Curly Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Well after a two minute job of loading it into my trailer with a forklift and half a day getting it out again without one, I now have a new 8 ton deep throat fly press in my workshop. Excuse my rather messy workshop, things were chucked around a bit to make room for her! I already have a long list of jobs for her, just need to make up some tooling now. On that note, what would one recommend for the 1" shank to hold the tooling. Would mild steel be ok? My thinking is it can easily be welded or replaced. I like t One of the tools I am looking to build is a little cropper/shear for cutting 1/4" round. I use a lot of this at set lengths so want to be able to rattle through a length without much thought. Ive attached a drawing of the sort of idea I have in mind. Black bits being just mild steel and the red some sort of hardened steel. What do you think? Firstly any flaws in my design, and secondly will an 8 ton press handle that sort of task? Never used a fly press before so not sure at the moment what to expect from one. It did make light work of crushing a coke can mind :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuge Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Nice machine Curley, love the deep throat. I'm sure it will shear the 1/4 stock but is it worth the build? Lots of other ways to do that job. If you go for it you will need some sort of hold down so the bar doesn't rock upon impact. Welcome to quiet forging! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caotropheus Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Nice press you have there. How long is the flywheel bar and how heavy are the counter weights? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Nice press you have there. How long is the flywheel bar and how heavy are the counter weights? Thanks If I remember correctly the bar is around 55" long and each ball has 21 stamped on them, so I guessing that must be in lbs? Nuge, at the moment I do it all via hand held grinders with abrasive wheels. Marking, cutting, moving in a vise and so on. Was thinking about getting a fixed chop saw but thought if spent the morning making up this little tool it would save me the cost of buying one. Will also add an adjustable stop to the design so I can just feed in the bar and chop! Will also add some sort of hold down, probably a tunnel before the shear point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kehler Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I think that two blocks, one sliding, with holes slightly larger than 1/4" that line up when open would work better for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Thanks Jim for the idea, I can see how that would work better however being two closed holes would there be enough movement to allow the fly press to create enough momentum to give the required force? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Nice to meet Linda, she's a beauty. Why aren't you using a bolt cutter on 1/4" round copper? I use bolt cutters on 5/16" mild steel round all the time and those cutters are a good 25 years old. There's no problem making a shear for Linda. Jim's idea of using holes to hold the stock is very workable but you only need the hole in the anvil side. The anvil or heal is the part that doesn't move and the blade is the side that move, almost regardless of the shape. The serious thing I see missing from your drawing is a stop. It needs an adjustable stop so you can consistently cut precise lengths. The blade doesn't need to have such a strong bevel, a little, say 5* is plenty, all it needs is a little relief and it's golden. you can make it similar to a guillotine tool or a bar shear. Linda is the muscle, you don't need special fly press tooling, lots of anvil tools work fine if they fit. Spring dies are primO fly tools. Curly my friend you are going to have a BALL figuring out how much LInda will do for you. Congratulations! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I was wondering about bolt cutters too. Most bar shears I have used had a series of different sized holes going through two blades. Put the stock through both blades, and pull the handle which sheared the bar clean. Similar to the shearing action that wire strippers have to shear small screws. Remember, you only need to travel just past half the diameter to shear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Greetings Curly, I see you well be keeping good company with a good ol girl.. ( linda ) .. Now comes the fun part.. Making tools .. I have make tons of tools for my P6 and still find new ones to make .. One suggestion is a bigger stand.. You will find the energy is so great that it will spin that stand on the floor like a top.. As suggested for your copper cutting a rod sheer would work best or as Frosty suggested a bolt cutter... Another thing I have done in the past is to cut sections of the stock ... Put them into a 1 1/2 pipe to hold them together and gang cut them with a band saw. Have fun and if I can help with tooling let me know.. Forge/press on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 You should be able to shear 3/8 or even 1/2 " . make it exactly as you designed but with holes in the lower part like Frosty said. I make a lot of tooling out of hard bolts that I have in stock anyway, so they don't cost me anything. You could use mild steel just for the stem of a tool. The important thing is a shoulder of some type.The shoulder such take the pressing force. The first thing I did was make a plate and bolt it to the base to clamp fences and jigs to. There is a little section on flypresses at Anvilfire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinculo Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 For the tooling, buy some 1" hex head bolts (Not galvanized or cadmium coated). Cut the threads off 1/4" shorter than the depth of the receiver in the ram. You want the bearing surface to be on the back side of the bolt, not the bottom of the shaft. Then weld on what ever tooling you want to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caotropheus Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 One more question: What is the screw diameter and how many leads is the thread? thanks I am making all these questions because I received a flypress without counter weigths, I restored it, but I still need to improvise the weights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thanks chaps for the suggestions and ideas! Think I will go down the route of having a hole in the fixed face and either have a flat or concave edge on the cutter. Will certainly be having a stop to set the length. As for bolt cutters, I'm trying to find ways to justify this new press so don't go giving me simple solutions like that :) In all seriousness that would be a good option but I currently don't have any and I guess it would still require measuring out. Basically I need to chop lots of 6" and 8" lengths. Will try and track down some 1" bolts as that seems like a good way to go. Or maybe I'll just invest in a lathe... Caotropheus, I'll find out that info for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I had another thought Curly. A stop to keep the cutting blade from bottoming against the anvil is a must, you don't want to be cutting the anvil or blunting the blade. Oh, you want a straight or convex bevel on the blade, a concave bevel will increase contact and resistance as it proceeds into the stock. Besides you want to shear the stock, not cut it. Bolt cutters are handy at the scrap yard or for making roadside finds small enough to fit in the trunk of the wife's car. <wink> Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 I had another thought Curly. A stop to keep the cutting blade from bottoming against the anvil is a must, you don't want to be cutting the anvil or blunting the blade. Oh, you want a straight or convex bevel on the blade, a concave bevel will increase contact and resistance as it proceeds into the stock. Besides you want to shear the stock, not cut it. Bolt cutters are handy at the scrap yard or for making roadside finds small enough to fit in the trunk of the wife's car. <wink> Frosty The Lucky. Was thinking of just using the screw stop on the press to stop the blade going down too much. Not sure how precise you can be with that? Also having trouble trying to get hold of 1" bolts over here, I'm sure it's much easier over in the states. I'm probably not looking in the right places either but nothing has come up trumps online yet. Any suggestions anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinculo Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Was thinking of just using the screw stop on the press to stop the blade going down too much. Not sure how precise you can be with that? THIS!! You can be very precise. The check nut is your friend. No need for a stop block in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arftist Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Was thinking of just using the screw stop on the press to stop the blade going down too much. Not sure how precise you can be with that? Also having trouble trying to get hold of 1" bolts over here, I'm sure it's much easier over in the states. I'm probably not looking in the right places either but nothing has come up trumps online yet. Any suggestions anyone? Buy some 1" bar stock then. Yes, the stop nut, with it's fine thread can be adjusted very accurately. Flyplesses can do extremely accurate work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Coke Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Greetings Curley, You have a lot to learn on your flypress.. Lower the ram with what ever tool you wish to the stock to be formed... If you want the ram to go 5/16 lower at impact slide a 5/16 drill under the adjustable stop nut and tighten .... The ram will now move through your stock plus 5/16. I have a complete set of rods from 1/16 to 1inch... Try it you will like it .... I hope this helps you... Lots more where that came from... Forge /press on and make beautiful things Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 A stop nut, perfect. I've never done more than look a fly press over, well, got to turn one once but. . . <sigh> One has a high spot on my wish list. Frosty The Lucky. 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.