Flared Hole Die Thread

[balterbuilt]

oh that's a sticker...haha, guess I was just glancing and thought it was cut out :-P

[B-Rad]

Buddy asked me to make him a cart for his plasma(which I borrow A LOT )
Got a little carried away and heres what I ended up with

[CaptainAirTime]

I've wanted these forever, and might be able to justify purchasing 1 or 2 at this point, but will my little 6 ton bench top press do the deed? I'm thinking of a 1.5", and a 1", with possibly a 2" in future if I can't live without it :)
.125 mild steel would be the norm, with lighter stuff occasionally. Can someone with these sizes and a pressure gage do a test run, and tell me what it takes? I *might* get away with a 10 ton cylinder in my press, but I'm not keen on the idea. If I can get away with the 6 ton and a 1.5" die, it might be the impetus I require to build a proper press too!
Thanx

Erik

[cbrogers]

There is a pretty cool thread on Pirate where a guy created a simple press for just usind the dies. I really like the design.

Here is a pic of the press.

Carl

[BadDog]

Add a couple of bucks and get the air over 20T ram and you've got something much nicer to use. $69 on sale, and add in a coupon to make it really sweet. That's what I use on my h-frame.

[BadDog]

Just noticed, HF has the 12 ton air/hydro bottle jack for $50 right now. Realistically, it's probably more realistic to consider it at roughly 8 tons, but that would be more than enough for a mini press used for flare dies. A little more thought on the press frame would yield a nice small multi-purpose press press that would hold bending/break dies, dimple dies, flange dies, and even punch dies or shears for thin gage...

[balterbuilt]

harbor frieght...it will break on the second use....

[Captainfab]

Originally Posted by CaptainAirTime

I've wanted these forever, and might be able to justify purchasing 1 or 2 at this point, but will my little 6 ton bench top press do the deed? I'm thinking of a 1.5", and a 1", with possibly a 2" in future if I can't live without it :)
.125 mild steel would be the norm, with lighter stuff occasionally. Can someone with these sizes and a pressure gage do a test run, and tell me what it takes? I *might* get away with a 10 ton cylinder in my press, but I'm not keen on the idea. If I can get away with the 6 ton and a 1.5" die, it might be the impetus I require to build a proper press too!
Thanx

Erik

This afternoon I did a 2" flared hole in a piece of 10ga. (.134) mild steel. According to the gauge on my press it took 14 tons. I'm not sure how accurate the gauge is, but that's what it said. Hope that helps some

John

[B-Rad]

Finished that plasma cart.

[BadDog]

Originally Posted by balterbuilt

harbor frieght...it will break on the second use....

Really? Someone forgot to tell that to a bunch of stuff I bought there. Not only has the air/hydro bottle worked successfully some 50+ times so far, or the hand pumped one that lasted for the last 3 years or so without so much as a complaint or leak, or the 4.5" grinder I bought around 2000 that has been running a 1/4" stone (gone through 2 boxes of 10 each, plus another dozen individuals of different width from Sait/Dewalt/etc. as well as spending time with knotted wire, cup, and cut-off wheels before I bought the extra grinders) through many projects, or the other 3 I bought just like it to use with other wheels and have yet to fail a single time. Oh, and shall we talk about the 4x6 HF band saw that has cut like a champ for 6 years and many, MANY feet of steel that went into many projects? Shall I go on?

They are not top quality, and you have to be careful what you get there as some things just aren't worth even trying, but for home shops and such, HF makes a lot of sense on many items. Sure, sometimes you get something that fails right away. I bought a spot light that was bad out of the box. It is something of a crap shoot, but for some things it just does not matter. I’ve got Snap-on, Ingersoll-Rand, Craftsman, HF, and all points in between. I’ve got import arbors on Albrecht chucks running in a Bridgeport mill, no complaints. Each is chosen based on what I consider good return on investment/risk/requirements.

I've really never understood the Snap-on snobs (and their like) working in home shops and decrying anyone who would be so lame as to buy cheap tools for ANY purpose. Some folks just HAVE to get the best of everything while exaggerating the perils of working from and living within a limited budget. If you have the money and desire, then by all means spend it all on $$$$ tools you will use a few times a year, or to do a single project before mothballing. But me, I buy cheap when it makes sense and use the savings for other things I would otherwise have to take a pass on. For someone tooling up a home shop and trying to build a small dedicated press, does it really make sense to go out and buy a high dollar air over hydro ram? Or a hand pumped high quality US made ram at 4+ times the price of the HF a/h bottle? Not to me it doesn’t. And based on the budgetary constraints implied by the person asking the question, I’m guessing HF quality is going to be at about the right price point to fulfill his needs.

[ScooteK]

harumph! My $5.00 angle grinder is going on 3 years.

[Ed rodder]

Originally Posted by scootek

harumph! My $5.00 angle grinder is going on 3 years.

I have some hf drills from 5/8 to I think 3/4 that have saved my but many time and still cutting good. there band saw is a great home shop unit and many other tools. Use some common sense and shop no wrenches ratchets screw drivers but there 14 metal cutoff saw blades work fine. I will still hit the place for certain items my tig is miller, mig is lincoln, bender is Hossfeld, plasma thermal arc. have there cheapo pipe bender works good for pipe. Ed ke6bnl

[Trebor]

smashmetal, Was the sheetmetal that you dimpled with the 4" die cut before or after the dimpling? I am curious because if you cut the metal first I am suprised by the lack of distortion of the edges. I will probably purchase some die at some point. I am curious as to how much edge distortion is caused by these types of dies near the edges.

Robert

[smashmetal]

Originally Posted by Trebor

smashmetal, Was the sheetmetal that you dimpled with the 4" die cut before or after the dimpling? I am curious because if you cut the metal first I am suprised by the lack of distortion of the edges. I will probably purchase some die at some point. I am curious as to how much edge distortion is caused by these types of dies near the edges.

Robert

The hole must be cut before the dimpling takes place. The dies are in a male, female configuration. For example, If your making a 2" flared hole you simply cut a 2" hole. The male die has a 2" guide to center it's self in the hole and is also is a guide for the female die as well. Hope this helps, I know a picture would sum everything up.

[CaptainAirTime]

Sounds like 6 tons is enough to squish out some 1.5" holes in 14g. I'll give it a shot. (Order Up, Keith! get out of bed, and go box them up :) ) They're probably tools that get used all the time once you've got them, and I'll kick myself for not getting the whole set, but I've just got to try them out first. My tool/parts budget has been brutalized in the last few months LOL!

Any guidelines for size/spacing relative to the size of the work piece?

[cbrogers]

I wanted to show that Press and thread, Because I thoguht that it was a unique idea. I had not seen something like that. And yes the air over hydraulic is a cool addition.

But the guy that built this did it in a hour or so with scrap arround his shop. So with a homemade tool you have to expect a few iterations.

I like the idea that it gives you more room to work arround the suppots than a typical H-beam press would. This should be cheep too. Espically for light guage Sheet metal.


I will have to get on a press like this.

Carl

[B-Rad]

Re did the winch gaurd I posted a few pages back. It was off just enough that it didnt fit my standards

[BadDog]

This just reminded me, I didn't post pics of my winch mount/guard V2. It's got a few flare holes in the front panels. Click the pic for full size image.

[ScooteK]

32, two inch flares.

[balterbuilt]

Labor!!!