Spears Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I had a trial piece left over from my corner notching die that I figured would make a good stem for a candle holder needing only the addition of a base and cup. Using a 6” diameter disk of 1/4” thick plate, I filed three small notches equally spaced around the rim. Looking close you can see the small notch at the bottom of the closest dip on the finished piece. In my power hammer I used a dish for the bottom die and a peen for the top. In the picture of all the dies it would be the one on the lower left and the one just right of the upper left. The tiny notches around the rim of the disk still remain visible when the disk is red hot. Taking eyeball aim at each one using a few strokes of the power hammer until “bottom out” I created three nice “edge dips” around the rim for a three-point candle holder base. This base was drilled and then plug welded from the bottom side to the stem. Little to no bench grinding was needed before wire wheel and beeswax for a nice clean looking art piece that drew quite a few tickets at an iron-in-the-hat give away. Spears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Really nice looking candle holders! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearhartironwerks Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I had a trial piece left over from my corner notching die that I figured would make a good stem for a candle holder needing only the addition of a base and cup. Using a 6” diameter disk of 1/4” thick plate, I filed three small notches equally spaced around the rim. Looking close you can see the small notch at the bottom of the closest dip on the finished piece. In my power hammer I used a dish for the bottom die and a peen for the top. In the picture of all the dies it would be the one on the lower left and the one just right of the upper left. The tiny notches around the rim of the disk still remain visible when the disk is red hot. Taking eyeball aim at each one using a few strokes of the power hammer until “bottom out” I created three nice “edge dips” around the rim for a three-point candle holder base. This base was drilled and then plug welded from the bottom side to the stem. Little to no bench grinding was needed before wire wheel and beeswax for a nice clean looking art piece that drew quite a few tickets at an iron-in-the-hat give away. Spears. Wow...you're really organized. Can you come to my shop and help me a bit? The pay sucks, but happy hr is pretty good. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnnie Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Love your work! Esp. the dies, what steel are you using for them and how on earth did you file out the notches??? Inspired but confused, thanks for sharing! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spears Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 The steel used was some left over 4140. Not the ultimate for this application but will work a few times. I used a vertical milling machine to make this. To do this by other methods might be quite a trick. Clamp two blocks in a machining vise and zero in on the split. Drill a through hole the size of the inscribed circle of the size of square rod you plan on notching. Using a larger endmill, counter bore down nearly to the half way point of the thickness of the two blocks. Flip them over and do the same to the other side. Using a dremel, sharpen the small webs of material left in the middle. Heat treatment definitely helps it. You now have a guillotine style notching tool. I posted some more pictures of this tool sometime in the past which you can find pretty easy. Spears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnnie Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks a lot Spears! I thought you might have used a Milling machine. Thanks for all the info John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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