[TheForge] Making dies for cutting sheet metal?

[Jay Hayes]

Stack the 4-8 blanks and clamp or tack weld at the ends. Cut the teeth 
with a band saw, hack saw, or zip disc. Then unclamp or grind off the 
tack welds.  A cheap Harbor Freight band saw would knock it out in a few 
minutes with little cleanup.

On 3/15/2014 7:42 AM, Bruce . wrote:
> Okay, I think I count the following "votes" in favor of
> ​
>
> dies
> ​​
>
> ​      ​
>    1
> chisel
> ​
> ​
>        ​
>        1​
>
> ​
> ​
> Forge
> ​and​
> grind
> ​  ​
>   1​
> ​
> ​
> ​plasma
> ​     ​
>
> ​
> ​
>       ​
> ​ ​
>      1
> water jet
> ​
> ​
>            ​
> ​ ​
>    3
> laser
> ​
> ​
>        ​
>          4
>
> ​... with five people "voting"!
>
> Only one vote for punch and dies -- or maybe 1 and a half.  Okay. on to the
> next idea.  (BTW, I was thinking of making punch and dies myself, not laser
> cutting them, using Streeter's method or something such.)
>
> The chisel idea is interesting, but I expect it would involve a lot of
> clean-up.  It occurred to me on reading this that I might be able to
> combine techniques and acheive the end:  Punch a hole, shear to the hole to
> make the "raw" tine, then use a smaller punch to form the end of the tine.
> I may look into this.
>
> I've tried forging and it works well, but is very slow, and not very
> reproducible.  I started making a "die" (really just a support apparatus)
> to facilitate forging, but ran into some troubles and decided to
> investigate alternative approaches.  I may change my approach and try it
> again.
>
> Same for grinding.  If I change my approach as suggested, I might make it
> feasible.  (I doubt that combining it with forging would be necessary.)
> I tried milling, but I lack a milling machine.  Using a milling attachment
> on a lathe, I ran into problems that might not be worth the bother trying
> to overcome.  What comes to mind is to  mount a Dremel in the 4-jaw chuck
> of the lathe (which would act only as a holder), then mount a stack of
> stock in my milling attachment, and have at that with the Dremel.  The
> milling attachment provides fairly close control of the motions, thus
> compensating for my lousy hand-to-eye coordination.
>
> I have been considering sawing these out using a jeweler's saw -- tedious,
> but I can work from a pasted-on drawing and get the result I need.
>
> So much for techniques I can do myself.  On to the ones I'd have to
> contract out:
>
> My limited knowledge of plasma cutting suggests it won't produce a clean
> enough cut.
>
>
> Waterjet and laser sound attractive, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to
> get started with these.  Any pointers?  Do any firms advertise onesy-twosy
> production?
>
> As for the questions asked:
> I'm aiming to make the combs from stock between 1/32" and 1/8" (1/16" is a
> good choice).  I need at least 7 teeth so am aiming for 8 or more teeth for
> now.  Later I might want to go to much larger numbers, but smaller sizes.
> For the current design, the teeth would be 1/4" wide and spaced 1/4" apart,
> and 2" long, including the complication on the end. The combs must be
> reasonably identical -- not rocket science, but they must work together in
> the final device, so must be compatible.  I would have trouble achieving
> this with hand work, but any ordinary machining approach would be fine.
>
> ​Thanks for your input.​
>
>
> Bruce
> NJ
> ______________________________________________________________
> TheForge mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:TheForge at mailman.qth.net
>
> TheForge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.shutterfly.com
> Login: blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> Password: anvil
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html