clinton Posted March 14, 2010 Author Share Posted March 14, 2010 Clinton The groove is on the underside of the die right? If so, it's to keep the top or bottom dies from moving sideways when driving the wedges in. There should be holes in the tup and sow block that "pins" fit into and these grooves locate with these pins. It's very useful when fitting any dies but especially combination dies where misalignment is more of a problem. It keeps the dies lining up side to side AND fore and aft. It's useful when first wedging up the dies and will also stop any tendancy of the dies to drift sideways if the dies have a large sideways components to the forces they recieve/apply. If there are no holes in your tup/ sow block, it could be that the dies are adapted from another hammer. My Anyang 40kg uses these pins and they are very useful Yes the groove is on the underside of the die, and I will check the sow block and tup for holes but I dont think there are any, so probably the dies were from another hammer thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngdylan Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 Yes the groove is on the underside of the die, and I will check the sow block and tup for holes but I dont think there are any, so probably the dies were from another hammer thanks It might be worth seeing if you can do something with a mag drill, those slots are very useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuge Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 Yeah it does jump right out at you Tom Waits anyone? I'm a bit of a rain dog. Gotta be careful with the Waits, it will take over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngdylan Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 I'm a bit of a rain dog. Gotta be careful with the Waits, it will take over. Given your avatar I kinda thought you might be "The Eyeball Kid" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuge Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 First one to id the "icon" in my avatar gets a prize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainely,Bob Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 "The lord giveth and the fine print taketh away" T. Waits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuge Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 What's this Clifton Ralph dvd. Sounds like its worth a look. Where can I get one. UK based but guess that wont be a problem UMBA has some dvd's featuring clifton ralph. Whoever fills the orders is on top of things. Get the ones with Ralph Sproul as well. He has some work flow ideas that will make your closet, I mean workshop, seem big. Back on topic, both my anyang and striker hammers have the "die locating slot". Works with a round hole in the block and a tee shaped pin. I'll try to get photo's. Back off topic- "I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running. I emerged needing a shave and shouted 'Time Square, and step on it!'" -t waits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngdylan Posted March 14, 2010 Share Posted March 14, 2010 UMBA has some dvd's featuring clifton ralph. Whoever fills the orders is on top of things. Get the ones with Ralph Sproul as well. He has some work flow ideas that will make your closet, I mean workshop, seem big. Back on topic, both my anyang and striker hammers have the "die locating slot". Works with a round hole in the block and a tee shaped pin. I'll try to get photo's. Back off topic- "I was born in the back seat of a Yellow Cab in a hospital loading zone and with the meter still running. I emerged needing a shave and shouted 'Time Square, and step on it!'" -t waits Nuge Thanks for that. Only problem is this ****ing forum is a bottomless pit of time, now I've found some DVDs to make the pit even more bottomless Off Topic "Theres nothing woung with her that a hundred Dollers can't Fix" T Waits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 17, 2010 Author Share Posted March 17, 2010 The die material came yesterday it looks pretty good nice and flat on 3 sides but one side looks like a banana, it has about a 3/16 inch crown I dont think that will be a problem, maybe tricky to clamp down for machining the dovetail..... hmmmm Fewood- maybe two extra cutters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 Maybe that should be the face? Remember, when its cut in half the crown will be half that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 For dies that don't need or want to rest on the wings, I use 7° vise jaws and a straight cutter rather than a custom made cutter. The first thing you do before starting a job is square up your blocks. Always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share Posted March 18, 2010 For dies that don't need or want to rest on the wings, I use 7° vise jaws and a straight cutter rather than a custom made cutter. The first thing you do before starting a job is square up your blocks. Always! ya square it up thanks Grant this supplier only had the material in plate bar stock would have been a better choice but this was about half the price so I went with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew T Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Grant, can you post an example of your angled vise jaws, do you bolt them to a Kurt type vise ? I've measured the dovetail angle on my Bradley and Beaudry dies, using your two rod method, and I get between 3 and 5 degrees per side. What hammer has a 7 degree angle on its dies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason0012 Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 I think Little Giant dies are a 7* offset(if memory serves- its been a while) I think Kuhn hammers were 5* as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 Where did I use "the two rod method" to measure the dovetail angle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew T Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Grant, Maybe forgemagic? I thought you showed a drawing with: Two rods placed against the length of the dovetail, take a measurement, (diameter of rods + dovetail) Raise the the rods on blocks 1" (or whatever) and take another measurement. Use advanced math to turn a triangle described by lengths into one described by degrees. Math link where you can plug in your numbers. http://www.csgnetwork.com/righttricalc.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 My favorite "combo" dies were the ones that were in my 200lb (90Kg for Youngdylan) Chambersburg when I got it. One end of the dies had about an 1/8 inch (3mm) radius and the other end had a 1/2 inch (12-13mm) radius. I still had a goodly flat area for tool work and I could draw like a Psychobabblonian! Did you find any downsides to these dies Grant ? I am considering putting a 1/2" radius on one end of my dies they are currently about 3/16 radius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Yes, I did! Kinda funky if you need to flatten something that is wider than one-half the die length. Course now I'd probably radius the whole thing 1/2 inch and just put 1/8 inch on the ends of the die for the rare thing that needed a tight corner. Or use a block to get a square corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Larson Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Tom Clark and Sahinler use 7 degree dovetail angles. I use these two different dovetail lengths on my hammers. Clark's Turkish hammers are Kuhn knock offs. Hey, Grant, I just picked up a large high quality machinist protractor. On one side the pivot is in degrees, on the other side the markings are in 1/2" per foot. Is that back in the day, or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 I have at least one other set of flat dies for the hammer maybe I should just take another set true up the top die to the bottom (I had to take about .02" of the back of the top die that is on the hammer to true them up) and just grind them to 3/8 or 1/2" radius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 John, that sound like an excellent idea to me. With a hammer that size you don't really want the full radius dies anyway. Need to be able to put you foot in it and yard the stock through. 1/2 inch radius will still allow you to do tool work. John: Don't ya just love old tools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clinton Posted May 9, 2010 Author Share Posted May 9, 2010 Ok time to bring this post back from the dead...... With the help of Fewood and his Bridgeport mill we got the dove tails cut on the dies it was a 9 degree angle for this hammer. After the dove tails were done we cut the piece in half and attempted to rough in the fullering side on the dies, we got one side roughed in and hat to turn the die around for the other side, made one pass, then stated to go a bit deeper and the die slipped out of the vice completely ruining the carbide end mill. So my plan was to make a fixture to hold the die at the proper angle and get a new end mill to finish the job, but mean while i found a new friend that has 4 water jet machines and got the rough in done on the water jet. Here are a few shots of the dies Grant, try not to hurt your self laughing at the wooden shims we are carpenters (well Fe is I am more of a welder myself) and fe would not let me near the mill with the stinger, and I think I will be able to draw like a Psychobabblonian, hope to try the hammer out today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 I won't laugh! I say do what works! Looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironstein Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 Nice job Clinton. Glad to see you finally got that hammer going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainely,Bob Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 Um,guys,you Do know the heads on those mills tilt don`t you?If you tilt the head then things can stay firmly clamped between the steel jaws of the vise. I also tend to use either a fly cutter,roughing mill or a shell mill to rough stuff out and then switch to a smaller 4 flute end mill to finish up with light cuts. All this is moot as you now have the finished product and are undoubtably happy campers. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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