"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
and I'd like to use them.

Grant Erwin


Others have posted that the die may be too hard to machine. You should still
take a stab at it. I've machined O1 at ~56 rockwell C and it actually
machines very nicely. Excellent finish. Use about 100SFPM to start (with
brazed carbide, of course). Your edge probably won't last too long but you
should be able to get through one part. This will require lots of rigidity
and torque, although even a small machine should be fairly capable.

Remember that you should have about 1/16" land (straight walled hole) at the
cutting edge, and then it should be tapered behind that to prevent the slugs
from getting suck in the die. About 2º included should be fine. Too much of
an angle and this will weaken your cutting edge. Too little of angle and
your slug will get stuck (may not matter all that much to you, although it
may not be good to have a bunch of slugs in there).

HTH.

Regards,

Robin


I would leave more than a 1/16 land on an ironworker die. You don't have the
precise stroke control like with a punch press. An ironworker punch usually
pushes into the die a good distance as the material fractures. Take a look at
the land in the other dies you have. It doesn't hurt to have and 1/8 land or
even more.
Ironworker tooling tends to take a beating. Leave plenty of life for
resharpening.
As for the relief taper beyond the land, the 2 degrees that Robin suggested
will be fine.

I turn 58-60Rc hardened punches and dies on import 12 and 14" machines quite
often. A ceramic insert run dry like the NTK ZC-4 cuts them like butter. Chip
comes off glowing red. All the heat goes into the chip. The part stays cool to
the touch.
That ironworker tooling will be softer. Carbide should do it.

Les