What's the difference between fixed and swinging hammers

jon f mn · Apr 30, 2020

Was grinding feed tonight and got to thinking about my mill. It has fixed hammers, all the others I've run have swinging hammers. So other than fixed or swinging, what's the difference? Can't see much if any difference in the feed or speed it grinds. Swinging must be better for some reason since fixed is not used anymore. I'm wondering what the difference might be.

coshoo · Apr 30, 2020

Just a SWAG, but sounds like fixed might break if they hit a rock, swinging would swing out of the way. I'm assuming centrifugal force would keep the swinging blades where they need to be when its just grain.

olgentdc · Apr 30, 2020

Jon , what do you have with FIXED hammers ?I doubt if there is any difference in performance or Power requirements or quality of feed ,,.But I would be happy to compare samples ,. 1st hammermill Pop had he ran belted to a VAC and sacked with it .Maybe it had fixed hammers ? When i was in Hi School in early70s , I helped on a 100 saw hog farm that ground Barley for sow feed with a JD M belted to a Brinly and Hardy Mill . I think it had fixed hammers because when it shut down we never heard the "clink clink "of the hammers coming to rest. Papec ,Artsways,Massey , Knoedler,IHC ,Farmhand and Newholland all use swinging hammers . For grinding hay that could be a advantage when over slugging . But its best not to ever overslug Hay grinding .

Leroy · Apr 30, 2020

Yes. fixed will break if hit a rock, swing will swing back and slide over it. Same thing with a bush hog mower. Your push lawn mower if it catches a branch will kill the mower engine and stop blade imideatly jamming the branch between blade and deck but it in doing that will bend crankshaft. Same thinf with fixed if you happen to run a piece of steel in that hammer mill with fixed hammers the whole mill head would be toast.

fixerupper · Apr 30, 2020

Would swinging hammers be more forgiving if a slug went through? Dad s #10 Deere hammer mill had fixed hammers. The Artsway that replaced the #10 had swinging hammers. By the way, most of us in northern Iowa know about the origin of the Artsway name. The name of the owner of the company was Art and everything had to be done his way.

jon f mn · May 1, 2020

My case grinder/mixer has fixed hammers.

Traditional Farmer · May 1, 2020

At the concrete block plant we had a crusher to crush up cull block,it had swinging hammers to soften the initial blow the hammers made on the block,a fixed hammer set up would have beat itself to pieces in short order.Plus it would have been harder to get the block to feed.On a grain/feed grinder I'd say it wouldn't need for the hammers to come back actually might let the ground feed pack up on the screen.

Cheesehead Fred · May 1, 2020

On the old Gehl feed mill we used to have, the swinging hammers were designed to be reversible, so you could get 4 different cutting edges by turning the hammers over, or swapping them end for end.

Leroy · May 1, 2020

Untill I saw this post I never knew any were made with fixed hammers. David bradley and IH had swinging and that is the way the choppers were made on JD combines as well. Would not want any made any other way.

What's the difference between fixed and swinging hammers

jon f mn

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coshoo

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olgentdc

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Leroy

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fixerupper

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jon f mn

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Traditional Farmer

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Cheesehead Fred

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Leroy

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