August 18, 20196 yr Author Yes, Jennifer, well said. You are well versed on this process. This is currently an exercise in "what I can get away with". I have a beautiful K.O.Lee Aberdeen tool & cutter grinder up in the shop, If I have to get serious. If I were to get seriously serious, I would purchase used OEM top and bottom sets, and refurbish them. I welcome all scrutiny and critical analysis of my tinkering....... Robert Taylor
August 18, 20196 yr No Critiquing here.. Just more FYI for those following along. There is a difference between knowing what one can get away with (experience or knowledge first hand aka analytical thinking) vs just seen. I use a punch shaped like the one sided you had shown for a hand punch to cut wrought iron against the grain before punching but many don't understand why. I love the pushing of the envelope and understanding. same page now. Have you tried a less or greater angle to see how it manipulates the bar and punch slug? I see the slug has the one sided shear factor. Pretty neat indeed.
August 19, 20196 yr Author Thanks, Jennifer, the possibilities are endless, really. I am one of those who has not yet divined a hypothesis for your wrought iron comment. but I hope to come up with something before you share that nugget. That 15º angle is the result of me running past the 40 grit belt over the course of two hours, grind and set aside to cool, repeat. Had I stayed on it, with quenching, I would have been closer to my goal. Way steeper than I had intended. Ideally, I would want to be around 7º ±2º. I think that I have use of 50% -75% of the machine's capacity right now, as it is strapped to a 75# industrial wagon, who wants to rotate. I am eager to get the thing mounted onto the ~600# Walker-Turner drill press table. Till then, I must confess that I might as well be just goofing off (sort of).
April 11, 20215 yr Author Quite a bit has happened to the flypress since my last post. Here is a two-bit flower that I roughed out with one of my newest dies: The picture with the copper disk was a test cut. Next die will be a single bevel, to make for cleaner lines. This test has inspired the design of the next iteration of dies for this product. Robert Taylor Edited April 11, 20215 yr by Anachronist58 Post Assembly
April 12, 20215 yr Very nice. More please. My grandpa was a tool and die man. I find it facinating, but never had the time or brain power to pursue it! I am of the artistic bent....
April 13, 20215 yr I liked the step where it looked like gingko leaves. I enjoy finding/using improvised tooling for my screw press; it's just a #2---stands 7' tall and the toroid is over 200 pounds (Every company had their own numbering system...) I've found the dome headed RR bolts and spherical trailer hitch balls that both fit in my tool holder work well as well as the replaceable ends of rock drills that make a good sized " + ". I also use it with my dishing forms and my latest a charcoal strainer that fits on top a 5 gallon steel bucket, made from expanded metal, was done using a large bearing race outer ring and a section of 8" steel round. My hot cuts, punches and drifts get a work out too.
April 13, 20215 yr Author Thanks, Nodebt, I was very excited to produce something besides tooling with my tooling... that blade is like a five ton vegematic, Made from bi-metal commercial band saw blade. The upcoming challenge will be when I try to fabricate cookie cutters from this material. I am practiced in most of the steps: Forming, grinding, brazing; will have a learning curve on heat treatment. ThomasPowers said: "I've found the dome headed RR bolts and spherical trailer hitch balls"... Yes, I have both of those in my kit. A bit inconvenient to have to blend out that pesky flat that resides on the top of most trailer balls... Good tip on the rock drills. I am basing my quick change tooling on 1"-8 threads, which is working out very well. Would love to see that 8" die set! Had to look up ginkgo leaves - those striations were fun to make with a blunt edged die. Robert Taylor
April 13, 20215 yr Author Here is the 1"-8 top adapter for the quick change die: And the nut to receive tooling, with thrust washers to distribute the load to the ram face: Robert Taylor
April 13, 20215 yr The flats are a pain to deal with; that's why I specified spherical trailer hitch balls---the one with no flats. Not very common; so I pick them up whenever I find them at the scrapyard or fleamarket. An old armourer's trick was to buy a hitch with a flat, cut the ball off leaving a bit of the stem on it. Flip it over and weld the flat to the remaining stem and grind the little bit of the stem left on the ball to match the curve of the ball. Too much trouble for me; I just go with ones with no flat...
June 9, 20215 yr Author Second iteration of two bit flower. Now I develop a set of feature-driven dies: Knife blanks from bimetal commercial bandsaw blade: Had to thin this file to .041" thick to finish the blade holder: Time to slice and dice: And here is the kaboodle: Note to self - do not vein the petals when fatigued and up against a deadline... these are a good bit more inconsistent than what I was going for: Driving up to Ventura, California, today to deliver the goods. Thanks for looking, Robert Taylor
June 9, 20215 yr Author Glenn, Depends on how fast I get. Were it profitable, I would make hundreds... The current tooling is adequate for giving them away as gifts, but not for sales... the drawing and blanking can be sped up substantially, but I am enjoying the texturing a bit to much to mechanize at present. I am just grateful right now to be able to walk and breathe :+D... Robert Taylor Edited June 9, 20215 yr by Anachronist58 addendum
January 28, 20224 yr Author Tantalizing.... As I struggle to stay above the water of various Maladies, this press has been a way forward through my rubbishiest moments. Pictured is a return spring a bit like the one I will deploy for some of my favorite thump-a-thump operations, such as earlier pictured two bit flower, which I can still do if I can make it downstairs. The point of this post is not the disability, but rather, the Possibility! Keep swinging at 'em, Brothers and Sisters! Robert Taylor
January 28, 20224 yr Keep on paddeling Robert. I've never had the opportunity to use a fly press, I bet they are fun to work with. I was just now wondering as I look back over Two Bit Flower if a rotary table or dividing head of some sort would speed things up and help with uniformity. Probably too much pressure for a dividing head, idk. When you get back up to speed, I would think a simple, stout home made rotary table rig would work. If it would even if it would even be an idea that works for what you have in mind, that is.... I have some weird ideas in the middle of the night sometimes. I'm going back to bed. Hang in there.
January 28, 20224 yr Dragon Ash Forge has a 25# LG with a broken lower die holder that he rigged up a rotary table to hold dies for it and change them out *fast*. IIRC he was using a differential for the bearing and a thick plate cut in a circle with the dies mounted towards the edge of it. Saw him use it at a SWABA, (now NMABA) meeting a decade ago or so...
January 28, 20224 yr That's a set up I would like to see in action. I don't think a commercially made one would stand the abuse for very long. I had a small chinese dividing head I practically had to give away at my moving tool sale. Nobody knew what it was or was used for. One guy thought it was a welding fixture. Could be, I suppose.... I probably should learn how to sell on fleabay and it's ilk. Day late and a dollar short.
January 28, 20224 yr It's the only one I have seen like it. He's a professional smith and has done a lot of ornamental work where having lots of different tooling to hand can really help speed things up.
March 25, 20224 yr Author Cold forming commercial bandsaw blade as a hammer eye cleanup chisel. This eye had a lot of big chunks in it. Works well. Magnetic ball chuck holds different sized balls. I am sure someone will steal my idea, or, am I unwittingly stealing it from someone else? Oh, the Mystery!! Robert Taylor
March 25, 20224 yr Apply for a patent and see what happens, that will clear it up. I have seen some of my sculpture ideas hyjacked on the internet. I don't care. I consider it "free ware" as far as my stuff goes if I put it on the www. If I want to adopt someone elses things, I always ask. I don't think you can patent scrap metal artwork anyway. Nice work, keep it up.
March 25, 20224 yr Nope that would be a copyright type of thing. I'm more likely to steal the method of mounting the angle iron for use. I still pick up all the dome headed solid tow hitches I find. Flat topped are easy to find; but I find the true domed ones more useful. (I've met SCA armourers that have actualy cut a flat topped ball off and flipped it over to weld the flat onto a stem and then grind the cut to match the curve of the ball---much easier to find a dome headed one to start!
March 25, 20224 yr Is that magnetic ball chuck sort of like a "quick change"? I could see TW's "cannonball agitators" of different sizes working well for such an application... Just add threads!
March 26, 20224 yr Author Scott, I am too tired to try to protect my presumptive intellectual property. I have a younger brother who stole most of the good DNA, and he he has many patents, and shares our 'open source' philosophy... all good. The 'quick change' on the pictured chuck, is in that one can simply pull one ball off, and throw another size on. This one has an accidentally pleasing range of about ø.5" - ø1.0". I have a worked out a hyperbolic curve for a wider range for a single chuck. That is, a curvature that grips various ø balls with adequate force. I have a very competent grinding machine to achieve the desired profile. It is all savantry at this point, and requires further proof of concept. 11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: I'm more likely to steal the method of mounting the angle iron for use. Very handy, Thomas. We always wish to weld up a proper fixture once we have proven our concept, but one reliable Blacksmith's addage, is that prototype and mockup often become the finished product. Nonetheless, this is one item well worth fabbing up, as a floating flypress V-block is a thing delightful, indeed. And SO simple to fabricate... I suppose I ought to produce that batch of pudding... Robert Taylor On 1/28/2022 at 7:31 AM, ThomasPowers said: that he rigged up a rotary table to hold dies for it and change them out *fast*. IIRC he was using a differential for the bearing and a thick plate cut in a circle with the dies mounted towards the edge of it. I would love to see that...
March 28, 20224 yr I believe he will be demonstrating at the next NMABA meeting and so his shop in Mountainair NM is probably still active if you get out this way.
March 28, 20224 yr Author I like New Mexico quite a lot. My Uncle Robert was a scientist thereabouts, you know the types who hang out around Albuquerque... Edit: A geologist, now that I have pondered it... Edited March 28, 20224 yr by Anachronist58 addendum
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.