Silver Press Size

How about matched plates, the lower one with a cavity of the desired shape, the upper being flat; and the traditional BFH. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

That's a good idea. 20 tons isn't all that much when it comes to making metal flow , which is what flattening basically is. The idea of a hydraulic press for something that can easily be done with a hammer may seem like overkill, but may not actually be. It's hard to say what tonnage would be required for that operation without seeing it and experimenting. 50 tons would do it (^:# I bet . 20 would likely be enough . But I was surprised at how less effective a 20 or 25 ton press was for this sort of thing than I thought it would be. These days I mostly limit my press flattening to cute demonstrations for friends and visitors , and show what 50 tons does to a soda can , or cigarette, or pine board.... whatever's handy !. Dar

If I understand correctly you need to press a wire about 3 or 4 inches long from round to rectangular. Someone here probably has the right answer. But if you have to make a die anyway, why not make the die first and then try using a vise first to get an idea of what it really takes. I suspect you could use a three ton hydraulic jack. But one test is worth three opinions.

Dan

1. That's a fairly standard finding, available in gold for sure, but probably in silver also. Have you looked in the catalogs of findings suppliers.
2. Generally speaking, you don't do your own stamping unless you intend to go into the stamping business or unless you a huge manufacturer. If you can't buy a suitable, ready-made, finding, you pay to have a set of dies created and then have the stuff stamped out by a stamping company for you. I don't know how much the dies will cost -- but probably several hundred dollars. Once you have the dies, you pay a modest set-up fee and then stamp out a few hundred or a few thousand pieces. What you describe probably takes about a second or two. Less with an automatic feed system.
3. Die making is a ticklish business -- hence the top machinists are called "tool and die makers." Don't expect to get it right the first time out. Stamping is also not trivial and involves lots of know-how. These are the sort of things you leave to professionals. In my day, in the New York City jewelry district (and also today) all but the largest manufacturers (mostly for costume and low end jewelry) sent their stampings out to shop that did only that sort of work. A handful of stamping companies handled the entire industry.

Boris