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dhenry
6th Jan 2019, 08:34 AM
I have a successful process for dapping bottle caps into hemispheres and soldering them together, but I would like to make them in greater quantity than I can by hand. It currently takes me about 30 mins to make my :"steel marbles" ;)

Any advice on how to make some tools/machines that will help me automate this process a bit would be great. I'm mostly interested in the dapping step, like a powered stamping machine/hammer setup, but all I can find are either too little (stampers) or grossly overpowered (powered hammers for forging).

I do love to work the metal by hand and continue to make art around this small scale, but if there's an opportunity to sell something that I can fabricate out of my creations I can't create what I have in mind and meet demand reasonably by hand.

Thanks all!

jhovel
6th Jan 2019, 01:29 PM
What do you use now for dapping?
The intermediateor appropriate stize step might be an arbour press. I suspect a small one would suffice. They are powerful and fast to use.

China
6th Jan 2019, 02:08 PM
I found this company who have a wide range of press's https://www.janesvilletool.com/C/137/ArborPresses

jhovel
6th Jan 2019, 09:36 PM
Lots on eBay and presumably on Craigslist as well... A 1ton press would probably do you.

dhenry
5th Feb 2019, 10:10 AM
My assumption is that I need to replicate the stroke I use to do the initial doming on the caps - I quick hard strike - rather than a slow press, which would produce creasing. I find the harder I hit that initial stroke, the better chance I get a dome with no creases.

That's why I was considering building a machine that would give me a repetitive strike, like a much smaller and less powerful version of a forging hammer. That, and it seems like a fun project to try and fabricate a production line that loads bottle caps on one end and produces clean domes on the other.

Am I thinking about your suggestion of the 1ton press wrong? My impression is that would be a slow application of force.

KBs PensNmore
5th Feb 2019, 10:45 PM
Rather than trying to build a machine, I'd look at an incline press, something like this, or smaller.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rousselle-Model-No-1-Stamping-Press-David-J-Ross-Co/323537522493?
hash=item4b5456cf3d:g:xUUAAOSwl29b4fme
There are a lot of different types, have a look on Craigs LIst I think it is over there.
ttps://www.ebay.com/itm/MultiPress-2-Ton-Hydraulic-Press-Model-WUA-2TR-Punch-C-Frame-Gap-power-Denison/143083372282?hash=item21506efefa:g:iCUAAOSwwqVcM7ZA
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Miniature-Bench-PUNCH-PRESS-HowTo-Build-PLANS/362527321890?hash=item54684fef22:g:ImoAAOSwSlpbbZvf

Kryn

dhenry
9th Feb 2019, 09:47 AM
What do you use now for dapping?
The intermediateor appropriate stize step might be an arbour press. I suspect a small one would suffice. They are powerful and fast to use.

Sorry it took so long to post these pics. Also, I thought they posted earlier but somehow the post was rejected.

I use a dapping cube and brass hammers of varying size up to 2lbs. I picked this one up on a trip through the Caucasus (Armenia) back in the 90s.
378045

I use it to dome out bottle caps and weld them together to make spherical "marbles".
378046

jhovel
11th Feb 2019, 02:44 AM
.....

Am I thinking about your suggestion of the 1ton press wrong? My impression is that would be a slow application of force.

Arbor presses apply the force as fast as you can move the handle down.... In fact you can hit the anvil really quite hard with them. I do that when I want to rivet things. Not sure if it does the arbor press much good, but the forces are quite small, it's really a very well guided precision hammer strike.