First attempt at a die

Nice job. Is the die in aluminum? How are you keeping the dies aligned when pressing? How many of the lockets do you plan to make?

Jeff
 
very nice. thanks for posting.

same questions as above ;)
 
Nice going!

Fill us in... What material are you using and how did you form the rough shape and make the refinements?

... Very cool work.

Ray
 
churchjw said:
Nice job. Is the die in aluminum? How are you keeping the dies aligned when pressing? How many of the lockets do you plan to make?

Jeff
Click to expand...
I was wondering the same thing. Could easily mount those plates in a small die set. I guess he trims the pieces by hand. Looks good.
 
Die is aluminum (some Mic6 I had on hand). I am not making many, so figured aluminum was fine. I though about adding pins, but decided to try without because I was skeptical it was going to work at all.

The first one I did dry. The second I greased up a little before hand, and it came out easier. The blocks are exactly the same size +=0.001, so I just place the blank stock on the female half, place the male on top, align the edges, and press. Worked better than I could have hoped.

to finish, they will be cut out (likely with a jewelers saw) and the lip finished with sandpaper before additional operations take place. I'm already thinking about larger/more complex dies I can make. As I said, this was my first attempt, and for some reason my mind kept saying "no way it's gonna work". Glad to prove myself wrong ;)
 
DMS said:
Die is aluminum (some Mic6 I had on hand). I am not making many, so figured aluminum was fine. I though about adding pins, but decided to try without because I was skeptical it was going to work at all.

The first one I did dry. The second I greased up a little before hand, and it came out easier. The blocks are exactly the same size +=0.001, so I just place the blank stock on the female half, place the male on top, align the edges, and press. Worked better than I could have hoped.

to finish, they will be cut out (likely with a jewelers saw) and the lip finished with sandpaper before additional operations take place. I'm already thinking about larger/more complex dies I can make. As I said, this was my first attempt, and for some reason my mind kept saying "no way it's gonna work". Glad to prove myself wrong ;)
Click to expand...

Might try liquid dish washing soap straight from the bottle instead of grease. Double check but soap comes to mind. Easy to clean off with warm water.
 
Ray C said:
Nice going!

Fill us in... What material are you using and how did you form the rough shape and make the refinements?

... Very cool work.

Ray
Click to expand...

Both parts were cut on my mill (CNC). The part itself was drawn in AlibreCAD. The die halves were made by subtracting the part from die blanks. It was a bit more fiddly than that, but that is the gist of it. The stamped part is fairly simple, it's an oval 0.875x0.625" on the outside, and about 0.180" high. There is then a radius of 0.080" applied to the outside. Cuts were roughed with 3/8" 3fl and 1/4" 2fl square end mills, and the 3d portions were done with a 1/4" 2fl ball end mill. The male part was polished up with a scotchbrite pad, and I took the lip of the female part off with some fine emery cloth. I think I should have done a little more finishing on the male part; the inside of the stamped part shows up tooling marks from the male half, top part is beautifully smooth.

I haven't actually found a lot of info out there on how do do this stuff. I was mostly going based on pictures I had seen of completed die sets (part of the reason I was skeptical it would work).

- - - Updated - - -

Bill C. said:
Might try liquid dish washing soap straight from the bottle instead of grease. Double check but soap comes to mind. Easy to clean off with warm water.
Click to expand...

I had some Crisco lying around, so I gave that a try. Dish soap is a good idea, I may give that a try too, though these parts are going to be torch fired again, pickled, and enameled, so the grease should burn off pretty thoroughly.
 
DMS said:
Both parts were cut on my mill (CNC). The part itself was drawn in AlibreCAD. The die halves were made by subtracting the part from die blanks. It was a bit more fiddly than that, but that is the gist of it. The stamped part is fairly simple, it's an oval 0.875x0.625" on the outside, and about 0.180" high. There is then a radius of 0.080" applied to the outside. Cuts were roughed with 3/8" 3fl and 1/4" 2fl square end mills, and the 3d portions were done with a 1/4" 2fl ball end mill. The male part was polished up with a scotchbrite pad, and I took the lip of the female part off with some fine emery cloth. I think I should have done a little more finishing on the male part; the inside of the stamped part shows up tooling marks from the male half, top part is beautifully smooth.

I haven't actually found a lot of info out there on how do do this stuff. I was mostly going based on pictures I had seen of completed die sets (part of the reason I was skeptical it would work).

- - - Updated - - -



I had some Crisco lying around, so I gave that a try. Dish soap is a good idea, I may give that a try too, though these parts are going to be torch fired again, pickled, and enameled, so the grease should burn off pretty thoroughly.
Click to expand...

A Tool Designer I worked with many years ago wrote a handbook for die-makers. A lot of small machine shops would bid on a die who had no experience in making them. The best advise he gave me was to draw it out on paper. He was talking about radius, he said to draw the bend radius 10 times the size of the material then measure the radius or contour then add (I think 10 percent of material thickness) for clearance. Also another tip I learned was to either mark or paint the front face of your mold so that you don't accidentally turn one part of your die the wrong way.

If you are getting tool marks you do need to polish them out the best you can. Couldn't tell from the photos. Still a nice project.
 
I've designed a lot of dies in my years and also have worked on the other side of the fence as a Tool & Die Maker. For your first attempt, you did a great job!!!!! The only thing I would do to it, is mount a couple of pins for guides. Something like (2) 1/4" dowel pins, one in opposite corners will be sufficient for what you are doing. 99% of the time when I make a die drawing, the first thing I do is draw the part first. Then you can add the upper portion (punch) and the lower portion (die). If you have a computer program, then it makes it very easy to add your dimensions. Another way that you could have arrived at the same part, would be to have your die, the bottom portion, and have a nest in it. The nest would be a couple of thousandths deeper than the material thickness. The top portion would have a flat plate with a hole through it that is just a tick larger than your punch to prevent galling. Then you would have your punch that is the size of the inside dimensions of your part. You would also have two guide pins for location. In doing this, it insures that your flanges are flat. Your material is put in the nest, the top guide plate is dropped over the pins, then the top and bottom is clamped together. Now your punch can drop through the hole in the top plate and is pushed down to form your part. Because you only have a couple of thousandths clearance, it keeps your blank from wrinkling. With a lot of parts, once the material starts to wrinkle, it will bunch up in the corners and tear out your formed part. This is also the quick and dirty way to make parts with a flange on them. Some of it is hit and miss until you find the size of the blank you need so everything comes out as you want. But as I said, for the first time making a die, you have what you set out to do and it worked. Before you go to the trouble of annealing the copper, try one without annealing it. depending on the width, verses the length, verses the depth, you may be able to draw it down without annealing and it will save that added operation, plus it will save from having to polish it back up from the torch or oven discoloration. Two thimbs up for you though!!!!
 
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