Hydraulic Die Forming Discussion Group
The Dragonfly (#1)

Dar Shelton
sheltech@webtv.net

As I said, it's about 6" by 6" . What's interesting about it so far is that it's 6" by 6" and I sawed it out on my gearmotor saw, with it's 8" clearance and the 8" deep sawframe. So what? , you ask. So this: it's on a piece of steel 9.5" by 8" . That's a full inch and a quarter longer than I've been making the biggest dieplates that I saw
myself. That's 1.25" longer than what fits in my heat treating kiln too. But as it turns out, certain designs/shapes can be setup on plates bigger than I've historically thought would fit through the saws I use.

This makes ALL the difference on a design like the dragonfly, which
would take up so much of an 8" by 8" plate that there's almost no room left for the hinge, certainly not enough for such a big design!.

So anyway it's official; this will be a step by step picture/post
series.

So, the first big indecision is about whether or not to build an epoxy mold for it. I probably will, but it probably isn't actually necessary. It would be beneficial for two main reasons: 1) a solid mold for the die to operate on eliminates most of the abnormal flexing
that can occur with some designs when pressing into urethane pads. Forum vets may recall the trouble I encountered with the narrow space between the wings on the large butterfly. This was the first  cut/emboss die I made and used for long runs. It kept breaking where
a long thin finger of steel was stressing out because the urethane didn't support it well and it flexed a lot before it cut the part.
... 2) A solid mold greatly reduces the pressure required to do the shaping and increases the achievable depth, compared to single pressing in urethane.
oh, and #3) compound set is a very cool thing to have.
Especially if one is in the abit of demonstrating such processes, which I am not.Hmmm... maybe someone here would like a free die?? (^:# (you know who you are).
 But not absolutely necessary for the dragonfly. Better, because it IS a design that is somewhat susceptible to problematic abnormal flexing, and because I can build the forming parts with more depth than I can with a urethane-only die.
Ok bye,
Dar

[ This message was edited on Sun Mar 10 by the author ]

[ Previous ] [ Next ] [ Index ]           Sun Mar 10
[ Reply ] [ Edit ] [ Delete ]