slide hammer nail removal

Someone on some forum clued me in on removing nails from pole barn (Morton building) sheetmetal without damaging the sheetmetal by using a slide hammer and fork attachment. I cannot find such an attachment commercially for sale. I was hoping to, in order to save me the trouble of making one and going through any "design revisions". Anyone able to help here with a commercially available attachment for my slide hammer or with a pic of one they made that works? Just trying to save myself some time and work.

Can you grip the heads with a set of vice grips? If so these can be screwed on the end of the slide hammer, which also makes a nice pin puller.

Tim

I want to get one of those in addition, but I know those are available. They came up on a peg removal topic. On Morton building nails that hold the sheet metal (nails with a rubber gasket washer), you need a cats paw or similar tool to displace the rubber and get under the nail head to pull it. Straight vice grips would not be able to grab the head until it was out a ways. Even then, it would likely crush or deform the flat head, making it more difficult to grip and pull. So the attachment will be like a cats paw or wonderbar type split fork.

Time to adapt.

Tim

I'm sure you can find one of these on fleabay or like for a few bucks :

I have one of those, but it would not work because the foot would press into the sheet metal. Even if you put a wood block under it, it will still dent it. Actually that type of puller doesn't work well on the ring shank pole barn type nails. You need more of a shock to get them loose. Also the tips of that tool will tend to deform the head of the sheet metal nail due to the force required. In the past I used a cats paw type with a block of wood behind it, but it still ends up denting the rib of the sheet metal for those nails on the rib.

Brad, weld a cats paw onto the slid hammer.

Tim

Yep, already workin on it. Will supply pic if it works ok.

You'll also find that this setup is a super way to pull pegs. (with a small structural screw driven into their ends) Well worth the fab time.


http://www.tfguild.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=645&Number=2677#Post2677

I very much recommend the VG sliding hammer/dent puller for pulling pegs. It pulls directly out unlike the pinch bar. Pre drilled, they must be, and screwed with the stubborn ones.

Tim

I built one this afternoon. I tried the first one and ripped the head and did not remove the nail. Second one, I got the nail. Third one, I ripped the head. Fourth one I got the nail. Test is inconclusive. I think the first one I didn't have the paw seated on the nail well enough. It also takes a good shot with the hammer and I was learning that as I went. I'll have to pull some more nails, but I was feeling like there was a little learning curve to it. It may work fine once I do a few more. I may also put the attachment on my other slide hammer which has a heavier hammer. Here's some pics of the tool on my cheap slide hammer.

Hey Brad, with that nail in your contraption it looks like something I could gig some flounders with.

Is there anyway to get behind the metal with a tool to pull the nails out with. I havent seen what you are working on but if you could use the wood as the fulcrum instead of the metal it might be an option.

Mo,
did you not see the pics on page 2 of this post of the contraption I built? I'm guessing you hit reply on the 1st page not seeing my pics on page 2?

Well the Morton building guy stopped out today to look at a truss for me, and I told him about this tool. He said they make the same thing for themselves, and that this is not commercially available.

Ok, I did some more testing yesterday. It works! It was removing about 14 out of 15 nails, with the 15th getting it's head ripped off. What I discovered is that you really need a 10 lb slide hammer. I have been using a 5 lb slide hammer. And you should use a decent quality one. My cheap 5lb'er has a plastic base for end handle which cracked. This is a Cheap Taiwan tool(which I bought in the late 80's before China became the major supplier of low quality tools). I have a high quality old 10 lb slide hammer that I am now going to convert for permanent use with this nail puller. Brad

I was inspired by Brad's nail puller and came up with this unique design.

It was a rainy morning in March, and I decided to keep dry by hanging out at the local Farm & Fleet store. I like to go there to think...or as I'm sure some of the salespeople refer to as, Loitering!

So there I was, repeatedly going back and forth between the hardware aisle, the farm implement aisle, and the plumbing aisle, trying to conceive a working theory and hopefully build a pole barn stel nail puller completely from scratch.

The jury is in...and the verdict is... I think I did it!

Here are some pics of the raw materials:
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3132333.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3132335.jpg
They include:
1- 1 1/4" x 24" galv pipe
1- 5/8" steel rod
3- 5/8" washers
1- 3/4" grade 5 nut
1- spring
1- bolt hook
2- 1/4"x 1 3/4" Bolts w/ nuts
1- flat headed I-beam nail puller
1- 1 1/4"x 8" hitch pin

And this is what I came up with.
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3152344.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3152345.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3152347.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3152349.jpg
http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/qq254/crwtimberframe/Z%20misc/P3152350.jpg

There is a doubled up washer (2) that are welded onto the end of the pipe that the rod slides through, and as you pull back on the outer pipe, the nut welded onto the back end of the rod, which is inside the pipe slams into the washers at the tip of the pipe causing the cats paw to pull straght out on the head of the nail. The spring inside retracts the rod with the cats paw on it.

The hitch pin is inside the back end of the pipe for mass and inertia, and is locked in place with a bolt through the pin. The retracting spring is connected to the back end of the rod and to another bolt that sits just ahead of the hitch pin. WHEW! Clear as mud, right?

Any way, it seems to work...and just in time to help pull apart a large portion of an older pole barn that this winter's snow load collapsed.

Rooster

Does this mean we're going to have to have a pull-off for pink slips?

We call it "Hookin' chains"!!! LOL

Rooster

It took me a bit to understand how yours works, very clever. I like the concept. I am concerned about the washers holding up, as they are taking a lot of impact. Second, that is more of a flat puller than a cats paw you used. I needed the cats paw with the points on the tips to be able to get under the nail heads. The one I used had an anvil on the back of the puller that I used to hammer the cats paw under the nail head. Are you pulling the same type nails I am? Are you pulling from Corrugated tin? If you have a nail in a valley, can you get it?

What I really like is that you saved the cost of having to buy a slide hammer. Please let us know more when you've done more testing- ergonomics, was the mass enough, could it be improved...I know I was pulling some decently heavy nails and after 50 or so, I could feel it in my arm from slapping. Brad