On Fri, 6 May 2011 20:49:54 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

My wife wants me to make some sconce lights out of sheets of sheet metal. I
can get paintlock of various thicknesses, but some is rather thick for hand
punching.

I want to punch squares or rectangles to get a stairstep southwest Indian
design type of thing, or variations on that theme.

Are there any punches made in a type that has a punch and a matching backup
to help cut the design? I want to do these myself with a hammer, or perhaps
there is something available that is run by air or hydraulic? Something
that won't cost an arm and a leg, and punch different shapes of holes,
squares, diamonds, rectangles, mostly about 1" max dimension in any
direction, with the holes being smaller, and they could be drilled.

TIA

Steve

Heart surgery pending?
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If you sort out the punching, an interesting effect good for
preserving dark skies would be to position the punched out pieces
aligned with the holes inset maybe 1/4" via tacked wire standoffs or
other means. The cutouts would show up better without glaring in your
eyes. One could apply contrasting finishes (or none) to the cutouts
before tacking them in place. Fiddly, but I bet it'd look nice. Leave
the bottom of the sconce open and paint the inside white.

Pete Keillor