Lee Marshall
lmarshal@bonnydoonengineering.com

The deep draw system has been pretty well worked out, and the booklet that Phil Poirier put together for the 3" disc set has been "blind tested" several times to see if there was any way possible to make a mistake.

On page 4 of the booklet is a complete parts identification of all of the components, along with the following caution (which is in bold oversize type)

ALWAYS TEST THE FIT OF THE PUNCH AND ITS CORRESPONDING DIE. THE PUNCH SHOULD SLIP THROUGH THE DIE, IF YOU USE A PUNCH THAT IS TOO LARGE TO SLIP THROUGH THE DIE YOU WILL DAMAGE YOUR TOOLING.

Anyway, here is a couple of images of a 1-1/4" punch partially shoved through a 1" die. The die is 3/8" steel and is "dished" almost 1/8".

The second image shows the bottom side of the die with the copper cup partially showing. The dents were apparently a result of hammer blows trying to reverse the process. Since it took a full 20 tons of force to get it in as far as it is, I really cannot imagine the futility of trying to hammer it back out. The bright ring shows where the die was resting on the support rings.

[ This message was edited on Wed Jul 24 by the author ]