I need to make a couple of blanking dies can I stamp parts by putting the die/metal sandwich on my big anvil, covering it with a block of steel, and giving it a good whack with a 3 pound hammer?
G’day Robert. – The short answer is No! I have made the
odd die successfully by simply cutting 1/16:" - 1/8" mild steel
plate using an ordinary saw frame and the finest blade I could
get. I sawed at right angles to the metal. (You’ll break blades,
but they’re cheap enough) You better be accurate, for you cannot
file afterwards. A block and a good whack won’t be much good;
You need registration for the two pieces to mate properly. I’ll
get to that in a minute, however.
I got a length of 1/16" strip mild steel about 1" wide and
around 30" long. I cut out an area in the end of the strip a
little larger than the cut-out area of the female die itself. I
case hardened the dies and riveted the female die over a hole in
the strip using flush 1/32" rivets made from copper wire, so
when used, the metal shape cut by the male die would fall
through. Next I bent the long strip in half, making a sort of
bow at the bend just like a pair of coal tongs. I sanded the
inside of the other end of the strip to brightness, and sanded
the male die similarly, then tinned the back of the male die with
lead/tin solder and inserted it into the female die, tinned side
up. I drilled a 1/8" hole in the strip near to the male die and
a very slightly smaller hole part way into the steel near the
fixed female die; (the steel strip being bent double of course.)
drilling through the first hole so the two were in perfect
juxtaposition… A very short length of 1/8 rod was forced into
the slightly smaller, part-way hole so it could act as a
register to mate the dies perfectly. Still with me? Yeah? I
wonder!
The ‘tongs’ were closed so that the two dies came together, one
inside the other, and the part bearing the male die was heated
until it was properly soldered to the strip (lead/tin solder
because it melts easily and is strong enough to hold the male die
against the strip.) Finally place the opened gadget between
the jaws of a good metal bench vice, place your silver (or
whatever) sheet - no thicker than 0.5mm - between the dies, and
tighten the vice quickly. A sort of ‘thud’ will tell you the job
is done. And there you are.
However, if you have failed to follow this rigmarole, (can’t
really blame you, eh?) and still want to do the job, give me a
direct call on email, and I will try and mail diagrams and
perhaps even a scan of a dolphin necklace made using this
method. It reallyworks (as said on TV) but don’t expect the dies
to cut well after the 20th or so. But it is still less work
than sawing each shape separately. Cheers. And Phew!! Easier to
build than to describe without pictures!
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/ / Johnb@ts.co.nz
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(_______) In sunny temperate Mapua NZ -
Autumn’s here and Winter isn’t far away.