[TheForge] Question about the steel and treatment needed for small punches and dies

[jerry Frost]

Bruce: The size holes you're punching are irrelevant to the operating specs
of the tool. IIRC the questions you asked were about using grade 8 bolts to
make punch dies.

What don't you understand? If you're asking about male - female die
clearances you might just do a web search. Okay, I just Googled Roper Witney
and selected this of several pages or hits.
https://www.roperwhitney.com/product-category/punching/punches-and-dies/

I just learned I was misusing the terminology at least according to Roper
Witney. Punch = male and Die = female. 

Anyway, you should be able to learn what you need either from the linked
site or through a little more looking. The drawings of the various punch/die
sets aught to give you an idea of how much trouble making your own are going
to be. 

There are lot of rather close tolerant cuts necessary to get the punch and
die centered and aligned properly. Believe it or not the clearance between
the two is pretty low on the list of machining specs.

Frosty
-----Original Message-----
From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce
.
Sent: Friday, December 2, 2016 9:52 AM
To: Charles; Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Question about the steel and treatment needed for
small punches and dies

Re: Accuracy.
I was speaking only of accuracy of diameter.  E.g., a 1/4" hole to be
accurate should be 0.250".  For my purposes, I could tolerate anything from
maybe 0.245" to 0.260", depending upon my exact purpose.

The accuracy that would be needed would be centralizing both the die and the
punch, and getting the right clearance between them.


Bruce
NJ