41`40 and tools?

[Tim B]

Hello,

I just recieved my 100lb Little Giant fresh from rehab by Sid and want to make some tooling for it.

I have some 4140 in various sizes and was wondering the correct Rc or tempering temp to use for;

1- hammer head
2- Hot cutter
3 drawing dies and other tooling for spring swages

Thanks in advance


Tim

PS Ed, your videos have made it possible for the hobbiest (me) to get instruction that I could not otherwise get. Thank you.

[Ed Caffrey]

Hi Tim!

I'm glad the video has been helpful!

The 4140 should work out well for all the applications you mentioned...however I'm too sure about making a hot cut out of it. I don't have any hot cuts made from 4140, and I've never made a hot cut from that material....but I suspect you can make it work with a bit of trial and error.

My 50lb dies are made of 4140, hardened and then tempered at 475F. So far they are working great. I produce my "angle pien" hammers from 4140 stock, but I tend to make hammers much softer than most. My reasoning for doing so is because I'd rather clean up a dinged hammer face than have to repair a ding in the anvil face.

It will work great for tooling (fullers/swedges)......most of the tooling that I've made for my hammers is 4140. I don't worry too much about the exact tempering of tooling simply because there is so much heat being sucked up into them that any temper will be destroyed quickly if you use the tooling much at all.

[rhrocker]

Congradulations Tim! Sid and company are great folks. You'll love your LG 100 lb'er, I have one and would never part with it. I make most of my tools from mild steel. Pretty cheap to replace when/if it wears out. I also have some S1 on order for chisels and such (from the LG company) Robb Gunther uses it, but I don't know the HT for it yet, and like Ed said, not much use in tempering any of the dies, since the hot steel you're forging will take the temper away. I also have a LG 250 pounder on the way, and that's going to take some really BIG dies. Now, to find a 500 pounder!......

[beebee58]

Tim, Don't know much about the "dies" but at the ABS school we used mild steel for a "Hot" cutter. Just bent it about 60 degree's and sharpened one end, since you are cutting "hot" billets there was not a problem.

BB

[B.Finnigan]

I have made alot of hot/cold cutting chisels and impacting tools and my theory is edge geometery is every bit important as the steel choice is. I have a cold cut chisel I made from 1010 and it works great but the edge is almost 40 deg. so there is some mass behind it.