ciladog Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I made dies for my Anyang whith an angelgrinder a coordinatetable and a drillpress. Theres a description of how i did it at the swedish Antracit forum. I gues you have to google translate it and you need to register to se pictures.Necessity is the mother of invention. Now that’s thinking out of the box. Use what you have and get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNewman Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I think Patrick has the best idea if you can afford it. Much of the time in making dovetails is the setup. So having 4 or 5 sets machined up would probably only cost a little more than 1 set. I would not hesitate for a minute to drill and tap the sow block so you could make bolt down dies. The only thing is it may be fairly hard so be very careful and use a top quality brand new tap to tap the hole. The last thing you want to do is break a tap in the hole. I would remove the sow block and drill it in a drill press or mill, and then use the drill press with a center to ensure the tap is straight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacock Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Patricks method works great I have done it that is what Clifton show me. Again on an air hammer you must make up the space of the missing bottom die. I think your top die dovetail is different and I don't think this will work easily for that one. I have made dovetails no taller than the sow block then drilled and counter bore from the bottom so the top part of the die could be bolted to the dove tail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I had Big Blu make my dies with 3/8" holes drilled similar to the Saymac. Now I just make "die caps" and bolt them on the top and bottom dies. Works like a champ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Patrick thank you for the very good description, don't think I am ready to try that method. i think like you suggest get a bunch of blanks from a machine shop, 1045/4140 I can HT myself. Robin that is incredible! Very ingenious man thank you. BT, I'd just as soon do it the way I mentioned before all that stuff he suggests. John, for limited stuff I think I will drill and tap the sow block as you suggest, thanks for the tips on using the drill press as the center. I always wondered what the little dimple on top of a tapping wrench is for LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Sam Of course you can make your own dies without heavy machinery. The first power hammer I bought (in 2005) was a 50# Little Giant and it didn't have dies. I made these with a cutoff saw, a belt sander and elbow grease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Sam Of course you can make your own dies without heavy machinery. The first power hammer I bought (in 2005) didn't have dies. I made these with a cutoff saw and a belt sander. cool dies...were they made from 4 pieces? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Cool Dave! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Back in February in post no. 25 of this thread I posted about making power hammer dies using a radial arm saw with a grinding wheel. I just located the jig used to hold the hammer die during dovetail grinding process. I used this plywood fixture to hold two sets of dies while grinding the dovetails. The process, although not elegant, produced accurate dovetails . The die in the jig is a commercial die for a different hammer just to show how it all fitted up. The trick is to take light cuts and PUSH the grinder through from the front of the machine otherwise the grinder will climb up onto the work piece and stall. I call the re-purposed saw a redneck surface grinder. Grinding is best performed out of doors since the spark stream is robust and constitutes a fire hazard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hammer Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 cool dies...were they made from 4 pieces? Each die is a single piece of steel... I cut a division line between the flat and fuller sides of the dies. It made using a belt sander easier on the fuller side. Agressive fullering dies on any hammer are suprisingly useful..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnnie Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I love IFK. Need to make new dies for my Beaudry and you guys have given me a few ideas if not answered all my questions, thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnnie Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I love IFK. Need to make new dies for my Beaudry and you guys have given me a few ideas if not answered all my questions, thank you. I even love IFI!!!! Oops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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