[sdiy] Metal Punch for Synth Panels

[Ray Wilson]

Thanks to everyone for a lot of excellent suggestions. I'm going with the 
step bit but man that bench punch is pretty cool and for the hassle it'll 
save $400 bucks is almost looking doable.

Thanks to all

Ray



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Brown" <davebr at earthlink.net>
To: "Ray Wilson" <raywilson at comcast.net>; "Synth-Diy" 
<synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 9:21 PM
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Metal Punch for Synth Panels


> At 06:49 PM 5/31/2005, you wrote:
>>Where can I buy some kind of punch that can make up to 3/8" holes in 1/16" 
>>soft aluminum? I am totally sick of drilling holes in the stuff that never 
>>drill properly and are never round. Also they tend to leave burrs that I 
>>have to ream off of the material. Is it me am I doing something wrong? Are 
>>other people actually drilling round holes without burrs easily? If 
>>there's a DRILL seargent out there, I could use some help and I mean a 
>>HOLE lot of help.
>>
>>Thanks
>>
>>Ray
>
> I had the same problem with soft aluminum.  I now use a stepped drill.  I 
> center punch and drill a small pilot hole.  I then line up and use the 
> stepped drill and get perfectly aligned holes every time.  The drill size 
> markings get covered up with the soft aluminum so I simply put a piece of 
> tape above the hole size I want to drill so I know where to stop.  There 
> is a little deburring necessary and I picked up a deburring tool for ~$6 
> from Enco that works great.
>
> Dave