jmeineke Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 I want to make a shear to cut 1/4" sections off of 5/16" round bar (copper). I have a small 6 ton shop press. I also have a guillotine tool that I could use on my anvil. Problem is I don't know how to make the dies. I've got the tool steel to make the blades (I assume I'll need blades, right?). I think I'd almost need something like they have at the stores that cuts thick chain. How hard would it be to duplicate something like that on a shop press or on a guillotine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrispy Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 Possibly the cheapest set up would be - to get hold of an old pair of bolt cutters and dismantle them to recover the jaws. weld the jaws to a suitable block which could be attached to your press. Ideally you would need to set up a backstop that could be adjusted to meet your required cut length if multible cuts are required. Also think about how each pellet will drop out. perhaps a bottomless shute to dump them into a container below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fciron Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 I made a cutter for round stock out of two pieces of leaf spring. I have them mounted so they swing past each other. I drilled holes the sizes of the stock I want to cut through both plates. Just insert the stock and pull on the handle to shear small rounds. The blades are about 3"x 4" rectangles with a pivot hole in one corner The pivot is a 1/2" grade 5 bolt. There is a piece of angle iron welded to one blade so that it can be held upright in the vice and a handle welded to the other (moving) blade. Simple as can be and I can cut 1/4" hot rolled steel with it. Drill the shearing holes as close to the pivot as possible for maximum leverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_tate Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 If you Google "multimachine" or go to this link: Open Source Machine. There is also a Yahoo group (link on the Open Source Machine site) with files and lots of interesting things. They are focused on lathes, mills and drills, but there are lots of goodies here. Regards, Roy Tate I made a cutter for round stock out of two pieces of leaf spring. I have them mounted so they swing past each other. I drilled holes the sizes of the stock I want to cut through both plates. Just insert the stock and pull on the handle to shear small rounds. The blades are about 3"x 4" rectangles with a pivot hole in one corner The pivot is a 1/2" grade 5 bolt. There is a piece of angle iron welded to one blade so that it can be held upright in the vice and a handle welded to the other (moving) blade. Simple as can be and I can cut 1/4" hot rolled steel with it. Drill the shearing holes as close to the pivot as possible for maximum leverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmeineke Posted December 4, 2010 Author Share Posted December 4, 2010 Thanks all. I appreciate it. Since I have some leaf spring out in the garage already I'll give that a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 I second Fc's idea. When I worked at a wire display company we had a cutter like he described. It had a series of holes that you put the wire into. Having the holes go through two plates kept the wire/rods from moving, and gave a cleaner cut. Question on the bolt cutter. Why not just use a bolt cutter instead of taking the jaws out? We cut copper, brass, beryllium, and stainless bars at work with a small 18" set. They leave a beveled edge, but since you are forging these into beads it may not matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmeineke Posted December 6, 2010 Author Share Posted December 6, 2010 Yep, I'll be building one like fc described. I've got plenty of leaf spring to make one. I don't own bolt cutters but yeah, if i did I would use them as-is since I'm forging the pieces. A little distortion won't hurt for what I'm doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven NY Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Yep, I'll be building one like fc described. I've got plenty of leaf spring to make one. I don't own bolt cutters but yeah, if i did I would use them as-is since I'm forging the pieces. A little distortion won't hurt for what I'm doing. This is a video of someone making a similar tool to the one fciron was talking about but made out of different stock. http://www.youtube.com/user/coalcreekforge#p/u/0/aLuV2PW8_qg Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Another thought on the bolt cutters. Modify the jaws, and swage the balls directly on the rod. I have seen modified jaws for swaging the rivets on AK47 receivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fciron Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Another thought on the bolt cutters. Modify the jaws, and swage the balls directly on the rod. I have seen modified jaws for swaging the rivets on AK47 receivers. This might be easier with a cable swaging tool. It's got the same compound leverage action but the jaws are flat where they meet, so there is some metal there to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.