Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Making a punch die?

Joseph wrote:

> Thanks Jon. It's good to hear that making a punch/die worked for you.
>
> What did you use to make your punch and die?

I used a piece of 3" hot rolled tool steel. It was really hard to cut, and
was tough on the end mills.

> Did you have to treat the resulting pieces?

I didn't, as I intended it for aluminum only, but a friend came over with a
piece of thin steel, and it chewed up the punch a bit. I should have heat
treated it.

> With the clearance gap info from you and others here, and with a peak
> of the pictures at the Greenlee catalog, I think I have a good
> starting point for doing this work.
>
> Doug also made a good point that I've forgotten -- if you want to
> have panel cutouts in pre-made boxes (premade aluminum boxes were
> popular in the EE classes), it sometimes wouldn't fit in the throat
> of the mill.

Yes, and I had the same problem with the punch press, too.
I now have a small finger brake, and I can make fairly simple
boxes by milling EVERYTHING first, then folding. (There is an
art to this kind of design, figuring out what order to make the
folds in, so that one fold doesn't prevent you from getting it
into the brake for the next fold!)

Jon