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I Forge Iron

bad boy punching


youngdylan

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Now i want something that bangs big holes in stuff ohmy.gif


gate looks good hopefully you got a decent price for it



Simply answer to that is NO! I'd be embarrased to say how little I charged. I took the "percieved value" approach to costing but my guess at the customers percieved value was too low! and it took far too long to make.

I always seem to get it wrong estimating time for the bespoke stuff. I'd never punched such wide slots so deep before, so there was a lot of time tooling up and experimenting. I used to think of it as ok because I'm building up the expereince bank and all the expensive learning would go into the next gate. Trouble is I don't wan't to keep banging out the same old stuff so there's always a lot of learning with the next gate. That said, as I build up my portfolio and make the work "look expensive" I find I can get better prices.
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I agree, this site is really a time suck. I spent most of the morning reading and posting, and here I am again at 10:45 pm going at it again. I blame Naked Grant Zappa...but now that I am armed with all this new knowledge, I'll be so much more productive if I ever put down this computer and make it back into the shop.
-DB



yeah he is a "honey trap" isn't hesmile.gif
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Congrats! I thought long and hard about making a bid on one of those. If they would have been a few thousand miles closer I would have thought about it a lot harder!

You have it in the shop yet? I wanna see some video ;)


Hope to get it this week, depending on the weather. Cant wait!! I love new tools...

YD I think your portfolio is one of the best I have seen, don't sell yourself short on the $$$. Your creativity should be nurtured by your rewards.
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Hope to get it this week, depending on the weather. Cant wait!! I love new tools...

YD I think your portfolio is one of the best I have seen, don't sell yourself short on the $$$. Your creativity should be nurtured by your rewards.



Thanks Danger

Gotta say your's is pretty cool to + I'm very jealous of the space in your workshop and that you've got space to work on your sickles. I've got a 73 Triumph Trident T150V that I've had for 26 years. Only problem is it's got a conrod sticking out of the crankcases. Got all the gear I need at the workshop to sort it out but no space/time. Went against the grain last year and bought a new FXDC; it's absolutely stock apart from a bit of off the shelf chrome. Doesn't seem right given the gear I've got in the workshop.

If it's ok I might pick your brain about some of the curved stairwork you ..... no competition to you, I'm in the UK!!!!

Bike photo's from about 15 years ago!

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My next project is a full blown french rail, its not a full sweeping curve but I will try and get some shots of the progress.

Like the hair, almost got me to pull out some college photos...

Nice Limy also, I'm rebuilding my Pan, going for a low riding Knuckle.

Moving my shop to a bigger space has opened up a lot of possibilities, my projects have actually grown to fill the space. 30' sculptures to 24' long gates with weight exceeding 1000 lbs.

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Hey lil' dylan, any chance we could see some pics of the tooling used to drift those big slots?



Pictures as promised, should be self explanatory.


The tool is sorta blunt slitting chisel, slot punch and drift all in one

The "rig" is a sliding bolster and stripper plate.

The "punch" is machined forged from H13. It fits into the turned parts which screw onto the end of a hydraulic ram. It's got an M12 thread which the "cap" is screwed onto with a grade 12.9 allen bolt. This allows it to be pulled out the slot.

Note the H13 could be a bit to hard to drill/tap after forging (turning with carbide tooling is sorta ok). Because of this I Idrill and tap the thread and rough turn the end before forging it.

The ram is only 15T but it's got an 8hp power pack so it shifts. This is important to stop the tooling getting too hot and the work piece cooling too rapidly.

One good bit of advice I picked up of Alan Evans was to thin down the punch/drift behind where it is at the required size. Look carefully at the photos, you should see what I mean. It s double taper in both the thin section and the thick section. This minimises the area in contact with the hot and so minimises heat transfer.

I find puching big chunky sections easier than small ones because they keep the heat much longer. I can usually punch/drift this sorta size in one heat. You'd be at it for a mighty long time with sledges!

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Thanks for the photo's! Did you use the press to drift? That is one ambitious series of slots. Really appreciate this thread.


The tool does it all, slit half way down, turnover the slit the other half, then when tool is still in place drift form one side, turn over and redrift; kinda the same as doing it by hand. I'm never sure of the terminology. Slitting, punching, drifting , whatever ..... it's all done with the same tool and usually in one heat. The widest/thickest point of the tool is the size of the required slot (3" x 3/8" in this case) but remember it tapers away in both directions for the wide and narrow faces

With punching "strip" the hard way (edge on) like this ALIGNMENT is everything
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Nice tolling, thanks for sharing.
Great tip on the back relief.
How fast to you figure your press is? Inch per sorry mm per?



.. back relief, them's the words I was looking for.

I'll try to remember to to measure/time it tomorrrow but from memory it does about a 300mm stroke in around 5 seconds. Having typed that it seems very fast! Will let you know. I remember having a discussion with Terry Clark and he kinda thought 15T wasn't enough ... it is when shifting! Kinda think it's all about keeping the heat in the workpiece and away from the tooling. Goes without saying some sorta graphite lubricant makes a big difference as well.
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Nice tooling, thanks for sharing.
Great tip on the back relief.
How fast to you figure your press is? Inch per sorry mm per?


Don't have a watch or second hand on the clock so counting : one and two and three........it takes "8" to stroke 300mm. It's only a single stage pump so it should do this speed under pressure.
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I may have missed it but can we see a pic of the complete machine?
I`m interested to see how you stage,support,quickly flip and index these large pieces of hot steel too.
Maybe we can get Rory to fly over to snap pics of you while you do the entire operation.His step by step tutorials are excellent.
Got time enough to clear a place for him to stand while you work? ;)
Thanks.

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I may have missed it but can we see a pic of the complete machine?
I`m interested to see how you stage,support,quickly flip and index these large pieces of hot steel too.
Maybe we can get Rory to fly over to snap pics of you while you do the entire operation.His step by step tutorials are excellent.
Got time enough to clear a place for him to stand while you work? wink.gif
Thanks.




SPACE!!!! space? in my workshop/studio (delete as appropriate) ???

The punching was done before I started using this forum so I dont have too many photos. Press is tooled up for another job at moment but will do a tutorial when it's next used for bad boy punching.

Nothing special about the press, home brewed H frame with 15Ton (120mm O.D.) ram. As with everything in my "workstudio" its on wheels. Even my anyang and one of the kinyons have space under so I can move them with a pallet truck

Aligmnent is important. Because the "strip" is being punched edge on it does have a tendancy to rock over sideways if punch move off centre if the side of the bar are not flat and square. Usually they are not! I've got adjustable side guides that hold the bar loosely up right and keep the punch central. I never go in "all the way" from one side because if the punch wanders off, it will be quite badly off when it gets to the other side; hence punch (slit or slot punch or whatever it's called) half way from each side. When "slug" is knocked out, press the tooling in to drift the hole. It is really just a scaled up version of hand punching. I've got an "eye" punch drift that make making a hammer almost trivial.

Because I'm a one man band and the bars are bulky and difficult to man(woman .... beth)handle when there's a yellow hot patch right where your hands want to be, it can be awkward moving the bar out of the (gas) forge and into the punching set up. Two rollers on stands either side of the press help, as does a swing jib crane. A second pair of hand swould be a such a luxury. Room to swing a cat would be good too.

Pictures will definitely help but bear with me. No punching for a while. Current job is a different direction, 38metre of railings using electropolished forged stainless "buds"mixed with blown glass versions and a textured steel band. Gates will be interesting, they're my "no frame" thing but will wave in out looking down on plan. Will post photos in a few weeks when I've got a head of steam going with it. Meantime theres some photos on this page on my site

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