Going Round and Round
 

Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part of machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the circles?

Ron

Although not punching as you requested you could consider a circle
shear. These are used for cutting circles from square blanks for say
metal spinning were you don't usually want a hole in the centre.

Ron Hubbard wrote:

Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part of machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the circles?

Ron

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"

"David Billington" wrote in message
.. .
Although not punching as you requested you could consider a circle
shear. These are used for cutting circles from square blanks for say
metal spinning were you don't usually want a hole in the centre.

Would that work for small diameter circles, say, 1/2" to 3/4" diameter circles?

Ron

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"


Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

Ron

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part
of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"


Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

If all you want to do is punch some rounds ("one-off" quantities), you might
get by with an arbor press, in which case the die set would likely be the
most expensive tool. If you want a "production-type" punch press, well,
depending on the size, you might have to build some place to house it. :-)

-jc-

"John Chase" wrote in message
m...
"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part
of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"


Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

If all you want to do is punch some rounds ("one-off" quantities), you might
get by with an arbor press, in which case the die set would likely be the
most expensive tool. If you want a "production-type" punch press, well,
depending on the size, you might have to build some place to house it. :-)


I just need to make a few thin aluminum or brass circles to
make custom piezo-buzzers like the kind used in alarm clocks, smoke alarms, etc.

Ron

Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

I just need to make a few thin aluminum or brass circles to
make custom piezo-buzzers like the kind used in alarm clocks, smoke alarms

I bought a 4 ton roper whitney hand operated bench punch for a 200.
Fit the right punch and die and it will punch out circles.

For a few prototypes you might try a hole saw in a drill press. If you
just have a hand drill, maybe clamping the metal between a couple of
sheets of fairly thick plywood would keep the hole saw from wandering.
( You would have to drill thru one piece of plywood first, but you
could use a drill in the center of the hole saw when you do that. )

After you are sure of what you want, you might be able to make a die
set using a drill bushing for half of the set. You could probably use
a vise to apply the pressure to cut out disks out of thin material.


Dan

What it sounds like you need is a shim punch, such as that shown
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47734

or
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll... 861&tc=photo

Which can be driven with a hammer or a press



"Ron Hubbard" wrote:


"John Chase" wrote in message
om...
"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part
of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"


Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

If all you want to do is punch some rounds ("one-off" quantities), you might
get by with an arbor press, in which case the die set would likely be the
most expensive tool. If you want a "production-type" punch press, well,
depending on the size, you might have to build some place to house it. :-)


I just need to make a few thin aluminum or brass circles to
make custom piezo-buzzers like the kind used in alarm clocks, smoke alarms, etc.

Ron



jk

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part
of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"


Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

Ron


From the rest of what I read about your job, a small arbor press will be
fine.

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...

"Ron Hubbard" wrote in message
...
Here, I guess is a newbie question, because I don't remember that part
of
machine
shop. Does anyone know of a way to punch out nice round circles of
aluminum or
brass out of sheet metal in such a way that there are no holes in the
circles?

Ron


How big? How thick? How many? The obvious answer is a die set on a punch
press. I punch millions of rounds from 0.1875" x 6"


Is a punch press an expensive item to purchase?

Ron


From the rest of what I read about your job, a small arbor press will be
fine.

Hmm, Amazon.com has a half-ton arbor press for $27.00 without shipping & handling.
But they don't sell dies; would you happen to know of a source for compatible
dies?

Ron

From the rest of what I read about your job, a small arbor press will be
fine.

Hmm, Amazon.com has a half-ton arbor press for $27.00 without shipping & handling.


In order to use an arbor press, you need to fabricate a way to hold the
punch to the ram and the die to base so that they line up. Not too hard
for someone equiped with some metalworking tools, but I don't think the
original poster has much metal working equipment (if any).

A 1/2 ton is not very much push when it comes to punching.
According to roperwhitney.com,
http://roperwhitney.com/tech/chart1.cfm

A 1/2 ton will punch a 1/8 inch hole in 18 gage steel.
I doubt that is large enough to do what the original poster wants.

"Chuck Sherwood" wrote in message
...
From the rest of what I read about your job, a small arbor press will be
fine.

Hmm, Amazon.com has a half-ton arbor press for $27.00 without shipping &
handling.


In order to use an arbor press, you need to fabricate a way to hold the
punch to the ram and the die to base so that they line up. Not too hard
for someone equiped with some metalworking tools, but I don't think the
original poster has much metal working equipment (if any).

A 1/2 ton is not very much push when it comes to punching.
According to roperwhitney.com,
http://roperwhitney.com/tech/chart1.cfm

A 1/2 ton will punch a 1/8 inch hole in 18 gage steel.
I doubt that is large enough to do what the original poster wants.


Just need a few circles made out of thin metal-- 0.001 to 0.005" thick (or thin
one could say). But sounds like I might have an easier time going to a metal shop
and have them punch out a couple of circles.

Ron

For relatiivly few pieces in such thin stock, I would use a felt tip
marker to color the material , scribe the circle with a compass, and
cut out with some aircraft type tin snips. You might have to cut a few
thousands big and get rid of any burrs with sandpaper.

Dan

Just need a few circles made out of thin metal-- 0.001 to 0.005" thick

Thats almost like punching paper!
You could buy some circle punchs intended for gaskets.
Place the "foil" on top of a pad of paper and strike the
cirle punch with a hammer. Should would fine.

chuck