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Making louvers

L

Lightspeed Mike

Well-Known Member
I've wanted a louver press for a long time now. Unfortunately the price of the dies is way out of reach for me to just to have around. I built a press break a few years back, so I have the squishing means to do it. Just needed to figure out a cheap way of making dies. To the scrap pile for an old leaf spring, a left over piece of boiler plate steel I cut for a customer years ago. warm up the CNC plasma cutter, milling machine, welders, grinders etc. It still needs a few adjustments, but I pretty darn happy with the results. This is 18 gauge mild steel.
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Very nice! How much "Ooph" (technical term) does it take on that 18 gauge steel?

I have been pondering what might be involved in making a die for punching cutouts in aluminum for things like IEC 320 panel mount plugs. I know nothing about this type of work, but I thought if I'm liable to do more than one I might not want to just cut it out on the mill.
 
mickeyf said:
Very nice! How much "Ooph" (technical term) does it take on that 18 gauge steel?

I have been pondering what might be involved in making a die for punching cutouts in aluminum for things like IEC 320 panel mount plugs. I know nothing about this type of work, but I thought if I'm liable to do more than one I might not want to just cut it out on the mill.
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I'm guessing only a couple of tons. The panels I made are 18 gauge and they go in pretty easy. Mind you it is a 50 ton press brake.
 
Doggggboy said:
How much distortion did making the louvres cause? Did you shape the panel and then punch them?
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I made the louver dies to squish the panel flat when it bottoms out. No rework was necessary.
Yes, I made the panel first. That way I could lay them out and make sure I was happy with the pattern and position. Very important when building cars. The tape measure may say it's right but the eyes say it's wrong. With these panels the louvers are down 1/2" at the back compared with the front. I first laid them out level they looked like they were running uphill at the back.
 
Lightspeed Mike said:
I made the louver dies to squish the panel flat when it bottoms out. No rework was necessary.
Yes, I made the panel first. That way I could lay them out and make sure I was happy with the pattern and position. Very important when building cars. The tape measure may say it's right but the eyes say it's wrong. With these panels the louvers are down 1/2" at the back compared with the front. I first laid them out level they looked like they were running uphill at the back.
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Looks great! Nice and straight and even. Amazing what the eyeball says about what’s right vs the tape.

Was there some fixturing involved or is that just plain good hands on, old skool craftsmanship?

D :cool:
 
Tecnico said:
Looks great! Nice and straight and even. Amazing what the eyeball says about what’s right vs the tape.

Was there some fixturing involved or is that just plain good hands on, old skool craftsmanship?

D :cool:
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A bit of both. After you lay out what you like. Punch the first one. The second will locate on the edge of the die. Just have to line up the center line.
 
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