Big day today

Don't tempt me! I wish I lived closer, I'd do it in trade for letting me run it :D

If you get a chance, take both dies out then try to measure how square both dovetails are to each other, or you might have problems if you get both dies square.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Don't tempt me! I wish I lived closer, I'd do it in trade for letting me run it :D

If you get a chance, take both dies out then try to measure how square both dovetails are to each other, or you might have problems if you get both dies square.
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Thanks for pointing out about the dies, Sam. In fact, the dovetails are not square to each other, but this is easy to fix. Just rotate the anvil until they line up. ;)

In other news, I sent the lower die out to be ground by someone with a surface grinder, and it's now on it's way back. When it gets here, and I get the dies installed and lined up, I'll be posting more videos. :cool:

Something else I need to do first is make new wedges, or keys for the dies. Right now there's only one wedge per die, and there's supposed to be two. This would make it much easier to change dies, and to line them up just right. Much thanks to Phil Cox for that revelation.
 
I meant square as in from the bottom of one dovetail square to the bottom of the other, but I guess you could fix that the same way LOL

MOAR video please :D
 
Sam Salvati said:
I meant square as in from the bottom of one dovetail square to the bottom of the other, but I guess you could fix that the same way LOL

MOAR video please :D
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Oh, gotcha. Well, how would you fix that? Shims under the dies?

Patience, my friend. There's nothing to video right now. :D
 
shims between the anvil and frame, behind the top to tilt out behind the bottom to tilt in. shimming under the dies is never a good idea!
 
Well, got my lower die back:

2611-1.jpg


and yesterday I forged the wedges for the upper die. I started with 1/2" by 1-3/4" 5160, and forge the taper under the Bradley, then annealed it, then ground it clean, then cut it in half down the middle, then hardened them.

I'm tempering them now. Probably going to shoot for 45-50 RC.

2611-2.jpg



2611-3.jpg



2611-4.jpg
 
Sam Salvati said:
How cleanly ground are the edges that contact the die and sow block?
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Hmm, not sure which surface you're talking about. The wide surface, which actually touches the die and sow block, are ground to about 60 grit right now, with the grinding scratches going lengthwise.
 
that's the surface I mean. I saw the photo where they were all rough ground so wondered. How smooth will you grind them?
 
Sam Salvati said:
that's the surface I mean. I saw the photo where they were all rough ground so wondered. How smooth will you grind them?
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I was thinking of leaving them at 60. Do you think I should go higher? I am planning on using anti-sieze on them.
 
Those dies should work great, Phillip :)

Die keys are usually made from mild steel (soft). I would not HT those.
 
I had to machine new dies for my hammer, similar to yours but with more of a radius on the corners. I tried machining the keys but they kept working loose. Had a friend tell me about hot fitting the keys and they haven't worked loose since. I ground them close then heated them with a torch, keeping the outside section cool and hammering them in place. It worked great and they haven't moved since.

Love your hammer, I'm Jealous!
 
I think what they're saying Phillip is that being hardened can increase the likelihood of them breaking while putting in place or removing, or the fact that they will be harder than the surrounding material and can CUT their way into place and make removal next to impossible.
I don't know what Sid Sudemeyer uses - maybe annealed 4140? Just spherodize those 5160 pieces.
 
Karl B. Andersen said:
I think what they're saying Phillip is that being hardened can increase the likelihood of them breaking while putting in place or removing, or the fact that they will be harder than the surrounding material and can CUT their way into place and make removal next to impossible.
I don't know what Sid Sudemeyer uses - maybe annealed 4140? Just spherodize those 5160 pieces.
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The problem I have with the soft keys is they galled terribly, making removal very difficult. Maybe using anti-seize would prevent that...
 
Sid uses mild steel and stresses full contact across the length of the dovetail. Phillip, the galling helps hold them in place, nothing worse than dies working lose. Hard keys can also damage the soft iron in the dovetail.

Like mike said, hot fitting works good and is the way Tom Clark did all his.
 
Don Hanson III said:
Sid uses mild steel and stresses full contact across the length of the dovetail. Phillip, the galling helps hold them in place, nothing worse than dies working lose. Hard keys can also damage the soft iron in the dovetail.

Like mike said, hot fitting works good and is the way Tom Clark did all his.
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"Sigh" I guess I'll be annealing these, again.

Hot fitting sounds like a pain. I'll wait and see if these work before doing that.

Thanks fellas for the advice. :)
 
Just normalize them once. Also put some blue stuff on the key, drive it in, but not too tight,
drive it out and check contact area. Grind the contact areas off the key and repeat.
Do this until you have full even contact for the length of the dovetail.
 
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