .498 might be a better choice (assuming that's up to the task).

 

[cvairwerks]

I only grabbed that link as a visual on what a 2x was sizewise. For experimental purposes, I do a little hunting on evilbay for a used one.

 

[rlitman]

Sure. This isn't the hot deals thread, so I'd expect any links to products are more suggestions to shop around.

I just don't have a good feel for the scale of the task at hand.

 

[toplessHO]

what about using a hot knife to whittle down most of it?