Small Clamp/Vice Actuated Punch/Die

[Wal]

Hi all,

A local guitar tech I've done bits and pieces for in the past got in touch recently to see if I could make him a punch/die for knocking out small plastic parts (in ABS). I turned down the project (I know nothing about punches/dies and expected the tolerances to be very high to get anything that would stand a chance of working) and recommended that he post an RFQ up here, which he did. I got in touch with him after a few weeks to see how the tool came out - turns out that getting it made was going to be too expensive to justify for the relatively little use it would get. Being a hobbyist with nothing to lose but a weekend, I thought I'd have a go at it, here are the results:



I thought that a bar clamp would be enough to work the punch and it was for one of the plastics I tested it on, but I had to use a larger medium sized G-clamp to find enough force to punch through the ABS. Quite happy with how this came out - it is a bit of a faff to use and it's a bit sloppier than something you'd get made professionally, but hey - it's made and it'll hopefully get a bit of use. If I made another then I'd probably look into running a ball-nose inside the profile of the punch and 'hollowing' it out a bit so as to concentrate the cutting force along the edge of the punch as opposed to across its flat surface - makes sense and would almost certainly make the punching through a lot easier, but could have a detrimental effect on the finish. Any hints and tips..?

Wal.

(EDIT: Plates were cut from 4mm 7075(T6) and the punch was cut from what I believe to be 2014)