Hello from Afghanistan! So, here I am looking at getting a louver press setup, probably from Mittler Brothers, but am curious if there is a better frame design out there than the one they give you the build sheet and specs for. I know some of you have been crafty and made your own, but I'm trying to see what my frame options are. Is there frame design suficient for doing larger panels....etc? If anyone has specs for something better or pics of there own frame that they would like to share, it would be appreciated. Also, I've seen some people arent too fond of Mitler Brothers louver dies, is there a better company to order them from? I dont want to make wall lockers, I want to punch louvers that look correct.....any feedback would be appreciated.
Hey Kaptain, I saw your P.M. a bit ago and then just saw the thread here. Yes, it's true, I'm not a great fan of the Mittler bros dies mainly because of their shape. The sad part though is most of the true Hot Rod type louvers out there aren't made by commercially available dies. Most have been hand whittled. The only company that I might suggest to you would be William's low buck tools. I have only seen their stuff in magazines, but the shape looks good enough, and the guy that makes them is the real deal. Their frame and mechanism is mechanical though, and that would suck beyond words as far as effort and repeatability, straight and whole bunch of other factors. I would maybe look at their dies and build a hydraulic press frame and go that route. Just my .02...
Years ago there was a company up near SanJose called "Good Time Louver Company" that offered 6 or 7 different louvers die assy. and plans and parts to build a nice frame. I bought the plans and a 3"die set and built my own press. Did many a louver with that thing untill sombody offered me more money for it then I would make punching holes for the next 10 years. Now I just send people to him. BTW I still have the bluprints and catologe.
I bought the louver press head assembly from LoBuck Tools and am very happy with it. I utilized some I-beam I had laying around for the frame, I made the throat a bit over 4' to do a roof insert. To me the profile of their louver matches that of old timey ones closer than any I've seen with any other companies which is one of the reasons I chose theirs. I figured that buy the time I buy the punch and fab up a frame I still have less $$$ into it than paying someone to punch the insert that I did.
Does anyone have any good dimensions for a 3inch and 4inch louver die? I found this website (aaapressbrakedie.com) and they can make louver dies. If I can find the dimensions or at least a general rule of thumb about louver's for our kind of application I might try this route....
Is the profile of the "dome" louver dies from Mittler Brothers closer to that traditional profile? Anyone have pics of louvers punched using the MB dome vs standard dies?
louver press idea, I used the tools at UVU 5 years ago to punch my deck lid on my 31 Nash roadster. Chris Davenport now owns salt flats speed shop in Orem Utah, He built a 40 willys Coupe from aluminum when he was a student at UVU. I heard that He modified the college press so he could do the roof for a 32 sedan. I took some picts and plan on building my own, The main ram is 2 in square steel with the punch and pressure plates bolted to the bottom. since the ram is square it can be turned 90 *. The Bottom die holder is also square and can be rotated. I plan on ordering a s7 tool steel bar, making my own dies and then harden them. sorry my picts didn't load. I have a lot of 4 X 4 1/4 wall tube, Hydraulic pump, hoses and rams from a tractor. My out of pocket cost will be minimal. I tried a sample a few years ago using a carved block of poly and a hammer form but the curves were to aggressive and I got splits.
I searched for you last week. Lots of info on here. https://www.google.com/search?q=hom...29,d.aWc&fp=94e32a4cea89f529&biw=1280&bih=864
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