Anyone got any ideas on how to turn one of these up? Do you think i need to harden the steel?

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I made a swaging tool the other day but im not happy with the rough edges left by a hole saw. So i fancy a sheet punch to do it.

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I dont want to buy a set as despite the smaller sized being cheap(ish) about £7 each, the larger sizes seem to be fairly expensive.

[Edited on 25/2/08 by jono_misfit]

You need the full path in mate

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/RIMG1014-1.JPG

You need http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/ before them.

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To answer your question - yes, you could make a cutter set like you've shown there, as long as you had a lathe. You'd also need the correct grade of steel and the ability to harden the metal. The amount of force required to cut a big hole (e.g. 52mm for dials) is considerable - you have to use a huge allen key and it's quite a strain even with that. If the metal isn't hardened enough it'll just go blunt and mess up your work.

You'd have a job finding a small quantity of the correct steel, it would cost you a packet, and you'd have some wastage in the bits you make incorrectly (it will always happen!).

Frankly, it would be cheaper to buy them ready-made! It would certainly be a lot less hassle.

Tend to agree with David on this.. But I would have a go at making some for "fun" but that's me! You will need to find out how to harden the steel, not impossible at home somthing I want to try. You need to design the cutting edge correctly (as pic)..

If the punches are only to work on ali you might be in luck..

Dan

I used one of those to make the holes in the ali sides for the exhaust headers. They're the badgers knadgers!!! The sharpest edges you've ever seen!! Not sure how to make one though!!!

Why not turn down some old air sockets for the cutters, plenty of cheap ones on Ebay?

Tools can be made from silver steel, you can get it at any engineer's suppliers in 330mm lengths but over 1.5" dia it gets a bit pricy. It's easily machinable in its annealed state.

Harden it by heating it to 725 deg centigrade and quench in icy cold water with lots of agitation. It'll be so hard you wont be able to file it.

If you have access to a muffle furnace 800 deg allows for some temp loss between the door and the bucket!!

Also allow 20 mins. per inch dia to heat up fully.

The cost of a bar of 2" dia silver steel will make you wince! And don't forget that for a 2" cutter you'll need another piece of silver steel around 2.5" diameter, for the other side of the die.

Not worth the hassle, IMHO.

Hmmmm.

I dont "need" a big hole punch tool at the moment but may in the future. I think i'll buy a smaller one and see if i can find some suitable steel to make a larger one.

Thanks for the info people.

where are you in the world?

If you are in Leics or nearby I can "find" some D2 die steel which will do the trick

Thanks for the off NS Dev. Unfortunately im hiding about 40 miles north of Edinburgh.

My cousin has a machining business so i'll see if he's got anything kicking about i can have.