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Hi team,

I want to press relatively soft metals like copper and silver at 24 gauge (0.5mm thick)

in hydraulic jewelry press. To do so, I want to 3D print custom female and male dies to press

the soft sheet metal into hemispheres.

What materials would be best for this in the 3D printing world? Characteristics should include - very hard rubber or plastic, non brittle and being able to withstand some compression while having some give (but not shattering or breaking under the pressure)?

This attached image was a design I designed for wood. If I can find right material, the sizes of block can be smaller, as well as the hammer punches shorter but all diameters stay the same.

SS-design-dapping-block-and-punch-hammers.jpg
SS-design-dapping-block-and-punch-hammers.jpg1585×824 210 KB

4 Likes
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To be honest I would simply test some different materials! Start of with the basic PLA, then ABS, and move up the scale to the more exotic like PLA-Carbon Fiber, and Nylon.

I think these will need to be printed with solid infill, but for small batch runs I think PLA will probably work! It can take quite a beating when printed solid.

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Having worked with silver like this, you will probably find that PLA will simply not stand up to this sort of pressure for more than one stamp, if even that. PETG might be able to handle this, but nylon is just too soft. What you will find is that towards the end of the press the edges of the silver disc will dig into the stamp and ruin it. Even with fully annealed silver I would be quite surprised if the plastic dies could take that level of abuse altogether. In order to get a smooth dome you need enough pressure to get the metal to flow (plasticise) otherwise you will get buckled edges or even folds.

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Sounds an interesting one. Whatever the material, it isn’t going to have a hugely long life with the wear that goes on (as you’ll know if you’ve used acrylic for silhouette dies). Of the types I’ve got on hand/en route, the standard resin would be hardest - and therefore most brittle - while the engineering-type tough resin is claimed to have a similar strength to ABS. As for PLA - um, no. Don’t think that sounds a good idea.

As an alternative to printing it, would having it CNC milled in Delrin or acetal work for you? I make all sorts of tooling for silver work in Delrin (albeit not CNC) and it stands up to a moderate amount of abuse.

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Thank you all for the very helpful and informative replies.

Note: Silver will be pure and I’ll be using these dies with platinum as well.

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Thank you Steven.

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I think the compressive strength of a solid lump of PLA would surprise a lot of people!!..lol.

but again I suggest you do some small trials with different material types! a worst case scenario is that nothing form a 3D printer works, but you will have learnt allot in the process! and have a better understanding of those types of materials when used in press work.

But for a garenteed material, you need to use D2 tool steel, that has been CNC machined to a very fine finish, is then polished within an inch of its life, gets hardened, and then is Di Coat treated. this will last years and years, and give a super finish to the surface of the silver. (I know this as I work in the press tool industry, design dies for the automotive sector…)

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Hi,

I’m using carbon fiber reinforced PLA from proto plasta for different application and it looks very strong under compression, although I can’t say if it would withstand 24 gauge. You would of course use 100% infill for this.

good luck!

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Much appreciate the info Gilles. I am going to try one run with regular PLA to see what it gives. Should be a good learning experience. I’ll take it from there and glad to have this info on hand for next prints.