While doing some shop cleanup I came across some scrap parts from my initial attempt to make modular spring dies. My idea was to make the initial dressing of the dies easier and also later repair or modification if needed. Eventually, I discarded the initial design entirely but I did learn some things and there may yet be some cases where it might be useful.
One thing which I learned was that the spring stock 1/4” x 1” was not sturdy enough to hold up to my power hammer use. The 1/4” dimension was OK but a 1.5” or 2” width was better. Another inadequacy was the use of a single bolt where two bolts would have helped maintain the alignment better. The piece of channel wasn’t long enough to prevent side-to-side wiggle either.
I might have been better to place the joint on the bottom arm of the spring loop rather than the top arm. That would reduce the weight of the top arm and the joint would not be subject to as much movement.
Over the years there have been a lot of things I didn’t get right on the first try. Sometimes an improvement is immediately apparent. Sometimes I am stopped by insufficient skill or just not being able to see how to correct the problem. I’ve gotten so used to the experience it doesn’t bother me in the least. I lay the thing aside and expect that later a solution will come to me. I have a lot of trust in the principle of “unconscious design” which I wrote about last summer.
Old spring die, side view
Old spring die, top view
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