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Punching Steel Slots With A Press

L

Lanse

Well-known Member
Hey guys!

So, I need a little help with something and I was hoping that maybe someone here could point me in the right direction.

I have a customer who is interested in having me do a production job of several thousand pieces, which require, among other things - for a pair of slots to punched through some angle iron.

Approximate size of the slots needs to be 1/2" x 3/8 and the angle iron is only 1/8" thick.

I have a 50 ton hydraulic press with an electric pump which I feel should be more than capable of doing this fairly quickly - I only need the "punching machine" to set on it.

Can anyone recommend a place where I might find this type of equipment, or a punching setup like this? Thanks in advance.
 
You need a punch and die and your machine is too slow for that to work pluss the table isnt built for a punch and die set-up. Just go to a shop that does those things and you will see.
 
Its 50 tons, its more than capable of punching 1/8" sheet metal. Its also electrically operated so it cycles almost as fast as an ironworker. Not to mention that it only needs to cycle 1/4" between cycles. I'm thinking about building something myself to hold the punch and die...
 
You need some type mechanism to keep the dies perfectly alligned or they will be damaged. So it's not as aimple as putting a die on the table and the punch on the press because it will move around too much. You will need to find something like this.
Punch
 
Is your press an "Iron Worker" style press? You might be able to buy the right punch and die sets and fab up a jig for locating the angle iron under the punch. Producing several thousand pieces will be labor intensive, too expensive to have the boss man running the press. You might consider hiring and training a day laborer and adding some safety interlocks and guards to your press.

You will be hard pressed to compete with a production stamping firm. If you think your customer is getting quotes from a lot of places, I wouldn't put much effort into quoting that job, or "No quote" it.
 
Gene, Lanse has built many things, and I think that he could make the table and guides. He built his press on his own and just bought the ram. If he can build things for a relatively low price for himself, it might be profitable. Not trying to make any enemies, just my opinion. Matthew L
 
You need a diemaker to make you a one piece die that rides on large pins. This cost will outweigh the profit in my estimation. It would be a different story with a round hole but you need slots. The punch machines generally make round holes.
 
(quoted from post at 10:29:55 04/06/17) Hey guys!

So, I need a little help with something and I was hoping that maybe someone here could point me in the right direction.

I have a customer who is interested in having me do a production job of several thousand pieces, which require, among other things - for a pair of slots to punched through some angle iron.

Approximate size of the slots needs to be 1/2" x 3/8 and the angle iron is only 1/8" thick.

I have a 50 ton hydraulic press with an electric pump which I feel should be more than capable of doing this fairly quickly - I only need the "punching machine" to set on it.

Can anyone recommend a place where I might find this type of equipment, or a punching setup like this? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You need what is called a 'die set', the punch(on top) and die(bottom) are set into the top and bottom and the top moves up & down with the ram on the press. The die set has a rod and bearing on each end to keep the punch and die aligned, ironworkers have much the same setup. When we were designing die sets we laid them out at 2 to 10 times the actual size on the drawing board and then drew in the part to be worked. In that way we could give dimensions to the machine shop so that they could locate the position of the punch, die, holding arms and indexing pins. The machinist would then drill and/or mill the appropriate 'pockets' to retain the needed items in the proper place. Go to a machine shop and ask to see a die set, they will probably have one or two. If you can't find one that way and you have a large metal-products company nearby go there. You may have to ask to talk to one of their 'tool designers'. He will be able to show you pictures (or the actual fixture) of what I'm talking about. :)

Basically, if you had a die set with the right size punch & die in it, you would just need to position the 'spud' on the upper plate of the die set in line with the ram on your press, position the part to be punched and let her rip! Make sure that the die set won't fall on your foot from the recoil of the springs when it retracts! (Clamp or tack weld the die set to to the platen on your press.) It will be slower than a flywheel press but it should get the job done for you. Click here>>>>>>>>>>>
http://www.supdie.com/products/die-sets/ 8)
 

Don't know, but if he's lucky one of the shops will have one that he can get cheap, also, on the link they have a pretty big list of 'surplus' sets, but you gotta look for them. :)
 
Hi Lans, If there is a shop near you that can do the work, go see how they do it. If you can duplicate their equipment set up to do the job , go for it. If not, ask them for a price for doing just the punch work.
I have often pirated a design from a working machine and modified it to use with my power source like you are thinking. Let someone else help on the learning curve! And if it is going to take you longer to build the tool and run the batch, get it jobbed out.
As much fun as fabbing is, you ARE trying to make a profit.
 
lanse, factory I worked at used a product called "unipunch" to set up multiple gang punches on a 600 ton press brake. looked at their web site they have much info for captive punch die sets. use the quoted name plus dot com, hope this gives you info you need leroy
 
Lanse, Have you figures your time on this job? A hydraulic press is mighty slow compared to a die machine. If you can punch the two slots in a 30 second cycle time, 2000 pieces means better than 16 hours at the press! 30secX2000 pieces= 60000 seconds/60/60= 16.667 hours.
To check your cycle time, Stick a piece of metal in your press and just close and open the press then take the piece out. Do this 10 times while you time it. You might be surprised at the time it takes to do that many pieces. Or not...
 
When I operated a welding shop we did some production work making brackets for assembling produce boxes that were used in the chili pepper fields near our southern border. The material was 10 ga strips ( .125 ) I used a three ton Alva punch presto make square holes for 5/16 carriage bolt heads. The dies and punches are relatively cheap/ I n ordering the punches and dies you need to specify the thickness of the material you are working. The die holders need to be made in a machine shop. My dies had an outside one inch diameter. There a lot of older pinch pressed on the market. After set up you can use unskilled labor and make good money.
 
Punching that hole will take a little less than 5 tons. See if a fabricating shop could do it and outsource the punching operation if it's practical to handle the parts.
 
If you do it on your hydraulic press you will want a die built with heavy enough springs to lift the punch out of the punched hole. You would only be moving your punch about an inch up each time. I would want a four guide pin die with springs on all four. A two guide pin die would be cheaper. Two pin would work best with a guided press. Without guides on the press the four pin/(post) would work best with return springs on all four posts to keep it from binding.
I sure would be much faster with a hand punch machine like pictured at the other links. The link below shows the die sets you insert the actual punch and die. Best to buy them to your spec if you want to build your own.
By Click Here
 
When I was serving my apprenticeship, I worked in a welding/fab shop. We made all finds of boxes,brackets,templates , almost anything one would need out of steel. One of the stand buy tools for holes was a hydraulic "Whitney punch". It made holes, change the dies to change the hole size, worked great!!
Check the website below it may ( or may not) help you. luck joe
here
 
Lanse, google Scotchman Industries. No welding shop should be without one when you can afford one. They will sell just punches also.
 
Yup, he needs UnitTool.
http://www.unittool.com/Medium-Duty-C-Frames.aspx

Lanse, You can find these on ebay or surplus industrial guys guys. Basically its a spring loaded C that holds the die and punch. You can then use a press or press brake to punch the slots. They are often used in press brakes. Gang a couple C's up a set distance apart then stick the material in, and run a cycle and you have punched a pattern of holes. Buy the tooling, rig up some stops, and go to town....
 
Why be so negative? Give him a chance. You should see all the stuff I built over the years. I have a compound leverage brake for bending strap iron I built back in the 60's & it still works just fine. Also helped a guy build a pipe nibbler for making welding joints. Never seen another one like it.
 
Check out the link to HGR. They have quite a few punch presses listed, that look like they would more than handle what your needing to do, for far less than you could fabricate something....even with shipping to you included.

That said, it's good to hear your doing well. You've come a long way since we first met the kid screwing around with lawnmowers......The US needs more young people like you.
HGR industrial surplus
 
(quoted from post at 10:29:55 04/06/17) Hey guys!

So, I need a little help with something and I was hoping that maybe someone here could point me in the right direction.

I have a customer who is interested in having me do a production job of several thousand pieces, which require, among other things - for a pair of slots to punched through some angle iron.

Approximate size of the slots needs to be 1/2" x 3/8 and the angle iron is only 1/8" thick.

I have a 50 ton hydraulic press with an electric pump which I feel should be more than capable of doing this fairly quickly - I only need the "punching machine" to set on it.

Can anyone recommend a place where I might find this type of equipment, or a punching setup like this? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Having read all of the posts I will be looking for a follow-up post from you detailing what you came up with. I really have no doubt that you can persevere and be successful in your task! Good Luck! :)
 
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