Pneumatic Hammer/Chisel Work in Both Directions?

[Uglydog]

I may have all my terms mixed up so please feel free to correct me.
And this may be totally obvious to many....

Last week I was using a slide hammer to pull out a bushing (not in any way a precision part).
While I finished without difficulty, while doing the job I got to wondering if I were to have put a hook on an pneumatic hammer/chisel and pulled backwards if the hammer/chisel would have extracted the bushing.
Does anyone here know if a pneumatic hammer/chisel safely and effectively exerts force in both directions?
Is this sort of tool designed to work in this application?

Thanks,
Daryl
MN

 

[FOMOGO]

It would if you put a pocket on the handle end of the puller and used the chisel in it's normal direction.
Backwards wouldn't work. Mike

 

[C-Bag]

I agree with Mike. Cool thing is those air hammers are cast so you can totally cut off the handle and grind it flat/round and then tap into the hole and put a fitting on it. I did that with my cheapo planishing hammer and makes look way nicer than if you leave the pistol handle on it. It would fit in a pocket for and air puller better too.

 

[Jake M]

Air hammers can NOT pull back on the chisels, punches or other attachments. The chisels actually float in the chuck, they're not rigidly attached. There's a piston that goes back and forth within the barrel, which hammers (just like you would with a regular hammer) right on the back of the chisel. (A little more to it than that maybe, but not much). One direction only.

They're also very much not precision tools. They make your slide hammer look like a precision tool. If you want to push a bushing out the back side of something, which they will do, you're either looking at very likely some damages to the bore, light to significant depending on "everything", but they really want piloted, or otherwise constrained drivers for this type of task.

 

[C-Bag]

Early on I drove exhaust valve guides out VW heads with a tool and a hammer. Then along came air hammer and the proper pilot tool. WAY easier. Seemed like the vibration made them come out easier. Of course spring end was the most accurate end so it took two other tools to take off the boss on the top of the guide and a step drill to make a step for the driver to push on.

I think the trick in the bushing puller would be to have a good fit through the bushing and big enough “head” to push as much of the bushing as possible. And you’d have to make sure you are only pulling physically on pneumatic hammer body with the pocketed puller body only engaging with hammer that aimed away from the bushing.

Kind of a fascinating idea for a tool. Maybe you could reorient the hammer the other way along with the driver to push the new bushing in.

 

[Jake M]

This is what the factory made "pullers" look like. They are as floppy as they look. At the business end of the "puller", there's about as much "hammering" being delivered as you'd expect from a good palm smack on a stuck or pressed part.

https://www.amazon.com/LTI-Technologies-LT855A-Twister-Hammer/dp/B07BYYJR76

 

[C-Bag]

This is what the factory made "pullers" look like. They are as floppy as they look. At the business end of the "puller", there's about as much "hammering" being delivered as you'd expect from a good palm smack on a stuck or pressed part.

https://www.amazon.com/LTI-Technologies-LT855A-Twister-Hammer/dp/B07BYYJR76

Never seen those but those look silly, and expensive too! When Mike said a pocket I saw like a heavy duty cage so the force applied would be linear to the work. Not a hook that would flex and absorb most of the force. Granted there would be some loss in the transitions on the ends of the cage but it would be an interesting experiment.

 

[Uglydog]

Huge help. Kind of what I was guessing as the spring which retains the tool tip would likely get absorb the force.
Thank you all for the perspective!

Daryl
MN

 

[C-Bag]

Here’s the pistol grip cut off the air hammer that came with my planisher. The other is the “muffler cutter” same size hammer with the handle still on. Next is my big boy rivet 4x rivet gun. This thing will do some damage! Then a group shot of some of my special heads for the planisher and gun. Of particular note that might be relevant to cutting bushings out you don’t want to pull is the cutter on the right. It’s made to cut exhaust pipe flanges apart and coupled with the rivet gun can peel some serious metal.