TM Air Motors

Home > Products > Forming Machines > Power Hammers > TM Air Power Hammers > Air Motors for TM Technologies Air Power Hammers

Our website contains dozens of photographs of amazing work done on our Air Power Hammers. All of the tooling for these machines has been designed around the performance of our carefully designed Air Motors. Each of the six air motors we offer are designed to shrink, stretch, and planish a specific range of metals.

We firmly believe that no other air motor will match ours in performance and reliability. Years of professional metalworking experience have gone into developing our line of air motors. Since 1987 we have bought, tested, rebuilt, and modified thousands of motors to find the parts that met our requirements for rate of fire, hardness of hit, durability, variability, and ease of use.

We offer seven Air Motors each of which is designed to shrink, stretch, or planish a specific range of metals. Our #1–#6 motors can be gradually adjusted from single, accurate hits, up to hundreds of blows per minute. Our #0 motor is designed exclusively for planishing (not shaping). For that reason, it is capable of thousands of hits per minute (no single hits however).

All of our motors are built by us, in our own shop, with our own modifications and specs. All of our parts are manufactured here in the U.S. (except for four small pieces that are not available domestically that me must source off-shore). We manufacture all of the other parts, and assemble and test these motors individually on our own machines before they ever leave our premises.

“I have a photo somewhere of a huge pile of air motors on my workbench, every maker, size and configuration you can imagine, over 50 motors in one big pile. I have been through every one, used every one, and know little things about every one. Sand rammers, needle scalers, plating rack scalers, chippers, destruction guns, air chisels, rivet guns, zip guns, stone carving units, and palm nailers have all been experimented with and dismantled for inspection. I have taken the knowledge gleaned from experimenting with these motors, to develop what I believe are the best air motors on the market today.” – Kent White, CEO, TM Technologies

Please see Air Motor Repairs, Tune-Ups, And Upgrades for additional information.

There are a few basic concepts you need to know when considering purchasing our Air Motors:

Shrinking requires more power than stretching. Each Air Motor is capable of stretching one thickness more than it shrinks. So if the motor can shrink 14-gauge mild steel, it will be able to stretch 12-gauge of the same material.
To Planish, you will need to use the next smaller air motor than the one you used for shaping. If you shaped your panel or part using the #3 Heavy Air Motor, you will need to switch to the #2 Medium Air Motor to planish. Using the right combination of Air Motors is the trick.
The performance you get from our motors depends somewhat on operator skill. We have found that experienced metal shapers are able to frequently exceed the specs we give for the shrinking and stretching capabilities of each motor. The specs below are for users who are new to our machines, or those with more limited metalworking experience or knowledge.
All of our Air Motors can be slowed to a point where they can hit once with one stomp of the pedal. They can also be slowed to the point where they will not hit the metal, but will still cycle.
All of our motors require oiling.You will need to add a small amount of oil for each hour you run the motor. We highly recommend you use an FRL (filter- regulator-lubricator) as it will consistently provide your Air Motors with life-saving oil, even when you forget to oil them manually every hour.

AIR MOTOR CAPABILITIES
Motor	SHRINKS up to:	STRETCHES up to:	Please note:
#0	.025˝ soft metals	Planishing only up to .050˝ alum. & 20-gauge soft steel	Requires 1˝ Die Riser
#1	.032˝ aluminum & copper 24-gauge soft steel	Primarily planishing plus stretching .040˝ soft metal	Requires 1˝ Die Riser and .401˝ Shank Dies
#2	.050˝ aluminum & copper 20-gauge soft steel	.065˝ aluminum & copper 18-gauge soft steel	Requires 1˝ Die Riser
#3	.065˝ aluminum & copper 16-gauge soft steel	.100˝ aluminum & copper 14-gauge soft steel
#4	.100˝ aluminum & copper 14-gauge soft steel	.125˝ aluminum & copper 12-gauge soft steel
#5	.125˝ aluminum & copper 12-gauge soft steel	.187˝ aluminum & copper 10-gauge soft steel
#6	.187˝ aluminum & copper 10-gauge soft steel	.250˝ aluminum & copper 8-gauge soft steel	Can only be used with the 3000/4000 models (comes with special motor mount).

Zoom

Extra Light Air Motor #0

Made in USA
Our new Extra-Light motor was carefully designed to allow you to smooth and planish the thinnest soft metals. This motor is ideal for aluminum and copper that is .050” (1.2mm) thickness and thinner. This motor runs at speeds of 1,500 – 7,000 beats per minute (bpm). It is unlike our other motors which can all be adjusted down to doing even single hits. Instead this motor “hums” rather than “hits” as it smooths your metal to a beautiful finish. You can control the rate of “hum” so you can find the sweet spot to work your metal. Requires 5.5 cfm of 90 PSI shop air. This motor accepts .498 shanks. If you wish to use any of our .401 planishing dies in this motor, you will need a .401 to .498 Shank Adapter. You will also need a 1″ Die Riser when using this motor. The #0 Air Motor works best with the .498 Large Upper Hammer, our tests have revealed.

Extra Light Air Unit #0
SMS-0268	$575.00

Zoom

Light Air Motor #1

Made in USA
After numerous customer requests, we have decided to re-release our #1 Light air motor. Unlike our other air motors, the Light Air Motor is designed primarily for Planishing (SMOOTHING rather than shaping) and is ideal for metals less than .063” - 1.5mm thickness. It hits at the top rate of 990 blows per minute, and runs on 3.5 CFM of 90 PSI shop air, and can be slowed down to counting the hits. This motor uses only .401” upper dies for Planishing. (Note: This motor requires a 1″ Die Riser, part number SMS-0148).

Light Air Unit #1
SMS-0138	$525.00

Zoom

Medium Air Motor #2

Made in USA
The Medium air motor will shrink up to .050 aluminum, and 20-gauge mild steel. It will stretch .065 aluminum, and 18-gauge mild steel. It hits at the rate of 990 blows per minute, and runs on 4.2 CFM of 90 PSI shop air. (Note: This motor requires a 1″ Die Riser, part number SMS-0148).

Medium Air Unit
SMS-0137	$565.00

Zoom

Heavy Air Motor #3

Made in USA
The Heavy air motor will shrink up to .065 aluminum, and 18-gauge mild steel. It will stretch .080 aluminum, and 16-gauge mild steel. It hits at the rate of 945 blows per minute, and runs on 5.5 CFM of 90 PSI shop air.

Heavy Air Unit
SMS-0136	$720.00

Zoom

Very Heavy Air Motor #4

Made in USA
The Very Heavy air motor will shrink up to .080 aluminum, and 16-gauge steel. It will stretch .100 aluminum and 14-gauge mild steel. It hits at the rate of 925 blows per minute, and runs on 6 CFM of 90 PSI shop air.

Very Heavy Air Unit
SMS-0135	$820.00

Zoom

Extra Very Heavy Air Motor #5

Made in USA
The Extra Very Heavy air motor will shrink up to .125 aluminum, and 14-gauge soft steel. It hits at the rate of 890 blows per minute, and runs on 6 CFM of 90 PSI shop air.

Extra Very Heavy Air Unit
SMS-0270	$920.00

Zoom

Super Heavy Air Motor (Super Thumper) #6
Includes Special Clamping Mechanism

Made in USA
“Super Thumper” air motor will shrink up to 1/4″ soft aluminum, and 10-gauge soft steel. It will stretch .250 aluminum and 10-gauge steel. It hits at the rate of 780 blows per minute, and runs on 5.8 – 7.7 CFM of 90 PSI shop air. Because of its size, this motor can only be used with our 3000 and 3500 model frames, and requires a special Heavy-Duty Quick-Clamping assembly. (Note: the Oversized #6 motor will not fit our standard quick-lock motor mount.)

Super Heavy Air Unit (Super Thumper)
SMS-0269	$1,400.00

Air Motor Accessories

Zoom

Air Tool Oil

Like all motors, oil is the key to a long life. You should add oil to your motor for everyhour (or less) of use. Skipping this step can cause serious, sometimes fatal damage to a motor. We highly recommend the Filter-Regulator-Lubricator for maintaining proper, sustained motor oiling.

Air Tool Oil - 4 oz.
TPC-0004	$7.50
Air Tool Oil - Quart
TPC-0032	$30.00
Air Tool Oil - Gallon
TPC-0128	$75.00

Zoom

Air Motor Holster

Our Motor Holster conveniently stores your air motors and protects them from getting damaged rolling around in a box or drawer. The Holster bolts onto either the top or side of your machine and keeps your motors handy for quick motor changes. Each Holster holds up to four motors and includes mounting bolts and bracket.

Air Motor Holster - for Tube Frame Air Hammers
SMS-2800-T	$53.

Zoom

.401 to .498 size Shank Adapter

Our .401 to .498 Shank Adapter allows you to use .401 shank dies with .498 air motors and rivet guns. (Our .401 shank dies include our upper Wobble Die, .401 Large Upper Planishing Die, and .401 Small Upper Planishing Die. These dies all fit our #1 motor, but require a shank adapter for use with the #0 motor.)