This is my 3rd term machining project.



A die set I'm going to be building my die with. Took me about 6 weeks to make it (one day of shop a week) the pins and bushings are hardened and ground, the top and bottom shoe are perfectly square and parrallel (surface ground them ), messed up slighty was about .005" over on the one bushings hight which I could have took to a surface grinder if it was really important. Also the die set isnt that parrellel but thats ok still works like a beaut! Moves up and down nicely.

Sorry just wanted to brag about it.

Dimitri

Brag away...This is the place for it...Good job.

Besides...If you don't toot your horn. Who's to know?

It was fun making it, also had to square up blocks (not so fun too repeative) to be used to make the other parts of the die. I've got to admit though drilling and manually tapping holes is fun as thats what I did the last class.

The spacing between the pins and the bushings is tiny, honed them just enough to let the pins side so there isn't any real play to move the top shoe with the bushings left or right much.

Dimitri

Well done Dimitri. It looks great. Just one small question mate.....bearing in mind that I'm only a dumb ex-soldier and know next to nothing about these sort of things.......mate, what is this magnificent piece of workmanship designed to do ?

Cheers, Vince

Vince,

You have used and seen TONS of parts made using dies.

Your brass ammo casings, metal toothpaste/cream tubes, the stripper clips you used in the military, your forks and knifes, metal pen tubes, the coins in your pocket, pop cans, tin cans, beer bottle caps, keys, the reloading dies you use to case/neck form etc ..... really any peice of metal that looks bent or cut was probably made using some sort of die.

There are different types of dies, the one I'm building is a simple progressive stamping die which is going to make a metal peice in a octogonal or circular shape not sure yet, with a hole in it so it can fit on a keychain and a marking stamped on it.

The Die set is the thing that holds everything else of the die on it and you put the die set in the press.


(copied from a random website)

See how everything is put on the 2 big plates by the use of screws ?? Well thats the die set, the rest of the die is sort of built on the die set.

Dimitri

So I'm voting that we elect Dimitri to be our custom rifle/handgun maker and we can just place our orders and he can bill us accordingly...

Kiddo, you didn't want to brag? I couldn't do work like that if you put a gun to myhead. Very nice.

Dimitri, It looks pretty good. The one thing I would say is, when you start on the dies themselves, compensate for the .005. it will help prevent a lot of headaches when you start feeding the material through the guides and actually mounting it in a press. Are you studying to become a toolmaker? If so, good luck with it, I don't have the mentality for it, in construction terms, I am a framer, not a finish guy.

Tim

Tracker,

You never know you might see rifles branded as they were made by me in the future.

Tim,

The .005 oversized on the hight bushing is alright doesnt effect function at all. Because the die set has almost 1" of travel and we are only using just under the first 0.5" of travel when stamping parts so it shouldnt pose a problem for me, just something the teacher can mark and deduct points off.

Yes I am studying to become a toolmaker, well the college program is "Tool and Die" but I'm not sure what kind of job I'll end up in after college to tell you exactly what I'm going to become because from this program it opens up the doors to practiclly any machining trade for me.

Dimitri

Well I'm completly done my term today.

Looks like I'm maintaining my honor student GPA, with it actually going up each term alittle.

At 3.89 I'm pretty darn close to 4 this term.

Dimitri

Dimitri wrote:

Well I'm completly done my term today. Looks like I'm maintaining my honor student GPA, with it actually going up each term alittle. At 3.89 I'm pretty darn close to 4 this term. Dimitri

Don't know what these numbers mean Dimitri, we don't use them out here, but it sure sounds pretty impressive.

Well done mate.

Cheers, Vince

Vince,

Basiclly a GPA system converts your letter grade into points you multiply based on how much credit hours the course is worth to find Quality Points, then you add up all your Quality points devide them by the total credit hours of all your classes and then you get to know your GPA which is a interesting way to measure your avarage because your core courses mean more.

A+ = 4 Points,
A = 4 Points,
A- = 3.7 Points,
B+ = 3.3 Points,
B = 3 Points
B- = 2.7 Points.
C+ = 2.3 Points
etc.

So I got 1 A+, 2 A's and a B+, which after doing the math comes out to 3.89.

Honors is above 3.5 so roughly between a B+ and a A-, and the max you can get is a 4. Which I dont think I'll be getting anytime soon.

Dimitri

OK, understand now mate....often wondered how the "Grade Point" system worked.

You are obviously doing very well. Don't sell yourself short mate....you are only a gnat's whisker off 4 now.

Cheers, Vince

Vince,

Problem is next term I'm told is going to be difficult in the shop.

But then agian it cant be that hard so I think I can hopefully I can balance it all.

Dimitri

Keep up the good work Dimitri..

I'll try. I don't read alot though. More of a doing program in college then a reading and written one, well execpt for my English, and general education courses they make me take.

Dimitri