What is your dream forging press?

Ron Claiborne said:
Nick those are good looking dies and im sure you are very familiar with your press and that you as other that us one for a while get in tune with there machine ,know what you can do and what you cant its part of the process of using a press .
The reason I don’t like combo die is not for the person that has learned his machine its for the guy that has never used one , Im sure we all have the control that we need to do what we want but for a person to start with combo dies can remember I said can cause some trouble not all ways for sure . The person that has experience with others presses or have had the good fortune to watch some one else use one will have a different understanding of the power of a press than some one that has never used one or is trying to learn on his own .
. Most ( Not All ) that start using a press for the first time tend to go to long before reheating and they have the idea that tonnage will keep mashing steel even after the dies stop – putting the press in a undue strain , combo dies are great for people that have a understanding of their press and learn to reheat keep it hot when off center that needs said .
I use combo dies myself I tend not to offer them to customers that have little or no exspearance using a press that’s the reason I mention it to Mike he has never used a press and hes going to a lot of trouble to get the press he wants . My only intent is to let him have some time learning the power before , then if he feels he needs a combo die he will as we all do build them as he goes
They are dies for forging all types of shapes on a press some have come up with some that I was blown away with and they work great but some of these dies are a one time press with very hot steel to keep from hurting the press or them self .
But as you said if you can think it up it most likely can be used but even you will have to admit its best to know your machine before trying them
Bowie

You are making some very good points Ron. You have to know the limitations of the press in order to work safely. If I understand you correctly you are saying most people dont reheat soon enough and end up damaging the press. How do you know when its time to reheat? Is it the color of the metal, the feel of the steel or a combination of both?
 
Per Mr. Wheelers suggestion. Here are some drawing dies that i plan on making. The round bar is 2" od the width if the flat is 2.5". The small gussets are 3/8" plate, lasered. The flats are 1/2" plate lasered and stacked
Anyone see any problems?
 

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just a suggestion on your stacked plates.
While you are cutting them, cut a half round in the ends 3/8-1/2" or so, clamp them in a vice and weld em together in the half rounds.

You get a little more meat in the weld and since you has acess to a laser anyhow..... :D
 
Sweany said:
just a suggestion on your stacked plates.
While you are cutting them, cut a half round in the ends 3/8-1/2" or so, clamp them in a vice and weld em together in the half rounds.

You get a little more meat in the weld and since you has acess to a laser anyhow..... :D

Is this what you mean?
 

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that's it. Should save a buncha welding. :D

My experience with running a bead on the outside of a stack of plates is they let loose eventually
 
Michael-

I don't see any big problems, but--- wouldn't it be easier to just laser the round stock in half?

The reason I say this: If you have a full round and flat that thick on top and bottom die, it will be really HEAVY.

But then again, you wouldn't need the laser cut gussets... which are cool as heck :)

-Nick-
 
NickWheeler said:
Michael-

I don't see any big problems, but--- wouldn't it be easier to just laser the round stock in half?

The reason I say this: If you have a full round and flat that thick on top and bottom die, it will be really HEAVY.

But then again, you wouldn't need the laser cut gussets... which are cool as heck :)

-Nick-
The capacity of the laser is .875" in mild steel plate. It is a 2 axis laser. It would be like a milling machine with the cutter being the laser beam. The laser head is a noncontact head which means it senses the top of the plate and raises a fixed distance depending on the depth of the focus. As the head moves in the X and Y direction the sensor follows any high and low spots in the surface of the plate to maintain the gap between the suface of the sheet and the nozzle tip.

What I am doing a terrible job of explaining is thay I cant laser 2" round stock in half. As far as the gussets go, I am lasering the die plates out of 3/8" and I already have a 3/8" plate on the laser table so it makes sense to cut the gussets with the rest of the parts.
 
michael when you wear out the top of the round you can cut it loose and flip it over :D
 
Sweany said:
michael when you wear out the top of the round you can cut it loose and flip it over :D

Im not going to actually USE this thing.

If i use it it will wear out and this is way to much work to let that happen.
 
Here is what I believe to be the final design for the drawing dies and the die plates. I will be cutting the die plates in the next few days. I think this should make it easier to remove the dies and the handle should stay cool. Thanks for the die suggestions Mr. Wheeler.

I can differentiate the top dies from the bottom dies by the scalloped handle on the top dies.
 

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NickWheeler said:
I don't know who this "Mr." guy is... but I REALLY like what you've got going Michael! :cool:

-Nick-

Thanks Nick. Does it look like anything will get in the way? Its easier to change it in the model than after I have it lasered.
 
Im not going to actually USE this thing.

If i use it it will wear out and this is way to much work to let that happen.


awww, so. wanna buy a nitrogen pressurized container :D :D :D
 
Wait... You mean I just read this whole thread and he didn't post the final picture.... Come on now I must see the end of the saga. You look like your doing, or now did a great job
 
If I remember correctly...it's still "in progress"....


I, too, would love to see a current pic....:D :p
 
Yes , It is still in process. I realized that I could not do what I need to do to make this without a Bridgeport so i was trying to outsource alot of the smaller parts. I found a deal on a used Bridgport and finally got that up and running. In the mean time, I got further behind on knife orders. I cleaned the mill, got a rotary phase converter and wired that up in my garage and got even further behind on knife orders.

I made a shorter version of the press frame and at one time I had 2 presses that werent completed. I traded the shorter press frame for a 3 burner Mankel forge and got even further behind in knife orders.

I was never really happy with the guides so i redesigned it and am in the process of getting the collars made and making some of the other smaller parts on my mill. I did get a 7.5 HP Baldor motor, pump, valve and other misc items so i think I have everything I need to put it together after I get the guides in place. By the way, I am still behind in knife orders.

The new guide has 2 two inch diam round bars on each side of the cylinder. If you look from the top dowm it looks like a five on a domino. The center would be the cylinder. The 4 on the outside would be the 4 guides.
Do you think it might be over engineered?:rolleyes:

I will put some pics of the new guide system up on Tuesday and take some pics of the press on Monday.
 
Here is a quick peek at the new ram. second pic is a side view. This is not the final design. The latest has the 1" plate extending past the collars with 4 holes drilles in the plate to line up the collars.
 

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