Punches : An insight A punch is a hard metal rod with a shaped tip at one end and a blunt butt end

at the other, which is usually struck by a hammer. Punches are used to drive objects, such as nails, or to form an impression of the tip on a work piece. Decorative punches may also be used to create a pattern or even form an image. Punching is a metal forming process that uses a punch press to force a tool, called a punch, through the work piece to create a hole via shearing. The punch often passes through the work into a die. A scrap slug from the hole is deposited into the die in the process. Depending on the material being punched this slug may be recycled and reused or discarded. Punching is often the cheapest method for creating holes in sheet metal in medium to high production. When a specially shaped punch is used to create multiple usable parts from a sheet of material the process is known as blanking. In forging applications the work is often punched while hot, and this is called hot punching. Punch tooling (punch and die) is often made of hardened steel or tungsten carbide. A die is located on the opposite side of the work piece and supports the material around the perimeter of the hole and helps to localize the shearing forces for a cleaner edge. There is a small amount of clearance between the punch and the die to prevent the punch from sticking in the die and so less force is needed to make the hole. The amount of clearance needed depends on the thickness, with thicker materials requiring more clearance, but the clearance is always less than the thickness of the work piece. The clearance is also dependent on the hardness of the work piece. The punch press forces the punch through a work piece, producing a hole that has a diameter equivalent to the punch or slightly smaller after the punch is removed. All ductile materials stretch to some extent during punching which often causes the punch to stick in the work piece. In this case, the punch must be physically pulled back out of the hole while the work is supported from the punch side, and this process is known as stripping. The hole walls will show burnished area, rollover, and die break and must often be further processed. The slug from the hole falls through the die into some sort of container to either dispose of the slug or recycle it. Although the larger and more orthodox types of punches for use with hammers may convey the general impression that such tools have no great adaptability, yet the specialized varieties render quite easy many jobs which would be awkward or even impossible without them. Pin punches of appropriate size, for example, are used for driving out taper pms or tight rivet shanks, and may be employed, too, for tapping down heads of small nails or tacks where final hammer blows would be visible on surfaces. Stepped punches or drifts with reduced spigot ends are for driving out bushes or valve guides; and flat-ended punches in brass, copper or aluminum, avoid damage to threads, ends of bushes, or other parts which would burr relatively easily. A pin punch which is parallel and perfectly flat at the end may be used for punching holes in thin metal when this is laid on a block of lead, and may even be used for punching flat spring steel, like clock spring material, when pieces are being put to other uses and must be held by screws or bolts. However, for such work, a punch with a slight reverse taper for a distance from the end is advisable, and is easily machined from silver steel rod, then hardened and tempered to dark straw color. A flat-ended hollow punch or holdup backed by a piece of heavy metal or hammer head gives support when a pin or rivet is being driven from a flexible mounting or bracket (a cotter pin from a cycle crank, for example); and such a punch may be slipped over a rivet shank to enable sheet material to be driven into close proximity, before a set is used to form the head on the rivet. A sharp hollow punch of suitable size is

the best tool for cutting bolt or screw holes in making gaskets of paper, cork, fiber, or asbestos-base materials, with these laid on the end grain of a flat hardwood block. In riveting, suitable punches promote generally better results, and give a consistent appearance to work which would often be marred without their use. This is particularly so in the case of making and fitting eyelets. In making them, lengths of soft well-annealed tubing are stood one at a time in a ring on a holdup, and the shaped punch is driven on the end. If, from a tendency to splitting, each whole head cannot be formed at once, it can be half-turned, and the tubmg then re-annealed before the second operation. Heating brass to red and dropping in water anneals it. In fitting eyelets, the head forming punch becomes the hold-up for mounting in the vice. A simple turning punch is used on the shank, when a washer has been fitted and pressed down with a hollow punch. Given finished eyelets, the head holdup and the turning punch can easily be machined with a round-nosed tool in the lathe. Using strong steel vice, various flanged or shallow formed parts can be made with punches, in some instances employing rubber to take the reverse shape of a die. Au annealed disc of copper may be flanged, using a punch with rounded corner, and a die consisting of a steel ring bored out (slightly larger than punch diameter plus twice material thickness), and flared for entry. Tapping the ruckling and shaping edge of the disc down with a hammer, re-annealing and final steady force on the vice will form, for example, a small boiler end. Discs of very thin material, like brass shim stock, may be flanged, provided with ribs or depressions on the surface, or penetrated with holes, using a shaped punch, a piece of steel tubing, a rubber disc, and a flatended punch to apply pressure. Ends of small floats may be formed in this way; but as in all rubber presswork, the pressure required is considerable. Parallel-shank, taper-ended punches can be used effectively to bring out of-line holes into coincidence; but for a car spring eye and bracket, an alternative punch, with an eccentric end to enter at X, and a hole for a tommy-bar, so that by turning the punch the holes are pulled positively into alignment-when the punch can be tapped through.