dikman

Always nice when a plan comes together.

The banding steel isn't hardened but it had no problem punching into the white plastic board in the press so yes, I think the saw would work ok. I looked up those rolling thingies, unfortunately they're not cheap anymore.

Might depend on the type of saw? I was thinking of the real cheap Chinese ones which are likely made out of plain carbon steel which hopefully would mean it can be re-hardened if necessary.

Funny you should mention that toxo 'cos it's been hovering there in the back of my mind. No hurry though, I'm just happy that I can make useable dies. I've been thinking about a round die for cutting out coasters and I reckon a cheap holesaw should do, grind off the teeth and sharpen the edge. That stainless tubing looks like interesting stuff.

Are those things hardened? If not once the the rust is gone heat it to blue-gray and drop in oil, that gives a nice finish and some rust protection.

Finished off the last of the dies for the four pieces that my mate is cutting out (he has been getting orders from a Single Action shooting club for suspenders that he makes and cutting them by hand is getting tedious). The dies aren't perfectly uniform but a little bit of sanding/trimming of the leather pieces should fix that. I used some "pretend" leather that I salvaged from my old Triumph saddlebags, not something I would want to use on anything. The Vevor press punched three without any trouble, the larger one took a bit of fiddling as I think I have a pronounced burr on the cutting edge. The press also punched the die fairly deep into the plastic cutting board!!

Using a bandsaw blade should work BUT you'll have to anneal it first otherwise it will snap when you bend it. Once shaped it may need to be re-hardened, depending how stiff/soft it still is. Heating and quenching might warp the shape a bit and you would need to silver solder after re-hardening. Sharpening is a bit of a problem, so far I found the worn belt and a head magnifier the best as although it's slow I have better control. It may not work too well if I ever make a complicated shape.

A lot of work but an interesting result. I'm all in favour of not wasting stuff where possible.

Had a go at making some dies for a fellow shooter and leatherworker. It's not as easy as it looks and there's an element of luck in trying to match the shapes on two sides. Part of the process is figuring out which combination of tools works best to get a desired result - sometimes it's not what you think. I had to make up another tool because nothing I had would let me get the bend I wanted! I tacked the die together with the MIG, and after I'd taken the photos I put a sharpened bevel edge on one, using a worn 120 grit belt (that reduced the risk of grinding too much and also polished the edge). I put it under the Vevor press with some thick scrap and heaved away, very satisfying when it went clunk! It worked!! The banding works well and is surprisingly tough, although being 1 1/2", compared to the 1" of the steel rule, means it's just a bit harder to work with. Damn, I'm good!

That's a bright idea. If you turn on the drill press slow you could use the punch for mixing batter too.

Everything Fred said - and the bag looks good.

Sore hands - yep, but it gets better as you do more sewing! Finding a suitable machine under $400 is a big ask, not impossible but.....read that article AlZilla linked to and then reread it to gain an understanding of what you're looking for. You'll likely be faced with either continuing to hand sew or upping your budget.

A very quick search on google (not hard to do ) immediately shows it is a high speed single foot garment machine.

Fred, those little animals are brilliant! If you made a clicker die to stamp them out in bulk or second choice use a laser to cut them out your cost will be minimal. Where did you get the patterns?

Spent a day repairing my hand-held bandsaw after one of the brushes fell apart, at the same time the top wheel wouldn't turn. Then back to the bending jig. Added a couple of bars across the bottom so it can be clamped to a bench, my reloading bench has three sets of holes for mounting various presses, these are reinforced underneath with steel so I made the bars so it can be bolted down using two of the holes. This works well as I can really lean into the handle and I don't have to hold the press down. Tomorrow I'll go over it with an angle grinder to tidy it up and then it's a matter of waiting for the weather to warm up (could be a while!) so I can paint it. I thought of powdercoating it but my little oven is too small for it. The bending tools have been heated and dunked in oil to give them some protection (also makes them look purty ). It's not perfect, if I'm not careful sometimes the bend can be slightly skewed but that's a minor point. I might need additional different bending tools but they're easy enough to make. All things considered I think I'll call it a success, and all it cost was some power and welding gas. Oh, and out of curiosity I tried one of the shapes that I'd bent under the Vevor press that I bought, using a bit of scrap hard leather, and blow me down it cut it - and it's not even sharpened!

They look great, so cute! I'm sure my grand-daughters (and wife) would love them.

Looks good to me.

Always good to hear ideas from others. I thought of the angle grinder/cut-off wheel but because I've welded this one up I didn't want to take the chance of slipping and buggering it up! I'm still pondering the best way of mounting the die itself. Wood "block" to screw it to, cut the shape in wood with an engraver and rebate it into the wood, cut a slightly oversize shape from sheet metal and tack weld the die to it, a few options there. I've noticed that a lot of the die makers only use one set of basic bending tools, tape a pattern to the steel rule and then bend bit by bit until they get the angle/shape needed. I may be overthinking this (not unusual for me!).

Now that makes sense, almost idjit-proof to use!

Functional, should do to keep your pants up while you make yourself some fancier ones.

I would think using either contrasting or complementary colours would be best, trying to match stained veg with pre-coloured is always going to be iffy - plus you're going to end up with a large collection of stains!

Same here, I'd like to try the water-based stuff but for the money they're asking they can keep it, the solvent-based stuff has always worked well for me (plus as a bonus there are the fumes.....).

I once made a couple of notebook covers for members of our police force (SAPOL), they have their own logo of course but it is very detailed and finicky. There's no way I could have manually copied that logo but the little laser I had was perfect for that job. But yeah, it does make it easy for anyone to copy almost anything.

I'm within a degree or two of a right angle! I used the mill to square up the inside of the first angle iron bender and cut the excess off the sides as looking at toxo's video it's obvious it doesn't need to be big. A bit more work with a triangular file to deepen it and change the angle a little bit should do it (stupid camera has a focus problem!).

I've lost count of the number of videos I've watched on youtube to do with die making but that's the first time I've seen that one! More fettling to do (fortunately I enjoy it), I now know that my machine will work it's just a matter of making the right bending jigs and then finishing it off.