Thread: Punching small copper discs

You can use one of my flypresses if you end up making tooling.

I'd go for a visit to Mainridge.

If you can't then here's a technique that works for small runs of thin gauge disks.


1. Clamp up a bit of angle iron in the drill press, make sure it doesn't move.
2. Get a drill bit the size of the disk you want. drill through the angle iron.
3. Take the drill bit and turn it around and grind a shallow U shape on the end of the drill bit. with sharp edges
4. Put the drill bit back upside down.
5. Punch away.

Works for small diameters and softish materials.

Hi Folks,

Interesting : I spend about two minutes here and stumble onto a post with a pic of a pancake die someone made
Pretty nice job . I became obsessed with the process -originally marketed by Rio Grande here in Nm USA as the 'RT Blanking System'
( but "invented" by Robert (Roger?) Taylor of England (and before that by Continental Machining )) - around 1985, as a way of making
parts for jewelry, and have been refining, perfecting, and expanding the process ever since.

I know a thing or two about them, because that is my specialty area. I'm the sheltech guy Sheltech | affordable custom dies for cutting out parts that you design
and I finally made a few videos too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHp0llIdXTk&t=48s

You can get pre-cut dies from Potter USA but he doesn't make them right. I saw all mine at the exact angle to create the very tight tolerance needed to cut clean parts. I can do a lot more than just plain parts too.

I was going to do a formal intro here but I found this thread right away and it seems like just as good of a way to get started as any , so here I am Not that I think this is a good place to round up business, just that this is "who I am" and
what I do (most of the time) .
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One way to get an even cutting depression in the end of a rod is to grind a shallow angle on a drill bit that is slight bigger than the rod. The problem is the drill bit will be HSS but a masonry drill bit should be able to do it,

Thanks for all the ingenious ideas gents, Ill be headed to main ridge asap as its right near my folks in dromana, But ill keep these in the old brain rolladex for later.

Originally Posted by RayG

I'd go for a visit to Mainridge.

If you can't then here's a technique that works for small runs of thin gauge disks.


1. Clamp up a bit of angle iron in the drill press, make sure it doesn't move.
2. Get a drill bit the size of the disk you want. drill through the angle iron.
3. Take the drill bit and turn it around and grind a shallow U shape on the end of the drill bit. with sharp edges
4. Put the drill bit back upside down.
5. Punch away.

Works for small diameters and softish materials.

I'm not a machinist; my background is jewelry , so I go for lots of funky DIY methods
and hand made things . What you describe is how I've approached making hole punch sets ,
but's even simpler (and therefore more elegant) than ones I've done . One other thing that helps
is to make a thin plate that acts as both a stripper and a bushing/alignment for the punch (drill bit)
in a slightly more elaborate setup. I've drilled the guide hole in the stripper, and partially
drilled a larger hole to feed the punch into the (exactly sized, and aligned) guide hole.

But taking the same drill bit (not just the same size) and flipping it around to use as the punch,
that's a new level of technology for me

Originally Posted by dogboy

Hi Folks,

Interesting : I spend about two minutes here and stumble onto a post with a pic of a pancake die someone made
Pretty nice job . I became obsessed with the process -originally marketed by Rio Grande here in Nm USA as the 'RT Blanking System'
( but "invented" by Robert (Roger?) Taylor of England (and before that by Continental Machining )) - around 1985, as a way of making
parts for jewelry, and have been refining, perfecting, and expanding the process ever since.

I know a thing or two about them, because that is my specialty area. I'm the sheltech guy Sheltech | affordable custom dies for cutting out parts that you design
and I finally made a few videos too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHp0llIdXTk&t=48s

You can get pre-cut dies from Potter USA but he doesn't make them right. I saw all mine at the exact angle to create the very tight tolerance needed to cut clean parts. I can do a lot more than just plain parts too.

I was going to do a formal intro here but I found this thread right away and it seems like just as good of a way to get started as any , so here I am Not that I think this is a good place to round up business, just that this is "who I am" and
what I do (most of the time) .

Hi Dave,
I've seen your website, can't remember when I first viewed it, but it may have been when I was looking for confirmation of some details back in 2009 when preparing to publish this page on my website
Two Legged Parser
In the 1980s and early 1990s I was running Skill Workshop for our Gold and Silversmiths Guild of Australia, and one of them was on press tools for the Small Workshop. It was at that time I first encountered Roger Taylor's Published report on his Patented Process.

For the sake of historical accuracy, Roger Taylor applied for the the patent on 22 May 1978, and it was published on 30th July 1981.
He was using and developing the process well before that 1978 date.

I have in my possession, An article dated May 1980, published by The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Technical Advisory Committee (UK) Project Report No. 12e/1.
The R.T Blanking System, By Roger Taylor. (I think it may be available on line)
In that document the process is described in minute detail for the exact purpose of allowing anyone skilled enough, or interested enough to learn how to use and adapt it to their own purposes.
The publisher notes are interesting. In part ... "The report is a detailed description of a very low-cost method of making blanking tools for sheet metal and other materials using the normal skills and tools of the jewellery or silversmithing craftsman."

Cheers,
Peter

Originally Posted by lightwood

Hi Dave,
I've seen your website, can't remember when I first viewed it, but it may have been when I was looking for confirmation of some details back in 2009 when preparing to publish this page on my website
Two Legged Parser
In the 1980s and early 1990s I was running Skill Workshop for our Gold and Silversmiths Guild of Australia, and one of them was on press tools for the Small Workshop. It was at that time I first encountered Roger Taylor's Published report on his Patented Process.

For the sake of historical accuracy, Roger Taylor applied for the the patent on 22 May 1978, and it was published on 30th July 1981.
He was using and developing the process well before that 1978 date.

I have in my possession, An article dated May 1980, published by The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Technical Advisory Committee (UK) Project Report No. 12e/1.
The R.T Blanking System, By Roger Taylor. (I think it may be available on line)
In that document the process is described in minute detail for the exact purpose of allowing anyone skilled enough, or interested enough to learn how to use and adapt it to their own purposes.
The publisher notes are interesting. In part ... "The report is a detailed description of a very low-cost method of making blanking tools for sheet metal and other materials using the normal skills and tools of the jewellery or silversmithing craftsman."

Cheers,
Peter

Very interesting , thanks for the corrections/clarification. It's odd to run into someone who knows/remembers more about the origins of the process than I do. I imagine that Rio Grande used Taylor's report as the "instruction guide" for The RT System , as I do remember having
what must have been it . I didn't think it was all that thorough myself, and I did not like the saw that Rio sold as part of the kit.
There were a lot of things I had to figure out for myself to get things working well enough for production level work . But the basic process was there, and that's all I needed to get going . I've developed different techniques that use mutations of the basic pancake die , such as ones that also cut a hole in the part, cutting and embossing in one pressing, and even some deeper 3-D forming in one pressing with the pancake . I was excellent with a saw when I started in 1986, but sawing steel was a whole new world of torture! I use a gearmotor-powered saw, and a leg-powered saw now . Wire EDM also works , but isn't practical for me, since I make all custom one-off dies (almost exclusively) I've always had a back burner thing with EDM , but for one reason or the other, just keep sawing with .... my saws .

It was Lee Marshall, the original owner of Bonny Doon Engineering (now owned by Phil Poirier , with a large line of press-related items in the Rio catalog) who told me about Continental being (allegedly) the first ones to use the idea of cutting the male & female die components with one cut out of a single piece of steel. So the story goes, they made big ones for airplane wing parts, and did the pressing by driving a steam roller over the die . But I've stuck with small dies , for parts around 6" x 4" max. I need to get around to writing more about my adventures before I croak , because it's a simple process, but to get the best results, a lot of things have to be done right, and to do some of the crazy things I've had to do for people, many envelopes need to be pushed .

Dar

[QUOTE=dogboy;1919786. I need to get around to writing more about my adventures before I croak , because it's a simple process, but to get the best results, a lot of things have to be done right, and to do some of the crazy things I've had to do for people, many envelopes need to be pushed .

Dar[/QUOTE]

Looking forward to reading about this.
Kryn