TECH, Homemade dimple dies, flaring holes

Homemade dimple dies

I made what turns out to be called a dimple die. I just did a search here on the HAMB and came up with a few posts dealing with how to make them / where they can be bought.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95737

Like a dummy I dove right into making some dies to put a flare on a hole in sheet metal with ought even looking at what was out there. Despite not doing my homework I got lucky, the results are better than I expected and worth sharing.

This all began when I decided I wanted to make a reinforcement plate for the modified rear kick up in my unboxed 32 frame. Having seen some amazing work here on the HAMB and especially inspired by the Ionia Hot Rod Shop frame, I decided to recreate the flared lightning hole treatment in some 14 gauge for the plate.

I started off with a trip to the local scrap yard for some 4” steel round stock that I could turn on a lathe. I had the yard cut two pieces to the rough length for the dies. I chucked the steel up in the lathe and made the male die with a 45degree taper and the female with a straight-sided pocket corresponding to the outer dimension of the flange. To keep every thing centered I added a locating pin made which was made from a ½” bolt. Next I made a pattern to determine the centerline and spacing for the holes. I transferred this to the 14 gauge and used a hole saw to make the holes. I cleaned up the edges of the holes and sanded them smooth to keep them from gouging the dies. I brought the piece over to the shop press and added a generous amount of high temp grease to the dies. The taper on the male die centers the hole and the locating pin keeps everything in line. My 20-ton press formed the metal with ease.

I was very pleased with the results. The part is slightly distorted but should easily flatten. I may have approached this slightly differently if I had done a little research before I jumped in but it turned out great.

This isn’t a new topic to the HAMB but if you have access to a lathe and a press it is relatively easy and inexpensive to do.
Chris

 

This should have been a Tech Week winner!

 

whats the thickest guage steel you have tried that tool on?? looks like a pretty easy make

 

The 14 gauge is the thickest I have tried. I think the dies will work on thicker material probably up to 10 gauge but they would need to be hardened to last. If I were planning on using thicker material I would probably machine a matching taper on the female die for extra support. These would work on aluminum like butter.

Chris

 

Nice tech, Chris......the holes look quite professional.....

CB

 

I like your dies but you don't have to do the 45 degree cut if you don't want to. I have some flaring dies that a friend made for me years ago and they are from aluminum and I have done lots of steel with them. It wears the front edge but I have probably done a couple of hundred holes with the one in the picture and it still works great. If you look close you can see that the punch side has a guide diameter that fits into the bore in the die side and then there is a step, this die is for a 1-1/2 inch dia hole so the guide diameter is 1-1/2 dia and it pilots into the hole in the sheet metal and the step diameter is 1-3/4 inch dia so when you press them closed the 1-3/4 dia flairs the metal down into the die with a nice radius. Easy to make and they sure are handy. If you happen to use aluminum for the set don't do 4130 sheet as it will really eat the die. It is on my list to make some from steel so I can do 4130. I use my 8 inch bench vice to form, works on most things I make.

 

thanks keep up the good work

 

Nice job, thanks for posting,

 

awesome!!

 

Very simple..I like it!

 

looks great chris!
now weld that frame together so she looks like a hot rod!!

Zach

 

Great post. I had Hotroddrummer Matt from Ionia Rod Shop make full lenght boxing plates for my 32 chassis with the Belled holes,,, they have been doing it for quite some time now.

 

interesting, the kids did this for their robot this past winter, using an aluminum punch and die set we made on the lathe.

now we'll have to think of some automotive applications!

 

Hey squirrel, any links to photos of the robot?

 

The dies do a great job, but seriously, how much reinforcement do you expect to get on a chassis from 14 ga. plate?

 

Brian / everyone thanks for the compliments.

I bought frame rails from JW Rod Garage because they were 10 gauge opposed to American stampings 11 gauge. I wanted to have an un-boxed frame so I went with the thicker rails. The only problem was I didn’t want the C notch. So I removed it. These plates will go in the area I modified (recessed about ¾" in the rail) to add a little strength. Ford actually added a reinforcing plate in this area mid run in 32 for strength. My plate is different than the ford update but I felt I should probably do something.

 

In the overall scheme of thing, I suppose that 14 ga. is better than nothing. If I had been doing it, I would have used 10 ga. and forgot the dimples. Then again, nobody has appointed me "hotrod critic of the world".

 

...gotta love belled holes...

 

I can't believe I'd never seen this post before!

Thanks to Ryan, for the last couple hours I have been searching through RustyBucket's old posts. This is a great thread and almost exactly the same way I made our dies 16 years ago, I say almost because I went with a steeper taper or "bell"..They have a larger pin and are hardened (but we can bell up to 7 ga. with some of them.

You would be surprised how much the "belling" can straingthen a plate, I don't know the ecaxt formula but I would suspect the 14 ga. with the belled holes is just as strong as the 10 ga. flat plate...

Great thread RustyBucket!, it deserves the bump!!

Matt Lesky
Ionia Hot Rod Shop

 

I'll give you a standing ovation for making a set of dies from scratch. After craving a set for a loooong time, I cheated and bought a set from Light Racing.

 

Always learning something here on the HAMB...Thanks

 

Here's a link - http://www.lightracing.com/v1b/lightracingFlaredHoleDies.cfm

Thanks for the tip CMX-

 

Looks good man!
Now time for me to try it.

 

how do you make these things without using a lathe?

 

Perfect timing for this thread. Thanks!

 

awesome job

 

Very nice!!!!!!

 

heres some pics, i;ve made dies that will do up to 1/8th 4130
also a shop seat, and the start of some other project...
let me know if you need any dies or bring me your project and i'll flare 'em for ya... frank

 

oh also they flare up to a full 90 deg.!