^^^ emailed kmac and they will only sell in 12' lengths... group buy?
i made a few more attempts at the point forming die with little success... i am updating here only to give one success and that is how to shape the ogive on the mini lathe if you are not going to make, or can't make or attach, a radial cutting/grinding attachment... i have used this new method now for 3 D reamers and am very happy with the result, here is a sketch of what you will do:
note: drawing is not to scale but noted measurements are correct
looks complicated but isn't... all you are doing is making angled cuts with the cross slide, starting from the point, and you continue cutting until the angled line hits a specified point from where the ogive and shank meet... as you can it is pretty darn close, and it looks smaller because it is to allow for lapping of the die... this method is repeatable and easy to do
for example, on cut #1 it is at 20 degrees, and you keep advancing the cut until it intersects the drill rod blank at 0.237 from where the ogive/shank meet... you do this for 4 cuts and then you smooth it out with some sandpaper and cutting oil and it looks like this:
from there you make your fluted reamer or spoon and have at it... i can explain the math if you want, but you probably dont care but all you are doing is figuring out the angle of the tangent line, then figuring out at what point it intersects the drill rod, not very hard to do in excel... hope that made sense, if not ask questions...
back to the lathe, hope to have a good point forming die at the end of the weekend... lapping that dang die takes a looooooong time!