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06-13-2024, 04:50 AM
New idea: tighter tolerance holes.
I was playing more with hand-tapping as well as the upside-down swaging setup, both outside of a card. I know Kevin's comments above that's not representative of the actual process and can't serve as a test, I just wanted to play with the eyelets and try to gather more observations about how they deform under pressure. Anyhow, I was moving the press down in tiny increments on one particular eyelet, stopping after each increment and observing the progress of the flare then resetting the eyelet on the tool and pressing it down a little more, and this one looked like it was going fine. There was the slightest hint of a flare all around the edge of the eyelet starting to develop, no defects in sight yet. I put it back on the press, and started to apply pressure. Things went well until they didn't, and the eyelet appeared to make the smallest tiny shift to one side with the edge there rolling under. From what I could see, this was before that part of the edge had contacted the circular groove in the tool. At the same time, the eyelet also went oblong, with the wall bulging out in the spot the defect happened. That sparked an idea: what if my eyelets are doing that in the holes I've drilled?
During some of my tests with a board to install the eyelets in, when I had tried positioning the eyelets under the punch I had noticed that I could move the board around a surprising amount while the eyelet was pinned between the tool and the bottom table or support the board rested against. Also, not all of the holes I've drilled can hold eyelets without dropping them, and the ones that do aren't that secure. The drill press I'm using is second-hand and not the best to begin with, so it's conceivable that it might have a hair more runout than is desirable even though visually the holes look fine to me. Circular, pretty clean, etc. My previous holes that were hand-drilled, well all bets are off with those given the wobbly setup and my poor drill technique (to make things cut better as the bit dulled I was swiveling the drill
). Kevin mentioned the importance of properly sized holes, and that in his experience the eyelets fit snugly enough to not fall out. So, based on that and my observations testingplaying with the eyelets, I'm starting to think that a properly sized hole does two things. 1) It keeps the eyelets from moving like I observed, and 2) it helps support the walls of the eyelet so that they can't deform in mysterious ways. I still need to measure them, but I think the holes I'm drilling might be a bit too loose and so aren't supporting the eyelet and are allowing it to shift around a little. I've been using a 1/8" (3.125mm) bit, so I just put in an order for a 3mm bit, and a 2.6mm bit. I'll be able to pick them up tomorrow and play with them a little to see if 1) I get tighter holes that still fit the eyelets and 2) I get good swages. Fingers crossed!
I was playing more with hand-tapping as well as the upside-down swaging setup, both outside of a card. I know Kevin's comments above that's not representative of the actual process and can't serve as a test, I just wanted to play with the eyelets and try to gather more observations about how they deform under pressure. Anyhow, I was moving the press down in tiny increments on one particular eyelet, stopping after each increment and observing the progress of the flare then resetting the eyelet on the tool and pressing it down a little more, and this one looked like it was going fine. There was the slightest hint of a flare all around the edge of the eyelet starting to develop, no defects in sight yet. I put it back on the press, and started to apply pressure. Things went well until they didn't, and the eyelet appeared to make the smallest tiny shift to one side with the edge there rolling under. From what I could see, this was before that part of the edge had contacted the circular groove in the tool. At the same time, the eyelet also went oblong, with the wall bulging out in the spot the defect happened. That sparked an idea: what if my eyelets are doing that in the holes I've drilled?
During some of my tests with a board to install the eyelets in, when I had tried positioning the eyelets under the punch I had noticed that I could move the board around a surprising amount while the eyelet was pinned between the tool and the bottom table or support the board rested against. Also, not all of the holes I've drilled can hold eyelets without dropping them, and the ones that do aren't that secure. The drill press I'm using is second-hand and not the best to begin with, so it's conceivable that it might have a hair more runout than is desirable even though visually the holes look fine to me. Circular, pretty clean, etc. My previous holes that were hand-drilled, well all bets are off with those given the wobbly setup and my poor drill technique (to make things cut better as the bit dulled I was swiveling the drill
). Kevin mentioned the importance of properly sized holes, and that in his experience the eyelets fit snugly enough to not fall out. So, based on that and my observations testingplaying with the eyelets, I'm starting to think that a properly sized hole does two things. 1) It keeps the eyelets from moving like I observed, and 2) it helps support the walls of the eyelet so that they can't deform in mysterious ways. I still need to measure them, but I think the holes I'm drilling might be a bit too loose and so aren't supporting the eyelet and are allowing it to shift around a little. I've been using a 1/8" (3.125mm) bit, so I just put in an order for a 3mm bit, and a 2.6mm bit. I'll be able to pick them up tomorrow and play with them a little to see if 1) I get tighter holes that still fit the eyelets and 2) I get good swages. Fingers crossed!
