Speaker A
Welcome back to part four of installing my 500 weight Massey Clear Space power hammer. In the last episode, we got the flywheel and the crankshaft out. The power hammer is now entirely stripped.
Alec Steele restores his 500 weight Massey Clear Space power hammer, focusing on foundation work and concrete excavation in this detailed part 4.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Restoring large machinery requires careful planning and precise foundation work.
- Using models and drawings helps ensure accurate positioning of heavy equipment.
- Safety precautions like managing dust and carbon monoxide are critical during construction.
- Hands-on projects can be both educational and enjoyable, blending work with play.
- Persistence and adaptability are essential when facing unexpected challenges on restoration projects.
What the video covers
- Alec Steele continues the restoration of his 500 weight Massey Clear Space power hammer, now fully stripped.
- He prepares the workshop by clearing space and moving heavy equipment to make room for excavation.
- A 6-ft deep hole must be dug and filled with 18 tons of concrete to support the power hammer's foundation.
- Alec carefully positions the motor and hammer using CAD models, foundation drawings, and a plastic scale model.
- He marks and cuts a large rectangle in the concrete floor, facing challenges with dust and equipment limitations.
- Due to the saw's 6-inch cutting depth, Alec drills multiple holes to break out the concrete.
- He uses supplied air to mitigate carbon monoxide risks while working indoors.
- Alec shares insights on learning through play and promotes KiwiCo as a STEM educational sponsor.
- The excavation progresses with manual digging tools and heavy equipment assistance.
- Despite initial fears, Alec enjoys the process and gains confidence in the project.
Chapters
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
And today's job is back in this workshop because I need to begin the work for concrete. A hole in the ground needs to be made here, 6 ft deep, filled with 18 tons of concrete. I'm pretty terrified about what's to come, but it needs to be
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done. Otherwise, we'll never have a running power hammer. My task now is to completely clear this area of machines, anvils, forge, tools. Move the 200 weight steam hammer. Make some space for a digger and a dump truck. Oh,
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This shelf was punching above its weight. Whoa, Nelly. I burnt my socket. It's not goodbye. It's just until we see each other again. No, don't be like that. I'm not replacing you. Just temporary. Oh, you're trading me in for
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a younger model, are you? I'm not trading anybody in. I can love you both equally. Look at all the rust that got shaken off the bottom of the base.
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Get it out of one hole and it just goes straight INTO THE NEXT. OH, FOR GOODNESS SAKE.
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YEAH WHOA NELLY. On the great advice of my neighbor Paul, thank you, Paul. He suggested we put the motor in here to really get a bearing of the exact spot for the hole, cuz I'm really anxious about putting the hole in
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the wrong spot. Now, I know from the calculations I've done beforehand, the motor really probably wants to be as far back as physically possible, which is going to cut off access to the steel rack, but sometimes that's the price you
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pay. Thing that I'm thinking now that I look at it is this is now moving the hammer way more this way than I anticipated. You see what I mean? It's like that then means the hammer is like pretty big gap between that and that.
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Oh, I got the slides on THE WRONG WAY. NO! I'M MEANT TO HAVE those bolts going the other way, not this way. First thing I've got to do is I've got to spin the motor around on these slides cuz the
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whole idea is this thread pushes the motor to tension it. Obviously not going to do much tensioning if it's pulling.
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Great. Nice work, Alec. I reckon that'll do just fine. All right. I believe that this is the final resting spot. It's exactly where the hammer is going to go. I have poured over foundation drawings, the CAD model that
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I've made based off foundation drawings, and the model of frame and motor. I've even looked at the little plastic toy that I built just for this task, and I think we've got the position dialed.
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It's square to the back wall. It's square to the front of the shop. This is it.
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This is the moment I've been petrified about for a very long time because that's the spot we've got to put a hole in the concrete. What do I do now? I'm now going to mark a perfect rectangle on
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the floor, and then off of that lay out the wider hole that needs to be cut.
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This would be like a completely mundane everyday activity for a lot of people, but for me this really is a very, very scary moment. If it wasn't that I wasn't cutting a hole in the ground, I wouldn't worry. I don't know if I've ever got a
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tape measure out to position a power hammer, you know, you just do it by eye.
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But as soon as 18 tons of concrete's involved, it gives me the the wobbles.
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No! Holy hell, it's a monster. I hope that gets through in no time. I had the flywheel on the ground. I was thinking to myself, "Oh, it looks a lot smaller.
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It's not that bad." The outermost holes of the block. It's bloody enormous. Holy moly. So, the primary block, what's called an inertia block, is 5-ft wide by 8-ft 10-in long. But, that's not all, because I need to excavate even wider
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than this for the four walls of my pit. That's a big hole. You got to dig it 6-ft deep?
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Yeah. Is it just for this big power hammer? Yeah. Does it mean you can make all your other power hammers obsolete?
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No. Don't need the other power hammers. 5 6 7 5 8 You know what that means I got to do?
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Dress up like Dexter. Oh gosh, what am I doing? Right, that is a one $130 blade.
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Here's the plan. Before I spend half a day putting tarpaulins on everything, we're going to see how bad it is. Maybe, with the water slurry, it's just fine. I have about 5% confidence that it's going to be just fine. But, by goodness,
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wouldn't it be nice to not put tarpaulins on everything. HO HO HO! THERE WE GO.
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OH MY GOODNESS. WE'VE GOT our answer. I need tarpaulins on everything. That's a lot of dust. For me, my whole life, the best way that I've ever learned is when it feels as much like play as possible. And projects
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like this, as daunting as they are, as serious as the need to get it right is, it feels like play, and I am learning so much. Through my childhood learning blacksmithing, it wasn't discipline that made me spend all those hours in my shed
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and made me read all those books. No, it's because it was fun. And KiwiCo, who's today's sponsor, is doing an incredible job of empowering the next generation of innovators and problem solvers with their monthly crates. And in my view, the best part about KiwiCo
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is that it feels like play. KiwiCo has crate lines for all ages, from their Panda Crates for ages 0 to 36 months, all the way to their Eureka Crates from ages 12 to 100 plus. And my wife and I
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just built the Rivet Press from their Eureka Crate. Going through this project within the maker's guide, we learn about steel deformation in metals, how rivets even work, build our own rivet press, and then rivet together a wallet. I
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think the KiwiCo is such a fantastic way to help ignite that curiosity for making things, for STEM, in your kids. So, please go try KiwiCo and use my code Alex Steel. You'll get 50% off your first monthly crate at
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kiwico.com/alexsteel. Again, that's kiwico.com/alexsteel. Code Alex Steel at checkout for 50% off your first monthly crate. Let's get back to it.
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Work of art. Proud of you. Thank you. Tap all on over this, tap all on over that.
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I'm a ghost. Brilliant. We're now ready. Let's cut the floor. That's my husband. There we go.
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How's the dust? You think it's bad? Massive clouds of dust. Carbon monoxide poisoning. I could open the back door.
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Sick. There's the carbon monoxide alarm. Listen to this. All right, I've currently got the perimeter of the rectangle all scored out. I'm now going to start taking 1-in or 2-in passes, keep working my way down. I think the floor is 6 to 8 in
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deep, so hopefully we'll be done in no time. The floor saw has a water reservoir right here, and that empties pretty quick. One of the things that I'm finding is the dust is really, really bad when you make your first cut. But as
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soon as there's a little bit of a channel for the water to sit in and like really soak the blade, the dust is almost negligible. Get a little bit more water in that reservoir. Fill that baby up. Got a carbon monoxide near me as
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well, which has gone off a couple of times, but fortunately I'm on supplied air today. It's actually a new thing that I've been trying in the grinding room. It is absolutely amazing. But it means that I'm feeling fairly confident
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that even if there's carbon monoxide in here provided the air receiver has been filled up when there were no carbon monoxide in the room, I can feel pretty happy to kind of keep working. Not that that's, you know, proper technical
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advice, but they're the risks that I'm taking today. This workshop is getting flooded with water, let me tell you.
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Could be a nightmare to clean up. We keep going. Alrighty, I have cut the entire perimeter out. However, we've got a problem. The saw doesn't cut the whole way through it. That saw apparently only cuts 6 in deep. So we're going to have
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to drill a whole load of holes and then it's going to have to be broken out. For now, I'm going to turn it into a chocolate bar so we've got space for it to break.
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I lost count, but I think that's like 60-odd holes. That was a day. Do we have heavy equipment?
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No heavy equipment yet. Oh, yeah. That'll get through. Ooh! I think right there. Boom.
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That is c
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OH, YEAH, that's a good one. Ooh mama! This thing is ridiculous. It can go straight through the concrete. It doesn't even need a hole. It just digs straight in. Makes me wonder what the point of drilling 60 holes yesterday
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was. This is awesome. OH, THAT'S THE MONEY ONE. YEAH! OH, ON! HELL YES. THAT'S LOOKING LIKE WHAT it needs to look like. Thank you, mate. YOU'RE A LEGEND.
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WHOOP, LET'S NOT DO THAT. TIME FOR A JUMPER. It's a big chunk here. Right, let's see how this works.
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Handbrake. I just made sure you don't empty the thing while I'm sitting here. Decent size wheelbarrow. I mean, how many Jamie's could you fit in here? I think you could fit a good load of them. I don't know if I'm going to be able to
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get this in the front of THE UNIT. UH, IDEAL. ALL RIGHT, LET'S SEE if I remember how to do this.
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So, I pick something up. I come around. You haven't even got anything in it, mate.
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Just a test load. Bloody hell. Hang on, I need to come in a little BIT MORE.
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DUMP. YEAH, BOY! OH, IT'S COMING BACK TO ME. ALL THOSE years of digger driving uh populating themselves right in my fingertips. And by all those years, I mean THAT ONE TIME.
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LET'S GO! JUST GOING TO DO THAT LIKE 400 MORE TIMES. Nice one. Boy, you got loads in there.
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THANKS, JAMIE. OW! KNEW I CUT THAT. THANK YOU, SIR. I did that all by myself.
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I doubt I'll start that. It looks like you just picked it up. I DID IT. THAT WAS a good pick.
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Ah, I almost lost that. Be very careful with that rebar. Okay. Well, I think we've got it.
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What are the ODDS OF THAT? OH YEAH MAMA. YES MATE. OW. JAMIE, YOU'RE GETTING HANDY AT THIS AS WELL.
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BRO, this is such a good day at work. Almost time to go empty the dumper.
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I think we've got this is the last bucket, I THINK. ALL RIGHT. LOOK AT that soil. Isn't that wild?
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Yeah, right there. Nice work, Jamie. Thank you. What a day. I wonder how much more the pros would have put in this before they let me move it.
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Oh, I bet I bet the pros would have had it like 3 ft above the rim.
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ALL RIGHT. LET'S DO THIS. Let's go. Goodbye, my floor. What a delight. This is great fun.
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But, this soil is blooming tough. It doesn't give way easy. Got a long way to go.
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Yeah, but the swimming pool is going to be sick once we finish it. Who said anything about a swimming pool?
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Wait, what else are we digging a hole in the ground for? Oh, yes, papa. DUDE, YOU'RE GETTING GOOD. SACK OFF VIDEOGRAPHY.
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I might as well DIG IT, YEAH. OH, IT'S ANOTHER BEAUTY. Man knows how to run a digger.
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While Jamie does that, I'll have a little barbecue. Oh yes. Grabs up if you want a burger, Jamie.
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Woo! What's on the menu, then, chef? All right, we got burgers, halloumi, Yeah. sausage mozzarella cheese kebabs.
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Gorgeous. We digging. Cheers. Barbecue here if you want it, Paul. Help yourself. You just hit the halloumi, did you?
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Halloumi so good. What are you doing? This misses. I didn't have anything at work to eat.
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Is that what you told her? Hello. Come on in. Oh, good, you've come to help out.
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Brilliant. What do you reckon of that hole? I think it's fantastic. All right, start digging.
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Tell you what, this mattock is an absolute godsend for squaring up these sides. Oh, it's doing fabulous job here.
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Just getting a bit tiring after a while, though. Time to go dump another load.
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We just switched over to THE BIGGER SHOVEL. OH, MAMA, THE SOIL IS NOW going to be gone three times as quick. That's literally three times the volume.
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That's a big boy shovel now. LOOK AT THAT, FELLA. WE'LL BE DONE BY TEA TIME.
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WOOHOO! NOW. THAT'S PRETTY GOOD DAY'S WORK. THAT GOES REALLY FAR. AT ITS DEEPEST, we're about 5 ft. Goodness gracious, this is going to be a lot of concrete.
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Look at how cool the different layers of ground you can see are. Got bands of flint. I've been told that this soil is called hoggin. We're in like this little small valley that's apparently carved out by a glacier yonks ago. And to my
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eye, it seems that we're very lucky cuz it seems that we've got a very good soil to be putting a power hammer on. I'm chuffed a bit. That's some great progress. One more load with the dumper and then back at it in the morning.
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Huh. God, it's cool in here. Let me tell you what, this is some tough dirt.
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Oh, about 5 ft 5 in. We're getting there. When I was laying out the floor for cutting the concrete, just putting chalk down, I was utterly petrified. But now, let me tell you what, I'm having the time of my life. This is so much fun.
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It's happening. We're putting in a big foundation and playing with some great equipment. I don't know what I was so scared about.
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Let's start squaring her up. This kind of wallows out a little bit. Same on the end. Get at of with the mattock.
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Oh, it just keeps getting down my boot. Oh my god, that's tough. There is so much flint in this soil. It is so blooming tough.
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That is a deep hole. There is something delightful about digging a hole. I remember from my childhood I would occasionally just go into the garden and dig a hole, and I found it just so exciting. There is a zen state. Flow.
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Jamie said this too when he was running the digger the other day. Digging a hole, a simple task, but it just tickles you in a certain type of way, deep down to the core of being a person. I like
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this hole. I like the layers of flint in this hoggin soil. I even found this in here. A near perfect flint sphere.
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Imagine how many billions of years this has been tumbling through the earth, pushed by glaciers, ground into a perfect sphere. I'll be keeping this.
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Now that we are at the depth that we need, the following steps are to get a massive vibrator down in this big hole, and I'm going to absolutely go all over the bottom, tamp this surface nice and solid, then we need
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some crushed concrete hardcore, then we need some sand, and then it's time for rebar. A special thank you to Jamie, to all my neighbors for all of the help in getting this hole in the ground. Thank you for watching, and thank you to
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KiwiCo for sponsoring the episode. Check them out at the link in the description, and use code Alex Steel at checkout. See you in the next one. Bye-bye.
Topics:Alec Steelepower hammer restorationMassey Clear Spacefoundation excavationconcrete cuttingblacksmithing toolsworkshop setupKiwiCo STEMmetalworkingheavy equipment
