[TheForge] Superquench/hardening power hammer dies

[Cameron Stoker]

I make almost all of my forging press dies out of sq'ed a36 - I usually 
don't make it with more than 1.5 in^2 cross section area, and I mig weld 
the die bit to a holder plate after quenching it. The mig wire doesn't 
like the quench stresses.
The dies hold up better than I would have thought - I have some v-blocks 
used for cold chamfering square stock that have done approx. 1000 feet 
of bar with about 1/64th of wear.
	I like the sq'ed steel for press dies because it is soft enough that a 
h13 hack or a stubby punch bite into the surface a bit and have less 
chance of canting and shooting out under force, but tough enough it 
dosen't deform the whole die.

Schade wrote:
> Dave and all,
> 
> First thanks for all the comments.
> 
> The original question was in reference to hammer dies for the new 
> dovetail die holders I just got from Sid at Little Giant. They are just 
> the dovetail section of the die with two tapped holes for mounting your 
> home made dies. The hole spacing is the same on top and bottom 
> dovetails. About  3-1/2". The dovetail is 1-1/2" thick for both top and 
> bottom.
> 
> The original LG 25 dies were 3" top to bottom (according to Sid). If you 
> use a 1/2" thick plate to weld your die to that leaves 1" for the 
> die/hammer/anvil thickness. So it's 1-1/2" for the dovetail which stays 
> keyed into your hammer. 1/2" x 4-3/4" for the mounting plate and 1" for 
> the actual die (i am using 2"x3"x1" A36). So this is not really a 
> massive part to quench in a five gallon bucket.
> 
> First I'm going to try Otto Bacons formula which is just Cascade dish 
> soap and water. If that gives a little hardness...fine. If not I might 
> mix up some super quench and try that. If iI start wearing dies out I 
> will buy some W1 or O1 or etc. Chances are that I will wear out before 
> the dies tho.
> 
> Happy New Year to All.
> 
> Bob
> ____
> 
> On Dec 29, 2004, at 7:34 PM, David E. Smucker wrote:
> 
>> The parts hardened and measured by Otto Bacon had a cross section of 
>> 1/2 x 1/2 with a Rc 50.  This is not the same as a piece the size of a 
>> hammer die. Dave Smucker
> 
> 
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-- 
		Cameron Stoker
		Cameron at stoker.net
		"May you run like a vicuna!"
		pgp key: http://keys.stoker.net