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Broke my second dimple die in a week

nohoflyer

nohoflyer

Well Known Member
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Both were Cleveland dies. Both the male end. The first I had for a long time and the second was its first day of use. Both on the c frame dimpling skins with a hammer. I made it all the way through the empennage and the wings. Now two dies in a row on the fuse.

Frustrated. Obviously I’m going to order more but at this rate I’m going to need a lot.
 
Dies

nohoflyer said:
Both were Cleveland dies. Both the male end. The first I had for a long time and the second was its first day of use. Both on the c frame dimpling skins with a hammer. I made it all the way through the empennage and the wings. Now two dies in a row on the fuse.

Frustrated. Obviously I’m going to order more but at this rate I’m going to need a lot.
Click to expand...

Probably not. I snapped one or two during my build it just seem to happen. Broke a couple pilots off of countersink cutters too.
 
Check the upper shaft to lower die holder alignment on the C-channel. Maybe the guide pin is being side loaded causing the breakage.

my dimple dies are 20 years old, & counting
 
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Are you setting the die in the hole or is it supported on a spring and you're hammering it down? I used my dad's old c frame and there was no spring, though I did have to loosen the attaching bolts and realign the punch to get it to seat smooth. You might be misaligned just a hair. Does it go smoothly into the female die?

I did break the pilot on what was my only die when I dropped it (and the attached anvil part) on the floor. Wound up borrowing one from another local builder to get me through the weekend until a new one could come in.
 
nohoflyer said:
Both were Cleveland dies. Both the male end. The first I had for a long time and the second was its first day of use. Both on the c frame dimpling skins with a hammer. I made it all the way through the empennage and the wings. Now two dies in a row on the fuse.

Frustrated. Obviously I’m going to order more but at this rate I’m going to need a lot.
Click to expand...

You are not the only one, I broke at least two sets before I stopped using them. Of course I reached out to them and they replaced them each time but the hassle of getting them replaced was not worth the time especially that they were not taking any steps to identify and fix the issue. Mine had break even in their own squeezers and had happened both at the dimple or the stem.
 
rmartingt said:
Are you setting the die in the hole or is it supported on a spring and you're hammering it down? I used my dad's old c frame and there was no spring, though I did have to loosen the attaching bolts and realign the punch to get it to seat smooth. You might be misaligned just a hair. Does it go smoothly into the female die?

I did break the pilot on what was my only die when I dropped it (and the attached anvil part) on the floor. Wound up borrowing one from another local builder to get me through the weekend until a new one could come in.
Click to expand...

That spring broke a long time ago. And yes it does fit smoothly. The female end does require some tape keep it from falling out even though it’s new. Seems the female end of the c frame is a bit loose…..or the male end retainer rod is too skinny.
 
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make the die stay in place better on the shaft by gently prying the little collar a bit
 

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Ralph Inkster said:
make the die stay in place better on the shaft by gently prying the little collar a bit
Click to expand...

The trouble with the Cleveland dies are that they have gone to a o-ring/rubber type and they won't hold nearly as well and you can not pry them open like it is suggested here.
 
I had a similar issue, broke at the stem in the C-Frame twice, but don't think I have (yet) broken a pilot off a dimple die. Bought a DRDT-2 and no more broken dimple dies, and I keep the broken ones to use with Knipex pliers for hard to reach dimples.
Cleaveland replaced at least one set for me, which was nice of them considering the postage to Oz would've been 3x the value of the dies!
 
If only the tip of the pilot is broken, the die still might work. I have a #40 die with a broken tip, but there’s enough of the pilot still intact that alignment has never been a problem and the dimples come out fine.
 
What part broke?

I'm not seeing a description of the break..maybe I missed it. I've personally driven seemingly a million dimples in my 42 years of metal work and broken very few. Most often, they break at the stem-to-body radius because the set/tool doesn't have a relief chamfer or is not square to the dimple die, and the dimple die isn't seated properly. If the pilot is bottoming in the female die, this can cause the pilot to break.
 
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