11 Mar
2008
11 Mar
'08
2:23 p.m.
I'm looking for D-shell hole punches, for DB and DE shells, and
possibly DA as well - Greenlee is the name I know, but I daresay others
make them too. The major constraints: (a) the seller must ship to
Canada; (b) the seller must take phone or fax orders - I can tolerate
looking for things on the Web, but I will _not_ pay over the Web; (c)
they must be decent quality - no cheap knockoffs that break along about
RS components (that's not Radio Shack) certainly used to sell them, and
probably stil ldo. However, unless you have a trade account, you _have_
to pay by credit card ontheir web site. But snce RS are one of the large
trade component suppliers in the UK, since they've been around for _many_
years, I have no qualms at all about doing that.
Be warned these punches are not cheap. I have the DB size one, and it
cost me over \pounds 100.00. On the other hand they work well, and I've
used it many times without problems.
the fifth time you use them (as Tony, I think, put it,
I'm not rich
enough to buy cheap tools). There is no need to be especially fast to
use; if it takes a minute or two to position the pieces and crank a
bolt down with a wrench or something, that's OK.
With the RS one, you first drill a hole in the middle of the place you
want to put the connector. Bolt down a template supplied with the punch
(the instructions suggest using the punch and its bolt for this, I found
it a lot better to provide a separate nut and bolt), then drill 2 holes
throug hthe template and panel (these will eventially be the mounting
holes for the connector). Remove the template, assemble the die to the
pnel (locating pins throuhg the holes you've just drilled), fit the punch
(olt through the hole you drilled first), fit the ball thrust bearing and
the nut. Tighten the nut, and you've made the hole.
It's not as fast as a punch tool in a press, of course, but it sure
beats filing it out by hand.
-tony