Tap & Die ?:Buffalo Forge Ironworker

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Hi, I am stumped on what I should do in regards to taps & dies for our ole faithful Buffalo Forge Ironworker. The other day I had to use the 3/4" tap to punch a hole in some flat bar. And i had a horrible time, trying to get the coupon out of the die..........and after I was all done...I noticed the edge around the die was damaged. Now heres my question....We have lots of old damaged taps and dies leftover over the years and is there a way to resurface or buildup the worn or damaged areas of a tap or die.....a machine you can buy maybe??? Or do I have to just order a new 3/4" die and toss the bad one in the damaged goods box with the rest of em....I'm just trying to see if it would be worthwhile to invest in a machine that could fix the old taps & dies....or just buy a fresh 3/4" die ??Your input would be greatly appreciated...thanks.
Reply:First, them things is called "punches and dies". A punch is what does the punching, and a die is the one with the hole in it.These things are made from a good high carbon tool steel, and then they are heat treated. So no, it really doesnt make sense to reweld them, for anything other than an emergency repair. To do it right, you would need to match the alloy of the steel, tig weld up a bit, then to anneal the whole thing, and re heat treat it. Then grind it back to its original shape, accurate to within a few hundred thousandths of an inch. Then, it might or might not break anyway. You would need to know the alloy of the original, in order to properly heat treat it. Not all tool steels are alike, and the difference of even a hundred degrees in your digitally controlled heat treating oven could make or break it. A lot of work when a new one costs maybe 15 bucks.That said, in a big punching shop what they do is regrind them- they grind off the damaged area. This will only work a few times, and only on punches that dont have too big a bite taken out of them.But a tool and cutter grinder to do this is not real cheap- figure 2 grand or so for a good used one, up to 10 to 15 grand for a new one. More if it is CNC, which would make sense when you have a shop running a whole row of quarter million dollar cnc Trumpf turret punches, but not when you have an old boat anchor Buffalo ironworker.I just toss em, myself- I get hundreds, if not thousands of holes out of a 12 dollar punch, and figure the cost per hole is minimal. You need to make a few auxiluary stripper bars to use when punching, so you dont have that particular problem again- just a piece of 3/8" or 1/2" flat bar, a few inches longer than your stripper gap, with a bigger hole in it, so the punch can go thru the hole, but the flat bar holds your work piece down when the punch retracts.I buy all my punches and dies from Cleveland Punch and Die, http://www.clevelandpunch.comand they may be able to regrind some of them for you. If you wanted to regrind your own, here is a tool designed to do that-http://www.foremostmachinery.com/Cat...alGrinder.html
Reply:Thank you Ries........   Your a gentleman and a scholar....With  the info you gave me.... I'll just order a new 3/4 inch die....I'll go with the Keep It Simple Stupid theory...he he thanks Ries...If i have anymore technical questions....I know this helpful and informative forum will be here ...for us ...stumped with a dilemma!!