Making your own dies

[dikman]

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

[toxo]

If I can make a suggestion mate, you'll find it easier if you turn things around and find a way to slot in the various shapes at the end of the ram. On the receiving end, say you want a right angle you could weld two bits of sharp stuff so the internal angle is around say 85 degrees (guessing) to allow for spring back. I'll try to do a short vid.

[dikman]

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.

[dikman]

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.

[toxo]

Here you go dikman. Hope it helps. The anti cut gloves are recommended.

 

[dikman]

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.

[dikman]

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!).

[toxo]

Forgive me dikman if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs but I can't help myself if I see a way to help someone. A few thoughts.

If you run a disc cutter down the web of the angle iron but not all the way through will allow you to the angle gradually until you get it where you want, Bear in mind if you use an over angle you can always stop before fully closing. The one I showed above is 60 degrees. I do have a 90 degree but ill often use the 60 for this reason.

Are you planning on welding or a wooden core? If wooden you have to think about getting the leather out. This can be a hole that you can poke through or you can glue some foam rubber under the core  that will automatically eject the leather after cutting it. If using foam make sure that after leaving enough knife below the core to cut your thickest leather, you might need slightly more to allow for the compressed foam. You can use thin foam and glue on extra layers until it does the job

If using wood cut slight smaller to allow for the thickness of the knife. Bear in mind the screws will help with slight anomalies. If welding you'll need an accurate  (paper pattern) to test on as you bend

If using wood and it finishes flush with the top of the knife it'll be robust enough to walk around some quite big patterns under the press.

Looking forward to seeing your first makings from your own dies.

[dikman]

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!).

[dikman]

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!