Home Made Hole Punch Die

[KCStephens]

I've been working on a project that requires a lot of little circles (1.5mm rivets) that need to be cut out. All of my other hole punches are too large so I needed something that cut smaller holes. I'm also way too cheep to invest in a Japanese hole drill or other punch die set that cost $$$'s so I decided to make my own from stuff that I found laying around the house; a piece aluminum, a piece of plastic and a 1.5mm drill bit. It was pretty easy to make and works very well. It punches out very clean crisp holes even in heavy 1mm card stock without any trouble. I don't think I would want to use it for anything other than paper but that's okay since I only model in card.

Here's a picture of what it looks like. I ain't pretty but it works.

[Johnny]

I guess that kind of puncher is ok enough if you only need a few rivets....
But when you need up to a thousand as I did on the T40,that methode would take forever

Some time back I was thinking of getting a puncher of the same type as you can get at RaiRo.de,and looks almost as the one you made,but I got the Jap screwpuncher instead and will never look back.

[Gil]

Kevin,

Nice work! Now to make a homemade punch that would support making cooling fin sets for rotary engines...,

+Gil

[Vicar]

Making even sets of small holes, and especially small discs can be difficult. I found this the other day. I've not tried it, but it's the same idea as yours and looks cheap and effective. Incidently some of the reviews of the commercial products were less than flattering. Perhaps ingenuity wins!
http://cs.finescale.com/forums/1/655...st.aspx#655476

[KCStephens]

Originally Posted by Vicar

Making even sets of small holes, and especially small discs can be difficult. I found this the other day. I've not tried it, but it's the same idea as yours and looks cheap and effective. Incidently some of the reviews of the commercial products were less than flattering. Perhaps ingenuity wins!
http://cs.finescale.com/forums/1/655...st.aspx#655476

Vicor,
WOW! That's proof that great minds think alike...... HA, HA, HA!!!
It really was cheap and easy to make - Someday if I get around to it I'll make a cleaned up version with a variety of different hole sizes.

[blueeyedbear]

I got a new MicroMark catalog last week, and they now offer a set of hole/disk punches --- 1mm to 5mm in 0.5 increments ---for $39.95. Can be used for paper, plastic, balsa, etc.

It is cheaper to make them your self, IF you have the right sized drill bits, but this is a bunch cheaper than a similar set I used to see advertised in Fine Scale Modeler magazine.

Bob

[Oliver Weiss]

I find that "Fine" in pretty much any description means extra $$ without much added value

[outersketcher]

This is good stuff! I've been enjoying this thread. I'm still having difficulty understanding how the thing works tho. (I've previously been cutting my circles with nail clippers... ughh...) After reading the posts from this thread and the link to the other thread posted by Vicar, I gather that you slip the card in between the two pieces of pre-drilled plastic or metal. Than you push the flat end of the drill-bit into the correct sized hole and through the card. This will create a clean hole and a clean circle of card that will end up sitting in the drilled "well". I assume that each precise hole in the top piece of the jig will have a corrosponding, larger hole drilled into the jig base... right? Or is the hole supposed to be the same size as the one above to ensure a sharp, tight cut. But, I guess you'd have to have that bottom hole go completely through the jig base so that you could push out the cut circle with the drill bit. It sounds great and I definately plan to build one.

david

[KCStephens]

David,

Yes, all of your assumptions are correct.

Basicly there are two plates with a hole(s) of your choice drilled completely thru. For my home brewed version I used a scrap piece of aluminum for the bottom cutting plate and a piece of clear plastic that used to be paperclip holder for the punch guide (I think I put them to better use here) both of which are about an 1/8" thick. First, I drilled two holes thru both plates along the outside edge so that I could insert two "registration pins" to keep the center cutting hole(s) aligned. (I got luckey with this - I happened to find a screw shank and a drill bit with the same size diameter - It took me a while but I finally found one)
Then I chucked the drill bit up in the drill press and went to town drilling the cutting hole - (SAME SIZE hole thru both the top and bottom plates).
After I drilled the hole, I sacraficed the bit by snaping off the cutting threads and grinding both ends flat to create the punch.
To punch a hole insert the card stock between the two plates and tap the punch with a hammer. That it! A nice sharp clean krisp hole or disk depending on what you want.

P.S. Don't knock nail clippers.... They have a place too

[jobin007007]

Can these punchers be used for paper punching?

I am new to all this. I want to make a paper hole puncher.

I have 200-500 page books i need to make holes in.

Can these devices work with paper????????????

Please give me your insight. Thanks