breaking welds

[SGropp]

What Hofi says makes sense. I always grind the corners and edges of my swages to eliminate any sharp edges. I also usually have to grind the top and bottoms of the swages that Off Center makes, as a lot of them are so cratered with scale pitting when they are manufactured, that they really chew up my hammer dies. Sometimes I use a sacrificial copper piece between the bottom die and the swage to save the wear and tear on the die. Has anyone else had this problem?
I've never broken one at the weld ,though.
I imagine if the hammer isn't big enough to close the die in a couple of hits, then there is a lot more stress and shock trasmitted to the tool.

[peacock]

I use lots of these type tools & have had the same problem. It is commonly caused by the constsnt flexing of top dye as it trys to adjust to the constantly changing stock thickness. my best fix is to weld and grind a good radius on top of the top dye(spring dye). that way as the top hammer dye strikes it it will not flex the handle as much. also when you repair a broken spring tool try welding it by running the weld beads lengthwise ( 90 degrees to the crack) start in the center make bead at least 2 or 3 times as long as the width of the stock then place shorter beads on each side till you have a diamond shaped patch over the break. this will keep the stress line from running across the spring handle. pre and post heat may help but you may lose the temper in your spring die. Another thing you may want to do is keep a master of what the tool is used to make (acorn, ball or whatever) that way when you need to weld the spring you can clamp the two halves togather with the master in the deprssion and your dies will be perfectly aligned.