What is a Tinkerer?

One should not confuse a tinkerer and a tinker! A tinkerer is a person who tinkers with machinery, modifies products and is the heart and sole of inventors and innovators. However, a tinker is someone who fixes household items with tin. These wondering tin smiths became a vagabond of sorts in the early industrial age and are associated with a negative connotation. Tinkerers on the other hand are highly regarded in society, think of Thomas Edison.

One aspect of being a successful machinist is the ability to tinker, in the tinkerer sense. Only by attempting new methods, tweaking old methods and testing these thoughts can a machinist improve upon his work and craft. While an endearing image of a tinkerer may be an old man farting around with clocks, the truth is that without that tinkering spirit innovation would come to a standstill. So tinker away, take things apart and see how they run and if they can be improved, for if it wasn't for this kind of innovator we wouldn't have light bulbs or artificial hearts!

Carbide Die & Tooling Resourses

Are you looking for online information about carbide dies and carbide tooling? When you're online looking for information about machines, machinists, tooling and manufacturing (machine shops) you will notice that there is some but not a ton of information out there. Machinists may not be online as much as gamers, programmers or the ever present Internet marketers but what I have found is that machinists and machine shop type people tend to post quality information online. This group tends to like to stick to the facts and dislike spammy marketing and excessive, unsupported self promotion. The information these die makers, machinists and shop owners post is direct and to the point, but in some of the more obscure areas, like carbide dies and carbide tooling, it can be scant. Here are some links that can help out.

General Information:
Carbide Dies - General Information about Carbide Dies
Carbide Dies - General Information about Carbide Dies and Tungsten Carbide
Carbide Tooling - General Information about Carbide Tooling
Carbide - General Information about Carbide

Machinist Forum:
The Home Shop Machinists
Machinist Web

Business Productivity:
Productive Business
Productive Business Meetings

Carbide Tooling

Carbide tooling is necessary for any cold forming, cold heading or extrusion process. Basically carbide tooling consists of anything that assists in the forming process besides the carbide dies. They are used to pound slugs into dies, cut off wires at set lengths and anything else that requires a durable part that can stand up to the punishing action of cold forming and heading. Tungsten carbide is used for this kind of tooling due to its extreme hardness and durability. In fact carbide tooling last four times longer than comparable steel tooling and this means less down time for machines and changing tooling out less frequently. In the long (or short) run, this means greater efficiency and profit.

A commonly used example of carbide tooling is a punch. Carbide punches have the punishing task of being slammed into metal slugs with enough force to cause them to form to the shape of a carbide die. Obviously this is one area where you don’t want to employ a weaker part! Think of carbide punches like the head of a hammer.

Another place where you will find carbide tooling used in the cold forming process is at the other end of carbide dies. Wire is created by forcing material through a drawing die, once through the draw die a piece of carbide tooling called a cut-off knife is used to cut the wire to length. Carbide cut-off knives can be employed anywhere where tough cuts are needed, and cutting wire will dull any edge quickly so once again carbide is used do to its hardness.

Carbide tooling obviously wears down during usage and eventually has to be replaced. How long it lasts depends on how much pressure the tools are under and the material they are being used to form. Cold forming steal will wear out tooling at a much faster rate than cold forming copper for example. Companies can often save money by sending their tooling to carbide die companies to be reworked. This will extend the life of the carbide tooling and it’s a lot cheaper then replacing tools every time they wear out.

Here’s a list of examples of carbide tooling.

• Nibs• Cut-Off Knives• Mandrels• Punches• Quills• Inserts• Annular Rings• Bushings
• Bearings• Shafts

Carbide Dies

Tungsten carbide dies are used in cold forming and cold heading manufacturing practices. Basically, the very, very hard material (tungsten carbide) used to make carbide dies allows them to take a rigorous beating and this is crucial. In cold forming cold metal is pounded into the die, forming the desired shape. This impact is so powerful that the metal slug actually becomes liquid as it is forced into the die. Furthermore the metal used is often steal, so something even harder is required when using cold forming manufacturing techniques. Tungsten carbide is the second hardest material known to man, just behind diamonds and diamond dies would be ridiculously expensive!

Cold forming and cold heading is a very productive way to make parts. In fact, parts can be made every second using this method while machining parts or using a molten metal and a mold takes much longer. An added bonus is that cold formed parts have greater strength because the grain of the metal is reshaped, as opposed to cut into when machined.

Basically, if you want to make a lot of something quickly, then you want to use carbide dies and cold forming.