Using a hydraulic press to make jewelry
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Original Post
I'm surprised that metalsmiths' hydraulic presses haven't been discussed much here on Etsy... After spending much time researching different presses I came to a conclusion that I'm best off going with a Bonny Doon press... However, since I couldn't afford it I went with a local small manufacturer (Shark Bite, manufactured near Denver) who's been making presses for over 30 years. I'm hoping it will work out well. Now, even though I already have the press itself, I need to buy many different dies for forming. Anybody out there have an idea where to buy dies for a good price? In any case, I'll hopefully be adding many new designs to my shop over the next weeks/months that will be made with the help of a hydraulic press.
Posted at 10:32pm May 19, 2010 EDT
Responses
i've been considering a press for a while... the newer onesto hit the market the"bulldog" or "potter" are made to be compatible with bonnie doon's tooling, forms and dies.... what about the shark????
Posted at 9:59pm May 21, 2010 EDT
Mark, as far as I can tell, the Shark I bought is also compatible. I'm not speaking with complete certainty though since I'm still a beginner when it comes to using a hydraulic press :)
Posted at 11:27pm May 21, 2010 EDT
Hey Nick - MSC and MMC have just about the same pricing for most things. Neither website is completely user friendly though! I think most of my urethane is 1/4 inch but I have some 1/2 inch for deeper items. Its a (@#! to cut down to size though. I ordered large sheets not knowing.....and had a devil of a time cutting them down to a more user friendly size. Any hints for cutting the urethane?
Posted at 1:29pm May 24, 2010 EDT
quick question - have you ever used
www.use-enco.com
for anything? Have been browsing them recently - prices seem competitive. . . don't know if they have urethane. But they have loads of other goodies. :)
Posted at 1:40pm May 24, 2010 EDT
I punch disks from the sheet with an arch punch, but that's somewhat specific to the round dies I use. You should be able to use metal snips to cut it. I use one with compound leverage.
Enco is owned by MSC, they bought them a few years back (they also own J&L). Often their prices are better on import items, although it depends whether MSC is running a sale or not. Usually the stuff ships from teh same warehouses.
Posted at 5:14pm May 24, 2010 EDT
bluehour, If you're just pressing into an open arcylic mold you don't need urethane sheet. We used a dense rubber (I think it's "buna"; don't know the grade. kind of like the rubber from a tire inner tube) and cut out shapes to match the mold in decreasing sizes. If it's a 2" square opening in the arcylic sheet you'd cut out of the rubber sheet a 2" square then a 1 1/2" square then a 1" or a 3/4" square, this doesn't have to be exact. When you press you put the arcylic sheet on the press, then your metal then stack the rubber from smallest piece to largest piece of rubber. Use the arcylic mold to draw an outline of the design on the metal sheet so you know where to position the pieces of rubber.
Posted at 7:01am May 25, 2010 EDT
Enamelsoul,
Thank you for the tip, I'll definitely give that a shot!
Posted at 10:32pm May 25, 2010 EDT
These may help:
www.ehow.com/how_5644004_make-silhouette-die.html
www.ehow.com/how_5634485_use-hydraulic-press-jewelry-making.html
geltdesigns.com/Tutorials_By_Topic.html
Posted at 11:07pm May 25, 2010 EDT