Last summer I was sooo lucky, after selling off some unused tools, to take the plunge and buy my hydraulic press. I researched and researched…Will it be the Shark Bite? The Bonny Doone?  Then I stumbled onto the Potter USA website. I first I dismissed it, was it for ceramics(potters?)?   I went around and asked others questions..read up on building my own. I do tend to obsess over the details when I am making a big decisions like this one. Then with more searching I found the Potter USA site again and this lead to Kevin Potter’s You Tube channel. The videos of this guy totally enjoying his job..cutting and welding metal won me over. I then ask him a bazzillion questions which he patiently answered. So my order was placed…once it arrived…It was Love at first site! Or should I say first squeeze! I thought of making a video showing you how they work. But how much better could it be to see Kevin himself explaining how a blanking die (or pancake die) works with a 20-ton press. The press can do a multitude of tasks. Cutting metals blanks is just one of them. Thus the term “blanking die”. This is a sample of what a pancake die looks like:Here is Kevin demonstrating how to cut with the die:

This is a necklace I made using this very die.  I first cut it out of copper, shaped it with some reposse and dapping tools.  Then I enameled it:
More about the press later.  Michelle Mahler  Fundametals