Iron worker punches ?

[vapremac]

Hello everyone!

Wondering if anyone uses iron worker punches and dies in their flypress and
how well it works?
Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks......

[AndrewOC]

Me too!

I have been eye-ing these at our local machinery importer;

http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Hand-Punch-and-Dies

 

cheers,

AndrewOC

PS anyone in Australia that knows of cheaper suppliers?

[MLMartin]

Many punch sets have been used in fly presses. It is what they were mainly used for in the US. Most shops that used them however were working jewelry. Soft metal that was very small. I think a manual fly press would be on the small side to punch steel 1/4 inch or thicker cold. If you want to punch hot steel I am sure a larger manual fly press can but used some.

 

Before you use a commercially produced punch and die for steel make sure to look up the usage information from the manufacture. Most punch and dies are only made to be used with cold metal. You would need to ask the company if they can be used with hot steel safely.

 

M Martin

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Vapermac,

 

I have been using Whitney top punches in my flypress for years..  I made 3 receivers that allow me to use 1/2... 9/16... and 1 in top punches.. I use the 1in with many of the punches and forming tools that I use as hand held ones from my treadle hammer..  I tried using the Whitney upper and lower dies but found them cumbersome and hard to align.  At best they work with sheet and material less than 16g for punching holes..    The top punches are easy to reshape and work extremely well for surface texture for cold work..  My larger tools are H13 and are well suited for hot work..  Decorative and edge work is easy and fun when you have an inventory of easily modified and available top punches.  Smiths are catching up to what I have done for years.. I seen a cool top receiver /tool holder on E Bay.   A flypress is not a replacement for an iron worker..  You cant punch holes in 3/8 stock like my iron worker..  But you can hot with H 13 punches just like you do on the anvil or treadle hammer...  Its a pleasure to have tooling that works well in more than one piece of equipment..  

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

[Judson Yaggy]

Jim, you always have good stuff, thanks.  

 

I thought I had some free time coming up, now it'll be spent searching thru the buckets of odd punches etc. and grinding.  

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Judson,

 

Thanx I try to pass on as much as I can ..  The bucket is far from empty and I will continue as long as you all put up with me..  Just a note ..  When grinding hard punches to reshape it is best to keep them under 250 degrees to retain the hardness...  Have a great holiday..

 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

[vapremac]

Thanks for the replies and the great technical info! I was kinda thinking it would be nice to
have such a vast arsenal of sizes to choose from and locate hole position much easier.

[arftist]

My first flypress was a tiny #0 from a jeweler's collection. I used it to hot punch diaganol through 1/2" square (11/16 " thickness).

 

It took quite a few hard swings and I knew I would wreck the little thing if I kept at it, so as soon as possible I obtained a much larger one.

 

I kept the baby for soft metals like it was made for.