dikman

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.

Today's effort. Reinforced underneath and drilled two 1/2" holes through, then made another toolbit with a different piece of angle iron, this one has minimal radius inside. Made a knife edge to push into the corner and tried that. As expected, and like Toxo said, the inherent springiness of the band stops it from staying at 90*. I'll have to weld up a piece less than 90*, only a minor problem. I'm going to sharpen the toolbit in the second photo and try quenching it, I'm pretty sure it's from an old mower blade so should be hardenable. Overall though I'm pretty happy with it as it can bend the strap without much effort.

I just say I used to build plastic model kits, most seem to understand that.

10 Hail Mary's should suffice.

Yep, that had already occurred to me, my intention is to make up tooling so I can use it both ways. That should hopefully cover most contingencies.

When I'm asked what hobbies I have I just say I dabble in leatherwork. People can make of that what they will.

Paracord is normally wrapped straight onto the tang, I guess it's simple and possibly looks "tacticool". If you glue leather onto the tang first it will bulk it up and make it more comfortable to hold.

First bending bit, this was whipped up to see if I could actually bend anything in this contraption. As you can see it sort of works. Being angle iron the inside is radiused so I cant get a right angle bend, I'll have to file it to square up the inside. I also need to reinforce the underside where the 1/2" rod goes through to make sure it stays upright against the pushing force. Now to make more jig/tools of various shapes, I need one that is like a knife edge so I can get sharp bends, this may need to be made from something that can be hardened. One problem, which I half expected, is that pushing down on the handle causes the other end to rise so the whole thing needs to be clamped down

Thanks, I was very offended.......... I like to think it helps keep my mind somewhat functional by doing things the hard way.

Progress! Much cutting, grinding and welding later and I have something that just might work. The handle is a bit long but it gives plenty of leverage and the linkage works better than I expected. The potential down-side to pushing down on the handle is the force may cause the front to lift, we'll see. It needs a bit of fine-tuning with the grinder and the next thing is to make some bending tools to actually try it on the banding steel.

Yep, and if you want to cut out multiple items a die will be far more efficient. My 10w cuts leather ok but 'tis a wee bit slow. I'd like a bigger (better) one but the pre-built units, in an enclosure, are for me prohibitively expensive. Anyhow, I've been spending much time (including with Lego ) trying to figure out the best method of getting suitable leverage for the bending end of the jig. I've discarded several ideas (I really wanted to use a cam arrangement but I don't have any steel big/thick enough to make a cam) and think I've got one that should work. I was going to make the handle upright and push forward but looking at a commercial unit they have the handle sticking out the back and you push down, which looks like it might be more comfortable,. Tomorrow looks like welding day.

You're quite right, of course, Dwight, but playing Devil's Advocate here, once someone has a clicker die and some means of applying the needed pressure then it's very quick to cut out multiple pieces and you don't even need any power (or computer) to do so. And not everyone wants to mess around with lasers and such, which is precisely why a colleague is teaching himself how to make dies. Me, I've got all that computer stuff, 3D printer, laser and small cnc engraver, but I'm currently getting a headache trying to build a die bending thingy. The only reason is 'cos I haven't got one and want to prove to myself that I can make dies. It's a problem I have, once I get an idea into my brain........ But for getting a design out fairly quickly yeah, your method is great.

Answers in no particular order (), a fellow member of my shooting club also dabbles in leatherwork (I think I got him started!) and has found a source of die rule, although only in 1 metre lengths - but it aint cheap! Nor will the postage be! You are right, by the way, about getting things here, it's not like the US!! The banding steel I've got is high tensile and if I use the method of making the shape out of wood (backing block) and screwing the steel band to it I'm pretty sure it will stand up to the pressure of the press. Case hardening, an interesting idea but the steel band is factory coated to resist corrosion and it could be difficult to remove, also heating the thin steel to the necessary temperature is likely to deform the shape once made. Forges, I have a coke and a gas forge so heating it is no problem and I have several different size anvils, rather the problem is how thin it is (0.7 mm), I've managed to burn/melt much thicker stuff in the coke forge!! If the info I found is correct (and I think it is) the banding steel has 0.2% carbon, 1.2% manganese and a small amount of sulphur. So tough, ductile but can't be hardened, and it's very springy. Anyhow, I appreciate you taking the time to think of possible solutions.

Looks pretty good. I think you're getting the hang of this leatherwork stuff!

I have had several industrial machines over the years, mostly Singers of various types (eg 166, 154 etc) a Pfaff and a Seiko, I've lifted them and moved them around while building/fitting tables and never had any trouble lifting them - and I'm not particularly strong. I've just about met my match with the CB4500, however!!! The arm through the gap, as Al suggested, has worked for me.

What do I want to make? No idea yet. I've watched many videos on how the die steel is shaped using bending tools/machines so figured I needed one. Me being me means I have to make one. The concept is simple enough it just needs three things - a means of applying sufficient force to bend it, (force applied to the end of the sliding tube by a lever/handle), a means of keeping everything square/vertical while bending it (hence the square tube to prevent any twisting of the die) and the right shaped dies to get the bends (right angles, curves etc). The shapes needed can be determined by watching the videos. Bear with me, hopefully at the end you will be able to appreciate the full extent of my genius - or realise that I just confirmed I'm an idjit with no idea!