OT : Chassis punches

[drlegendre .]

In my experience, Greenlee is the industrial standard for metal punches. As
duly noted, they are not cheap but of excellent quality - and will last a
typical user's lifetime.

As for the Quick-Draw device, if you think about it, I really cannot
increase the maximum force / material thickness that the punch can work.
Whether the punch is driven manually or automatically, the weakest link in
the chain is the same - the tensile strength of the threaded portion of the
drawbolt.

However, it would reduce one of the major wear points, which is the
threaded connection between the die & drawbolt. With the hydraulic device,
you no longer need to drive the thread to develop the pulling force - the
hydraulic piston develops that force for you, so no need to drive the
thread. But in my experience, I suspect that the cutting edges of the die
would dull before threadwear became a point of concern.

If you want to speed-up the operation, drive the punch through with an
impact wrench once you've got it properly started.

On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 1:52 PM, tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > I don't know about the hydraulic part, but I've had really like my
> Greenlee
> > punches.
>
> That is the sort of thing I've read elsewhere. Greenlee are not cheap, but
> they
> do the job and last. The brand we used to use in the UK was Q-max [1] but
> they don't do the sizes I need
>
> [1] Again a good brand IMHO. I convinced my father to buy me the 5/8", 3/4"
> and 1+1/8" ones about 35 years ago. I am still using them. Of course those
> are
> the sizes for B7G, B9A and Octal valveholders... I think the company
> started out
> making RF (and IF?) coils, hence the name.
>
> The ones I am looking at are the conventional 'tighten the bolt' ones
> albeit with
> a thrust type ball race on the bolt to reduce the torque needed. The
> published
> specs exceed what I need to do (they are specified to punch 1.6mm mild
> steel,
> the thickest I want to do is 1.2mm).
>
> The hydraulic thingy seems to fit in place of the nut and pulls the punch
> bolt
> through the metal into the die. Nowhere can I find info on what advantage
> it
> gives. If it's just quicker then I am not going to get one.
>
> -tony
>