ciladog Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 A few weeks ago I bought a 5 ton Benhmaster punchpress for under $150. The press was in pretty good shape but there were parts missing. The part that holds the 1" punches was missing along with the die plate. I figured no big deal and for that price I couldn't pass it up. I took it all apart and did the electrolysis thing which I am hooked on now for cleaning up old machinery. It sure beats the old wire brush.Today I started making the parts that were missing. The first was the part that holds the punches. It started out as a piece of 1 ½ square that was forged to 1 X 1 ½ to make the blank. Then annealed and machined. The rest is history. Five hours of work on the forge, the mill, and the drill press. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Awesome Craig!!! Nice size machines! I have not made up tooling yet for my little 2 ton but I want to try some hot work on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciladog Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 Thanks Sam You can definitely do hot forging on a punch press despite what some might say and here is how you can do Damascus. Make two-step dies, that when closed gives you the thickness of the finished material and the width of the finished material. Attach the bottom die to a plate (say 5/8 “) and the top die to the ram. Adjust the press for maximum shut height. Then make a bunch of step plates that you can put under the bottom die plate. Maybe 1/8 “for a 2 ton press. Each time you make a forging pass you just add another plate under the bottom die. Hook the punch handle to a foot peddle and you have a press with 70-80 hits per minute. Just don’t make the dies too deep. It will take some trial and error. You do have to consider the maximum travel of the ram per stroke. But it can be done. Oh, don’t you have something to make? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Salvati Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 I do! and I will get to it this week hopefully, or maybe save it for my class at PV! I was thinking of putting a stop fence and a slitter on mine, even if it can only do 1/4" hot that's cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 you've got the skills, I'm coming over soon to see that hammer linkage, My new shop is finally getting under way and I'd like to see your layout. It always look so clean !...oh yeah, I don't have your e-mail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciladog Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 It always look so clean !... Camera magic Larry. :lol: The place is a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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