School me on making my own dies

[mac0083]

:holysheep I'm sure by now that most of us have seen Pillardrill's ingenious home-made swage dies. I'm a handy do-it-myself-er like everybody else here, but i've never used a lathe, don't know the first thing about it. Tell me where to start learning. What tools are required and where I get them. What books to read. Where to get right kind of metal. How to ream and polish to the perfect dimensions. How to machine a nose punch like Pillardrill did. ...Everything!
Thanks for the help, I can't be the only one interested to know.

[elk hunter]

The best advice I can give you regarding how to make dies is to find someone in your area that owns a lathe, or better yet a hobby machinist group, and talk to them about giving you a lesson or two on turning and boring, they should be able to talk to you about what kind of steel to use and how to grind tool bits and D-reamers. If you can't find a hobby group and you have a local college take some machine shop courses that will get you some basic help in running a lathe. While making bullet making dies is not brain surgery it does require at least a modicum of knowledge and skill and the easiest way to acquire that knowledge and skill level is to have a teacher/mentor. If you search this site you will find quite a lot of good information about how different people make dies.

[303Guy]

I would suggest learning the dangers first. For example, never take you hand off the chuck key while it is in the chuck. Then there's the thing about getting caught in the jaws. Engaging the power feed accidently, and so on.

Apart from all the dangers, a lathe is perfectly safe.[smilie=1:

[7of7]

I would suggest learning the dangers first. For example, never take you hand off the chuck key while it is in the chuck. Then there's the thing about getting caught in the jaws. Engaging the power feed accidently, and so on.

Apart from all the dangers, a lathe is perfectly safe.[smilie=1:

I was reading some of the safety guidelines, and it mentioned about every third or fourth, never leave a chuck key in the chuck.....
I was thinking that they were emphasizing that just a bit as it was the only one in red ink...
Needless to say, I can now never find my chuck keys, because I do not leave them in the chuck any more... (just kidding, I normally set it at the end of the lathe, or just under it to the right of where I stand...

[303Guy]

The thing with 'not leaving the key in the chuck' is that it is so easy to simply forget. Hence the 'never take your hand off the key while in the chuck' rule. It's my own rule, by the way and has saved me more than once!:roll: I still stick my fingers into a spinning chuck from time to time - like today for instance.:oops: (No injury - just a wake-up call!)

There's a series of pictures on the internet under some safety investigation or industrial accident something which shows a poor fellow with is face literally torn off and his body mangled in the chuck - it really is not pleasant! It was quite a shocker for those of us working on lathes when it was shown around.:(

So, about making dies. Well, Pillardrill got me going and I started making a 22cal swage die for forming bullets with 22LR cases for my hornet. I was getting there but not just quite and ... well anyway, I have to start again!:mrgreen: He put me onto a good thing with my 303 Brit PP boolit swaging.

[pillardrill]

Ahh! Leaving the key in the chuck, it has happened to the best of us :-)

Told you Mac, a lathe can be dangerous. It will hurt those who don't know how to use it, those who hurry through a job, those who don,t have their mind 100% on the job and those who don't know its limitations.

Look about on the net there are plenty of sites which will guide you on the use of machine tools. A small lathe is enough as it will do most jobs including milling. Look around before to see what suits you best. There are plenty of projects on the sites I mentioned and they take you through them step by step. These projects not only are fun but are tools you will use later on.

Beware of the engineering bug :-)

[38-55]

MAc,
go to lindsay ( or lindsey ) books and get your self a copy of 'how to run a lathe'.. I think they still have it for 9.00 or so.. It was written by the southbend lathe co to get folks up to speed on running a lathe.. The reprint that linday has was written in 1942 for the war effort.. Really plainly written and lot's of useful tables and such.. I still use it for a quick reference..
As for how to and what to look for in buying a used lathe.. do a google search for "in praise of klunkers'.. Really good advice.. This should start you on your way or deter you with a minimum cost..
Hope this helps
Calvin
PS a lathe is about as dangerous as you make it.. kinda like driving.. a good understanding of it and patience and common sense will keep you safe
PS if you come across a 'smithy' or some other dual purpose machine tool run, run away fast for you will pay lot's-o-money for a just about worthless tool..

[ETG]

Here is a good start - use the search function.

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/index.php?