Chapter 7
Punching Out
IN THIS CHAPTER
Making holes and peering inside presses
Getting control and understanding operations
Choosing your station
Taking dies apart
Going full-auto
The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.
— MICHAEL FARADAY
You’ve probably used a paper punch at some point in your life. Maybe it was for a science project at school or to impress your boss with a three-ring bound proposal on ways to increase fabrication department efficiency. Granted, documentation such as this is usually done electronically in our modern times, making paper punches about as useful as paper weights. Yet it’s the mechanism inside the punch that’s important, as it’s an excellent illustration of how a technology that’s far from obsolete functions: the punch press.
Go ahead and take it apart (the paper punch, not the punch press). Once you’ve blown the dust off, you’ll see a row of shiny metal columns within. These are called punches. When you squeeze the handle, they ...
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