jmeineke

Yeah, I'm not taking my time on these; I'm hitting very hard and not rotating enough and also just eyeballing where it looks about right. I end up nipping / grinding / filing the flash off and then take the hammer to them. The work that's left is going to keep me busy for a while - still have to get them to their final shape, drill them, make the chain and the center and the cross. I've never made a rosary before, let alone my own beads, so we'll see. If I attempt this again, I'll definitely be changing my tooling and technique. Thanks for all your help.

I didn't know hot-rolled could be hardened - I thought it was just 1020. Is that not the case?

She (and you) will be in my prayers.

I've been making some copper beads using mild steel dies (hot rolled) in a guillotine tool and I'm a little surprised at how quick the top die is mushrooming. I'm hitting a lot harder on the one side because I'm drawing out some copper stock (the die has three different functions). Should I be using a different material? How do you deal with the mushroom effect? Is there any saving these dies, or do you just use them till they wear out? Sorry if this has been covered before, but I've turned up a blank in my searches.

Still need some final shaping, but this is what they look like so far. I'm going to put them in a tumbler as well to give them a uniform finish. These will be used in a Rosary.

I haven't gotten around to making the new die set yet, but I thought I'd show you the results of just milling out the exit a bit more like you suggested. Like I said, a lot less waste and less hammering. One of the pics is the finished string after running through the final rounding die and then annealing.

Download the image resizer powertoy from Microsoft. Works with Vista & 7 as well as XP. Just right click the image you want to resize and you'll see an option in the context menu for resizing (after you install the tool, of course). http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx There are other options too - GIMP, Paint.Net, even MS Paint (installed on every Windows machine) will allow you to resize. Hope that helps.

Cool. Thanks for all your help!

How about this - Getting closer?

Very nice work there. I increased the depth like you suggested and am getting much better results with a lot less waste and less effort (no pics yet, but will post some as soon as I am able). Looking at your dies, would you recommend that I mill the entire length (or maybe just a wider section in the middle, twice the length of the ball?). What about a relief hole - would you still recommend one? Based on what you're using to make yours, here's what I'm thinking (minus the relief hole - haven't mastered making cutting curves into curved surfaces in sketchup).

Ok - I'll increase the depth of the exit / chamfer the edges a bit more and try the rotation technique. Looking forward to seeing those pics. Thanks for info!

I'd love to see what you're talking about. Yeah, I'm wasting quite a bit of copper. I'm making spheres, but not quite getting the concept of how to build the dies. The first set I made failed completely. Basically on that set I drilled a small relief hole and then put the two half spheres in the center (pic 1). It didn't work or I just wasn't working it - not sure. I ended up reusing the dies by just welding up what I drilled out and then ground it flat and started over. Pic 2 is what I've got right now, but I'm not rotating the stock at all - just pounding the crud out of it. So you're saying I should just drill the spheres deeper and leave 1/16" in the center?

I finally got back around to this project. I built a small guillotine tool and made the dies like John B suggested. It seems to be working pretty well. I'm still getting the technique down, but I've made a half dozen beads. I bought a 5/16" ball end mill and tack welded the dies together, drilled a small relief hole and then ball milled half a sphere into each side. I also had to drill out some swages to fuller the rod down to 5/16". To do the final shaping, I use another die set with just two half spheres in the center (picture 4). After that, I file off the rough edges and then lightly hammer it in a 1/4 sphere (pic 6) to get the finish I'm looking for.

You should update your profile to include your location. You'll get a lot better advice on what you can expect to pay for an anvil that way. A good buy in New Mexico is not the same as a good buy in Ohio, for example. Don't get too bummed out - just keep looking. Give the TPAAAT method a try - it works. Have a look here:

Ouch. Hope you're getting OT for that!

Thomas Dean & trying-it: Thanks for all the tips - good stuff to know. Do you guys have any pics uploaded here? I'd like to see the different finishes you're talking about.

Thanks - I like that pattern too. I made that one for the deacon at my church. Here's a closer look at the base.

Been working on some crosses lately, experimenting with different finishes / textures. I know these don't qualify as traditional forge / anvil / hammer only projects, but they were fun to make. I've been giving them away as gifts. The cross arms are mig welded and blended and the bases are spot welded to give a rocky / rough looking texture. I'm using a traditional beeswax / linseed oil coating and then very lightly go over the bars with a 120 grit flap disk to bring out the highlights. I think I'm going to try copper plating one sometime down the road. I tried tempering them to get some colors but haven't had much luck with getting a nice looking color pattern. The last 2 pics are the same piece just at a different angle.

Please know that you and your wife will be in my prayers.

The first time I tried it I didn't get it either. I had to watch the videos and draw something that I wanted to build before started to understand it. The support Q&A forums for it are really good too. My biggest issue right from the start was I couldn't properly dimension objects I was drawing - dragging doesn't cut it when you need precise dimensions. Once I learned how to do that the next big thing was understanding how to get on the right axis, move things, line them up, join them, etc. It's pretty cool once you get the hang of it.

I'm a fan of cast iron cookware too. Keep them properly seasoned and they are as good as teflon IMO. I've only done a few repairs to cast and it's all been with MIG which was an interesting experience to say the least - occasionally it would go "critical" on me and there would be like a burst of sparks that would come off for lack of a better explanation. I wish I had known about nickel and brass back then. Live and learn.

Man that's a shame. The upside is you should be able to get your money back out of it with the insurance and have a working drill when it's all welded up.

MMO works good - available just about everywhere and has lots of other uses too.

check out the "features and benefits" - no hole in face plate! All this time I thought I had something useful on my anvils... Maybe I can weld them shut

I have a lincoln buzz box and love it. Started out with the AC only version and later upgraded to a AD/DC model. I pretty much leave it on DC all the time, but the AC only machines are good too. You probably know this already, but if you want to run 7018 you should look for 7018-AC. I also have a Craftsman 110v MIG with gas that I use a lot too - It's a good quality machine that you can get parts for and has a good reputation. As for the Harbor Freight (HF) models, I'd have to agree - save your money and buy a 110v Lincoln or Craftsman (a bit harder to find) if you want something that will last and can be repaired. The HF models do work (my dad owns one and I've used it), but it seems that with just about any HF tool there's a gamble factor involved. You may get one that lasts the rest of your life, but you may also get one that goes 'poof' after a few spools like Sam said.