On 3/22/2018 5:06 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:51:46 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:

Most of the time pin punches do their job and pins push or are drive out
with modest effort. Once in a while you really have to wail on them to
get them started moving. When that happens the average pin punch just
folds like a cheap suit.

With this in mind I've been thinking about making some for special
applications. Use my regular el-cheapos formost normal applications,
but break out my "special ones" when the pin needs a little more push.

So, what would be a good choice for the application? W1 drill rod?
4140? I have those on hand, although either would require heat
treating, and the drill rod would probably require heat treat and
tempering. Is something else better?

What do you mean they "fold"? Do you mean they bend?

Good ones are made of good tool steel. I never had one "fold." Do you
know what brand they are?

The traditional tool steel for "pounding" is S6. It's moderately
strong and bend-resistant. It's big thing is that it's
shock-resistant.

The best combinations of strength and shock resistance are proprietary
grades of vanadium tool steel. But it's unlikely they'll be much more
resistant to bending than any good-quality pin punch.

The properties of W1 depend on how you heat-treat it. It is NOT an
alloy steel. Basically, it's a good grade of plain high-carbon steel.

4140 is similar to S6, except that is has a little bit lower alloy
components and no vanadium. S6 contains 0.2 - 0.4% vanadium.



S6 sounded interesting. I tried to look it up at my usual sources, but
didn't find it. One source has S5 and S7 and another just has S7. S7
actually looks very promising, but of course I have no experience with it.