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Making a cutter

How much would it cost to make a cutter for 22 ga. paintlock? The die would be a leaf shape, cutting out one leaf at a time, approximately 1.5" long, 1" wide. I would assume it would be a two piece die, one innie, one outie. Or is there a way to make two dies where 1/2 of the leaf would be cut at a time, eating away from the edge? I guess that some sort of punch, like an Ironworker or Piranha would have to be used to power it.

If such a device worked, would it be possible to make other dies? And if so, how much per die? Oh, I know it would depend on intricacy, but a ballpark guess.

What would be the maintenance profile on those dies ......... how long between sharpenings, etc.

Or would it just be cheaper to send someone a drawing, and have them make me say, a thousand at a time with a laser or plasma cutter?

Steve

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Steve B
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It would just be cheaper to send someone a drawing, and have them make you a thousand at a time with a laser or plasma cutter. I just cut 85 5" long swans with separate wings out of 20 ga CR with my Plasma table. Yours should be about .35 + material depending on design. Steve

Reply to
Up North

Hi Steve,

Unless you are contemplating well into the thousands, a punch (innie) and die (outie) will get expensive fast. However once set up you could make an awful lot, awfully cheaply and awfully fast. You would need a small 5-ton press, a die set to hold the punch and die and then the punch and die.

A good used Benchmaster 5T would cost around $2K, the die sets around $500. If the edges of the leaf shape are smooth then a punch and die would probably best be done by EDM and run to around $2K. Once you have that set up though, each leaf will cost about $0.0001 each. If you want other designs, then all it will cost is the new punch and die. An iron-worker etc would be way too slow to be cost effective. I have a 5T Benchmaster that does 40 to 50 parts per minute when running auto.

If you get them done by Water-jet, laser, or plasma they will run about $0.50 and up. The problem with laser or plasma is you will get paint charring on the edges. That pretty much leaves water-jet.

Dave

Reply to
Dave, I can't do that

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