The Grasshopper Treadle Hammer - Final Plans Now Available

I am pleased to announce that the final plans for the Grasshopper Treadle Hammer are now available.

The Grasshopper Treadle Hammer has a weightless, vertical-motion ram with a 34-inch stroke. The anvil is free of obstructions in all directions, including 22" above.

The return stroke is provided by a small " kickback"spring which only stretches at the end of the ram stroke (where it is least perceptible to the user). In other words, your leg doesn't have to work to stretch the springs.

The treadle is adjustable to allow for different tooling heights, and the point at which the kickback cuts in is adjusted automatically with the treadle adjustment. Hence, there is only one adjustment needed while hammering, and that is made quickly and easily from the front of the machine - so quickly, in fact, that it can be done during a heat.

The only other routine adjustment of the treadle hammer comes when changing top tools. A weight set is employed to compensate for the weight of the top tool. Weights of equal mass to the top tool are removed from the ram tube, keeping the ram in balance with the springs.

The plans consist of 100 engineering drawings and twenty pages of assembly and adjustment instructions, including stock list, parts lists and recommended tools and machines. The great detail of these drawings makes the construction and assembly of the machine fairly simple.

My website has not yet been updated to reflect recent design changes, but there is considerable background information at that site:

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. Be aware that the appearance of the hammer is slightly simpler now. I will update this site ASAP.

In the USA ONLY, the price for the plans is $25, postpaid. Send your money ordercbor heck (US$ drawn on a US bank) to: Bruce Freeman

222 Laurel Place Neptune, NJ 07753

There are three problems selling out of the country: The higher cost of postage, customs problems, and payment. Customs I think I can handle. Postage we can figure out. But I have had no success coming up with a means of payment. (No, PayPal doesn't work. They want a direct line to my bank account. Fat chance I'll agree to that!)

Bruce Freeman

Reply to
Bruce Freeman
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Certainly for the UK and probably the rest of the EU the value of the item wouldn't present any customs or tax problems (on this side of the water.) You could ask for dollar bills, that would put any charges and registered postage costs onto us at this end. You could then make it clear that you only post when the money arrives and that any loss of money isn't your problem.

Colin

Reply to
Colin Blackburn

For payment in the USA from a UK source I've previously used

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which is a Western Union company. They take a credit card payment from the buyer, and send a Western Union cheque recorded delivery to the seller by next day delivery. It's worked for me.

Andrew Mawson Bromley, UK

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Do you have an Paypal account? Makes purchases much easier. Then people can use a credit card.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Andrew, Thank you for the heads up. I hadn't heard of this service. From the sounds of it it's just what I need. However, the same was true for PayPal, and that bummed out on me when they changed their conditions. So I'll read up on it when I get a chance, and maybe I'll soon have an easy way available for folks to pay by credit card (at a cost of about $2.50 extra, however). Bruce Freeman

Reply to
Bruce Freeman

Ernie, PayPal sounded very good when they first got going. However, the current deal is that they want direct access to my bank account. The only alternative is that they'll accumulate the payments for me and I can spend it only through them. Neither of those is acceptable to me. I know I'm not the only one to have encountered this problem because I've read discussions of the matter on the Internet. Bruce Freeman

Reply to
Bruce Freeman

Get another bank account and only use it to access Paypal if you're so paranoid. If they were ripping people off from their bank account they'd be in prison instantly as public as they are! I've done Paypal for a long time with zero problems.

Grant

Bruce Freeman wrote:

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Grant: If this were a regular business venture, that would make sense. It's not. There's no money in selling Grasshopper plans. I'll never even break even. So I'm not willing to go to the trouble and expense of opening another bank account just because PayPal has unreasonable rules. I'll do business with reasonable folks instead. Bruce Freeman

Reply to
Bruce Freeman

|Andrew, |Thank you for the heads up. I hadn't heard of this service. From the |sounds of it it's just what I need. However, the same was true for |PayPal, and that bummed out on me when they changed their conditions. |So I'll read up on it when I get a chance, and maybe I'll soon have an |easy way available for folks to pay by credit card (at a cost of about |$2.50 extra, however). |Bruce Freeman

What about postal money orders from Canada made out in US funds? Just cash them at your local post office.......and ask for 5 bucks more for "shipping and handling"........

Reply to
Ralph

Are you in Canada? Have you used these yourself? I'm willing to use any money transfer system that works. If it costs me money, I will have to pass along that expense.

I haven't looked into it, but I doubt $5 would cover the postage difference. In the US, I can use "media mail" (formerly known as "book rate") and ship the thing for less than $2. I doubt there's a comparable international rate, even to Canada.

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Freeman

|Are you in Canada? Have you used these yourself? I'm willing to use |any money transfer system that works. If it costs me money, I will |have to pass along that expense. | |I haven't looked into it, but I doubt $5 would cover the postage |difference. In the US, I can use "media mail" (formerly known as |"book rate") and ship the thing for less than $2. I doubt there's a |comparable international rate, even to Canada. | |Bruce

Yes, Bruce, I am in Canada and have used both postal money orders and bank money orders made out in US funds to order stuff from the States.

I suggested postal orders since I didn't know whether Neptune NJ had "Welcome to..." written on both sides of the sign. Local banks in small US towns could be a problem....even with the money order in US funds.

No matter what type of money order, I am sure that there will be a small fee to cash it....under a dollar probably.

Which gets us to shipping and handling....

Printed material incurs no fee from Customs. BTW...Canada collects fees from the recipient.

Postage costs....well, let see....if 500 sheets of 8.5 by 11 inch laser-jetpaper weights 6.2lbs or 100 oz, then your 120 sheets including wrap will come in (just as a guess) at almost 28 ounces.

According to _your_ postal service on the 'Net.....

Under the catagory economy mail letter-post, which is restricted to under 4 pounds, 28 oz package of "printed matter only" will cost 5.05 to send it to Canada.

You are right...5 bucks isn't enough....make it seven...... :-)

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Reply to
Ralph

Thank you for all this information. I will look into postal money orders when I have a free moment.

Those "small fees" can get exhorbitant, I've found. The only time I was burned on a payment for the preliminary plans was when some Bozo in NZ sent me a check. To make a long story short, the check was effectively worthless in the US because the fee for cashing it would have far exceeded its value. The @$$#0!& never made good on it. Hence my reluctance to deal abroad.

For the moment, I still cannot quote a price outside the US. But I've been given two good leads how to accept payment, and I will pursue those ASAP.

Bruce Freeman

Reply to
Bruce Freeman

I'm in Canada, too. I have sent a few postal money orders south over the years, and have never once heard of anyone being charged a fee to cash one at the post office. I suspect that bank money orders may be a different story, but all the banks I have dealt with have charged far more for a money order than the post office does.

Had a couple instances where I ended up with USPS money orders that I could not cash because the post office clerks in the US insisted that Canada was not "International" from the US, but that is a different issue entirely. (USPS uses different money orders for domestic and international purposes)

If getting in and out of your local post office is not an ordeal, postal money orders are a fine way to deal. If it IS an ordeal, then plan around making one trip a week when things are slower there, and deal with as many as you can at one trip.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

Reply to
Grant Erwin

|Every Safeway and 7-11 store in the country sells money orders. - GWE

But not every place in the country has a Safeway or 7-11 store......

Reply to
Ralph

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