That is what I did with my business equipment (Classic Fabrication Inc) when I closed due to a heart attack after 25 years. Kept all my "stuff" just use in my hobby of building car's !!!!!
Think I may have the cheapest tooling here yet. This is the wheel off my hand cart, pressed the stainless into it to get the flare. This is the header, made matching intakes for the Webers on the other side. Look closely at the middle pic and you will see the exhaust flange side, that was made by forcing 2 sockets apart with a cold chisel between them in the press also.
Good morning Guy's and Gal's.Well if you run out of idea's for tooling you might think up some way's to make your press a little more custom. When you have more time than money, louver press and Mack 000 you end up with something like this !!!!! LOL enjoy
Seems you need a 'real' project to occupy your time!!! I spend a lot of time cleaning my tools, but haven't ever contemplated anything like that! Nice work, man!!!!!!
Thank's Mike. When you turn 67 years old you do crazy thing's like this !!!! That's what my bride of 46 year's said !!!! LOL
lawman Your press look like it's never been used. Put some dirt and oil on it before the next pic. On a serious side, how did you attach the water valve hand wheel to the valve? Very novel idea, hope you don't mind me copying.
i was just offered a hydraulic punch press and 5 pallets of tooling, i think the press is around 40 Tons, most of the tooling is like Union 6X6 die sets, maybe as many as 40 die sets. all for the low low price of $500
i think about $200 will move it, it's only about 3 miles away, i think the bed of the machine is about 12" X 18", i'll go look at it again today, i didn't ask if it had a die cushion.
only 4 yrs to go, lawman!!! and my darlin' (48) is already sayin' that about some of the stuff I do!!!
barrone50 First off, great work, thanks for posting. Question, on some of the dies pictured, I dont see locating pins, how did you maintain the alignment for the dies during the pressing?
You might be confused a bit, I can't find any posts of dies made by Barnone50, but he did quote a post of mine. Not everything needs alignment pins and over complicated assemblies to do a one shot stamp, press or form. Careful placement and a bit of dumb luck suffices
I measured one of our bodywork dollys and it measured 3-1/2". I also know how urethane, when used as a die, can form to whatever shape presses down in to it. So using some urethane and a dolly (sharpened) and some steel, could a man make Shop Press Louver tooling?
I think a shop pess has a lot more "slop" in it and would never punch a Louver like a Punch press could.I have both and would not even try.Hope other's have a better answer.
My shop press right out of the box has about 5/16 front to back "slop" and about 3/8" side to side slop. I didn't include in my post that the press being used would have to have a "slop" tune up before attempting punch and die alignment. I would imagine building up the ways to allow for about .006 max slop before punching. sorry about the left out info.
Real, I could be wrong BUT even a "Tune up" will not work I don't think. On my shop press I welded in "shims" to take up slack and even then I would never ever chance using my $600 dollar a set dies trying to punch something. Hope someone else could "Chime in" and help out with this question. !!!
I found a 32 firewall that had the biggest "U" shape cut out for a motor setback. You could straddle it over a 55 drum. I almost didnt buy it, it was so bad. But its '32 stuff, so how can a guy go wrong. Anyway, I fabbed up some patch panels out of 18 gauge, and stamped the divet hole where the console bolts to with a simple homemade tool. check the pics...
I understand high end tooling shouldn't be played with. I had some louver tooling for a Whitney 3400 that sells for around $1500.00 back in 2003. I just thought a dolly was a hard chunk of cheap steel that could be sanded flat on one side. Then let the tonnage do the work. I think I might experiment anyway and see what happens.
I hear you Real. Please keep posting on this subject because it may have been tried does not mean it can't be done. !!!!!! LOL
i think you will find that the steel will have to be tool steel, plus your punch and die has to be held solid with a set clearance of maybe .005" in order to shear at all cleanly, but if there is anyone in your area that has large hydraulic metal shears then you may be able to buy and old blade thats is no longer any use to them, they can only be sharpened so may time and then their to small so they go for scrap.
I hear ya. I work with shears and brakes for a living ( callmttr.com ). I ran across an old Ironworker a while back that had used up its "notching" station blades. They would have been the perfect size and price range (free) to modify and use as the leading edge for a louver.
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