Money Saver Setters for Hand Press

[lawman133]

Hello.  I came up with this a couple of years ago when my wife gave me a Tandy hand press for Christmas. She saw me drooling over it in a catalogue but did not realize how expensive the setters were for each application.  I bought an Xtra set of the  hand setters for around $12 Canadian and took them to a local machine shop where I had them shortened and milled to fit the 3/8 inch press as shown in the photo. This cost less than the price of a single purpose Setter from Tandy and provides 5 different options. I have a Heavy duty ball detente handle for 3D stamps that will be adapted the same way.

I hope this helps you save some money as it did for me.   All the best and stay safe.

Jim Ziegler

[Rohn]

Great post! Love it!

 

[Spyros]

That's really good, well done!  I love it when people find solutions like that

Personally my biggest problem with my setters (I have like 50 of them, all cheapies) is figuring out when to use each one of them, cheap setters means no instructions 

But I did sth similar with hole punches, I bought a whole bunch of cheap ones from the hardware store (I think I paid sth like $15 for 2 sets of 5) and shaped them and sharpened them to leather working standards.  6 months in they're still going strong, no complaints, turns out even though cheap it was actually proper tool steel and well treated.  Unfortunately I don't have a metal lathe or machine shop around so I did all the shaping on the belt sander with just a basic jig, then did the sharpening on the drill press.  Not easy, and I did destroy the first few I tried, but I got the hang of it eventually and ended up with 6 usable ones in all the basic sizes.  When working with belt sanders the key is to keep dunking your work piece in water to keep it cool so you don't anneal/soften the steel.

The other thing I did I bought a box of cheap assorted cutters in all shapes, for those times when you just don't have the exact shape/size punch in your arsenal.  Now those things are very basic and thin, not heavy duty at all, but they do cut like razors. 

So I found the one I was using the most, cut a slot with a dremel on a steel bar and then a hole with a drill, and made it into a tool with a handle.  Took about 10 mins.

Like I said not heavy duty at all, but on light leather it does the job very well, it cost basically nothing and I've been using it every day for months now.  Just have to remember not to smack it too hard, it's not a normal punch.

Again you have to be careful not to destroy or deform the cutting bit when drilling the hole, that was the most challenging part.  Needs a sharp drill bit, spraying with WD40, and some sort of soft support like a piece of wood.

Edited October 28, 2020 by Spyros

[lawman133]

Hi.  I forgot to mention that this also works with the common 1000 lb Arbor Presses with 3/8" Ram hole.

 

Jim

[Frodo]

LOL...WELL... I tried your suggestion. and the machine shop wanted to charge $45.00 PER tool to turn them 

SO.  i just got the dermal out and did a redneck job on them

 

[Frodo]

another money saving trick.  If your hammer gets wore out,  you can replace the polyurethane with a polyurethane skateboard wheel 

or buy a wheel and make your own , might want to buy an axle also. 

[Spyros]

I love Frodo's inventiveness

I have a woodworking lathe of sorts (another DIY job) and I have turned soft metals on it like brass for small jobs like ferrules for tool handles etc.  Hardened steel of course is a whole different league, but if we're just talking about shaping the outside of a cylinder to a dimension without super precise accuracy, it's something you can do by mounting on a drill (ideally drill press) and a file.  And a lot of patience 

 

[chuck123wapati]

12 hours ago, Frodo said:

LOL...WELL... I tried your suggestion. and the machine shop wanted to charge $45.00 PER tool to turn them 

SO.  i just got the dermal out and did a redneck job on them

 

if you have s drill press Frodo chuck them up and use a file then some sand paper to finish the process.

[Frodo]

14 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

if you have s drill press Frodo chuck them up and use a file then some sand paper to finish the process.

DUH!!!   WTH didn't i think of that !!!

[Spyros]

6 hours ago, Frodo said:

DUH!!!   WTH didn't i think of that !!!

I know why,  because you didn't read my post right before Chuck"s 

[lawman133]

Hi FRODO.   Damn that is expensive. It would be $60 in our Canadian funny money at the current exchange rate. I found out from a friend Kentucky that some of the trade schools or high school metal working shops in the States, (that's our Canadian way of referring to you folks south of the Medicine Line), will do this sort of thing either for free or just the cost of materials.  He is sending me a 1-5/8 inch round drive punch he had made that way which only cost him $10.00. I have tried to purchase one from various tool making companies down you way and it was going to cost me  close to $160.00 Canadian including shipping. Even a used one on ebay was over $100.00.

[Frodo]

 

1 1/4'' sch 40 black steel pipe is  1.660  OD  [outside dimension] 

1 5/8''  is 1.625    

so. would a 1 1/4'' sch 40 blk steel nipple with a cap   work as your 1 5/8'' round punch drive?

the difference is   .035  that is like a 1 /32 over

 

[Northmount]

On 10/31/2020 at 1:58 PM, Frodo said:

 

1 1/4'' sch 40 black steel pipe is  1.660  OD  [outside dimension] 

1 5/8''  is 1.625    

so. would a 1 1/4'' sch 40 blk steel nipple with a cap   work as your 1 5/8'' round punch drive?

the difference is   .035  that is like a 1 /32 over

 

I would look for pipe that has the inside diameter that you want.  If you use the pipe you suggested, you will have to remove material from the inside when sharpening, thus any punching you do with it will wedge the leather cutout inside the pipe making it hard to remove and binding up the next hole you punch.  Looking at a pipe table I see that 1.5" schedule 30 has an ID of 1.65".  Sch 40 has and ID of 1.61".  Both are close to the desired size of 1.625" (1-5/8").  Sch 40 is a commonly available pipe, also listed as STD wall. 

Tom

[Spyros]

2 hours ago, Northmount said:

I would look for pipe that has the inside diameter that you want.  If you use the pipe you suggested, you will have to remove material from the inside when sharpening, thus any punching you do with it will wedge the leather cutout inside the pipe making it hard to remove and binding up the next hole you punch.  Looking at a pipe table I see that 1.5" schedule 30 has an ID of 1.65".  Sch 40 has and ID of 1.61".  Both are close to the desired size of 1.625" (1-5/8").  Sch 40 is a commonly available pipe, also listed as STD wall. 

Tom

What about hardening though

[Northmount]

2 minutes ago, Spyros said:

What about hardening though

Depends on how often you use it, and what you use it on.  You can harden it if you want.  Black pipe is carbon steel.  Remember, the harder you make it, the harder it is to resharpen when needed. 

A machinist built a post for me that was part of a mechanical accounting machine many years ago, and case hardened it with potassium cyanide.  He had made it a little too thick where the slide was supposed to fit over it.  Tried to stone it down, but couldn't even touch it.  Took it back to the machinist, and he said how am I supposed to do anything with that now?  I asked about heating it back up to soften it?  He said, yes that would do it.  So he fixed it and case hardened it again.  Was interesting to see the chemical reaction as he dropped the red hot post into a little pile of potassium cyanide.  Really sputters!  Don't try this inside or you'll poison yourself.  Deadly stuff.

Tom

[Spyros]

42 minutes ago, Northmount said:

Depends on how often you use it, and what you use it on.  You can harden it if you want.  Black pipe is carbon steel.  Remember, the harder you make it, the harder it is to resharpen when needed. 

A machinist built a post for me that was part of a mechanical accounting machine many years ago, and case hardened it with potassium cyanide.  He had made it a little too thick where the slide was supposed to fit over it.  Tried to stone it down, but couldn't even touch it.  Took it back to the machinist, and he said how am I supposed to do anything with that now?  I asked about heating it back up to soften it?  He said, yes that would do it.  So he fixed it and case hardened it again.  Was interesting to see the chemical reaction as he dropped the red hot post into a little pile of potassium cyanide.  Really sputters!  Don't try this inside or you'll poison yourself.  Deadly stuff.

Tom

Mechanical accounting machine?  I want one, does it do taxes?  

I always thought a punch or setter should be heat treated as you would a knife, hard but with a bit of flexibility built in, neither soft nor brittle as a file.  I guess a setter or punch is small enough to take a blowtorch to it until it's cherry red, quench it in something, and then pop it in the oven for an hour, but it would have to be a big torch.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Spyros

[Frodo]

On 11/1/2020 at 4:21 PM, Northmount said:

I would look for pipe that has the inside diameter that you want.  If you use the pipe you suggested, you will have to remove material from the inside when sharpening, thus any punching you do with it will wedge the leather cutout inside the pipe making it hard to remove and binding up the next hole you punch.  Looking at a pipe table I see that 1.5" schedule 30 has an ID of 1.65".  Sch 40 has and ID of 1.61".  Both are close to the desired size of 1.625" (1-5/8").  Sch 40 is a commonly available pipe, also listed as STD wall. 

Tom

If you want the exact size  i believe I have figured that out

Copper pipe is measured as nominal  So a 1 1/2  pipe is 1 1/2''  OD 

which would make the ID or actual cut of the leather slightly off. But if you use a Fitting,  such as a cap 

the id of the cap is 1 1/2''