Last Update-03/13/2010 01:41 AM

Back to Patterns                                                                                        51mm.  Machined set

4/12/05

Here we go.  Just got them back from Naylor Aluminum Foundry in Kansas City.  They did a great job. 

Just a shot showing how thick they are.  Although the picture makes them look kind of rough, they are very smooth.

4/14/05

Here I have the die portion mounted on the faceplate of the lathe. My chuck isn't big enough to hold it so I drilled and tapped some holes in the back and here we go.

Facing the back of the casting smooth.  Now ill turn it around and start machining the face.

Ok , here is where I did a stupid thing.  I was only facing the back smooth when I got ahead of myself and turned the outer diameter to the correct size.  The problem is I'm using a face plate and I'll never be able to get it turned over and exactly lined up to turn the face. No big deal really, just that the outside diameter is a few thousands out of round with the center.  No big deal with this setup.

Ok , the back was faced and now the casting is mounted back on the faceplate with a nice smooth back ready for machining the die.

4/15/05

Well, I was having some issues with the small size of my lathe and the large size of the casting so I didn't take as many pictures of the machining as I would have liked.  I got the issues worked out and here is the final result.  The small dark spots are JB Weld Patches sealing the holes where the screws where that I used to mount it to the faceplate. I should have done a better job at getting them in the outer ring.  I'll do better next time.

After I had it turned to shape, I simply filled the screw holes with JB Weld and touched up the face smooth the JB Weld down to size.

Nice side by side showing the amount of material that has to be removed.  The big 115 MM die is the one that takes a bit of time. You have to remove allot of material from the inside. I'm going to make separate patterns for future pours.  That will make them allot quicker to turn out.

See what I mean.  Time for more patterns.  The others will be easier as they are turned smaller on the outside versus the inside.

4/25/05

Its been a week or so since I've had a chance to work on the punch.  After purchasing some new bits for the lathe I got to work. Again, time got ahead of me and I didn't get pictures of the turning process.  It turned out very nice.

Fits like a glove!  The punch casting seemed to have a little more porosity in it than the die casting for some reason.  Doesn't really affect anything,  the flash of the camera makes it look worse than it is.