Aluminium bibs

[neb]

Does anyone know how I would go about getting a die made to make aluminium bibs, or where i would go to enquire, I want to make some bibs for a topwater jitterbug style lure I am working on....Nev

[diemai]

Does anyone know how I would go about getting a die made to make aluminium bibs, or where i would go to enquire, I want to make some bibs for a topwater jitterbug style lure I am working on....Nev

.......making a die would be very costly , I guess , ....you'd need to punch out 1000's of bibs to compensate for the cost .

On a German site there is a similar discussion taking place these days , .....some folks suggested to have bibs(polycarbonate or metal alike) cut out with modern water jet technologies , ...couple of companies around here offering this service , ...but one has to look around about miniumum quantities and prices , ...also give them compensatable CAD files about the outline of the workpieces .

Here just a pricelist of a local company indicating different materials and thicknesses(in Euro per meter of cutting path ,..... for aluminium , plastic , brass/copper and steel) , ....cost of machine set up and material costs must be added :

http://www.finck-metallbau.de/wasser.htm

Just an idea , ...as I reckon that making a professional die would still be more costly , if you only need a few 100's of pieces ?

Greetz , Dieter

[neb]

Thanks Fella's, Dean, I never thought of him. I was talking to my neighbour today about locals who might be able to do it, it turns out he is a master Fitter and turner and is going to have a go at making me a punch of sorts to punch out the bibs. If that fails I might contact Dean and see what he can do...Nev

[19rally44]

Nev,I have a small J. Heine press, the last die & punch set i had made cost me around $1000 from a tool maker. Thats 20 yrs. ago!! I`d go with the guy from Musswellbrook, got to be more economical.Cheers Richard.

[neb]

Thanks Richard, you might be right. My neighbour has come good and made a simplistic punch that with using the right hammer and amount of force cuts out a rough shape of the bib I want (just needs to be cleaned up) and it cost me nothing, I'll try this for a while, if it does not do the job then I will contact Dean...Nev