Coachbuilt

So today is more of a question than a post. Been playing with thumbnail shrinking dies and have have gotten the e very rough idea of their use but getting the deep marks shown below. I’ve adjusted until there are almost none but that is, effectively, no longer really doing much at all, so, series of questions for the (well anyone) more knowledgeable:
1) should hammer be on spring mode or rigid mode (I can set either way, the owner manual said spring and that is what this is );
2) is this an alignment issue(I’ve checked in-and-out and side-to-side with straight edge but…);
3) profile issue? I’m learning the hard way that the various tools and dies often have to be “tuned” and polished from the factory; or
4) just stupid human?

Before I bu**er up something real need to get a handle on it. In other news, to those that asked about the Hot Rod Hammer, it appears to do just fine with .063 3003 aluminum (well, other than the above issue). TIA

Post script: I pulled the does and in the bright light of the workbench you can clearly see what is hitting and what is not. I am assuming that the dull spots need to be relieved

Had one of my favorite helpers, Kat, home from grad school for the holiday break and in the shop today learning (along side, not from) me playing with the power hammer and the shrinking die, annealing (and reminding ourselves that the temperature difference between annealing and melting is NOT that great) but we ended up with a functionally shaped bowl which was pretty good for her first time metal shaping!

MY big news… (no, I had not dropped off the face of the earth) is the big move…about 200 feet! A larger space opened up in the same building (60% larger). No more tripping over everything moving through the shop (compare to the last photos from old shop). Almost all put away and ready to “play” with the new toys I had room to add - an IPG LightWeld laser welder and a WoodwardFab power-hammer. Ready to start moving metal in earnest!