FILENAMES: BalloonDieFront.jpg BalloonFiesta.jpg BalloonDieSide.jpg DESCRIPTION: These are pictures of a stamping die. Posted by Dar Shelton . The following description was provided: ================================================================= This shows the cutting die with it's forming component soldered right to the cutting face.The die itself is simply a thin (5/64" thick) plate with a flap cut (oops, the plasma torch slipped 'cause I had lost the guide jig that day) into it. The actual cutting part of the die is sawed with a jewelers saw (contraption) . The sawtable tilts so that the cut leaves a kerf with zero (actually less) clearance between the punch and die, so that a shearing pair is the result. The flap is pulled open, sheet metal inserted , and in the case of ones like this that also have a forming component attached, the die is set onto a urethane (or nylon,...)pad in the press , and pressed. Low tech, one-piece, one- step cutting/embossing die. More to follow. ----- This is the same balloon die , side view. It shows the thinness of this type of die, the flap nature of it's operation, and the thickness of the forming component in relation to the die itself. The latter, plus the proximity of the form to the cutting edge(seen in 'Balloon DieFront.jpg) are what makes this die more interesting than other similar ones I've made. Also the things I wanted to find out more about when making thiis particular die. 'Balloon Fiesta' shows some cut and formed (or should I say 'formed and cut' because this deep form does it's work first, different from similar dies with low profile forms) parts . They are .016" soft copper, pressed into 95 duro (shore A) urethane at about 10 tons. Not as articulated as I'd like. Building a solid female mold in nylon would fix that. It could still be a one step operation.