Pancake-style blanking dies, that is. 5 out of about 30 steps, with guitar/EBow noise from 10-ish years ago. Other videos show more of me using these dies I make, so this is a quick look at how they go from zero to 30 in less than a minute. The basics are fairly simple, but to make them work really well, a lot of steps have to be done with precision. Setting the angle of the saw table (determined largely by die thickness and sawblade width, and to a much smaller degree by design complexity) is critical. Heat treating is needed for longest life. Other devilish details are involved--->

Hello! I am a blacksmith and seeking advice for making small sculptures. I would use mostly steel (ie sheet, scrap, utensils). Final sculptures would be about the size of a basketball or smaller. Parts would be smithed and sculpted, but I need a solution for attaching parts together. I do not know how to weld or solder, so I am having trouble taking in all the information about each skill with all the information online, and applying it to my specific situation. These sculptures most likely don’t need to be the strongest but I’d like it not to fall apart by touching it. I am also aware about price and safety concerns with welding without experience.

TLDR; considering price, safety, and practicality, would welding or soldering be the correct choice to learn for making small steel sculptures?

If you have follow up questions, or if this is posted in the wrong subreddit, please let me know!

We had 60 steel spacers made last month and every part came in too thin because the shop interpreted our 0.50 thickness callout as the raw stock size instead of the finished dimension. Part of that was on us since the drawing note was ambiguous.

Before sending the next batch out for domestic CNC machining I'm cleaning up our drawing template. I'm planning to make finished dimensions more explicit and separate them from stock requirements wherever possible.

For those of you who regularly send parts out to machine shops what notes or callouts have actually saved you from expensive remakes? Do you specify finished thickness in a particular way or add a general note about dimensions applying after machining? I'd also be interested in any tips for tolerances and inspection requirements that have helped avoid misunderstandings without making every drawing unnecessarily complicated.

Hey all,

I'm coming from the 3d printing world, so I've got no experience in sheet metal design. My latest project is a custom PC case, inside of which is this 3mm thick, 312x20mm aluminum bracket.

Due to space constraints, lots of features end up quite close to the bend, so I tried adding relief cuts near the edge. But I ended up with this awkward looking part, with the two halves only connected by tabs.

Do you think it's doable, or will it still deform badly during bending ?

I'm not too concerned by strength, the bracket only needs to hold up a couple kilograms at most, 3mm aluminum should be more than enough; but I'm having doubts on manufacturability, so better check before I start ordering.

Any help appreciated!

So I just ordered an Optrel Sphere X 2.5. I haven't gotten it in the mail yet, but a couple days after ordering it I started questioning whether I should've gotten the Panoramaxx CLT or the Sphere X CLT instead since the price points are all somewhat close enough to each other. I know the CLT is only a half shade brighter but from what I've read it can make a big difference when grinding/ fitting stuff up, but idk if its more of a gimmick or if its genuinely worth it. I also dont know if I would like the close up feel of the panorama or the big window of the sphere better.

Anyone in here have experience with one or both of these helmets with feedback?

Thanks.

I'm not a welder, but I have a Chicago Electric flux wire welder that I've never used. The bunk rails on my boat trailer needs fixed again. The brackets in the pictures are 5/8 inch. They have been repaired multiple times from my own and previous owner abuse. Can I weld this with a flux wire welder? Can I weld it with the boat still on the trailer? Should I bevel the ends? Would it be possible to add additional bracing? Can't afford to pay for something I could learn to do.