It seems like you are more than 50% of the way to making a punch and die. Of course, I'm sure you can buy a punch and die for an industry standard hole, but what's the fun in that? Your chip tray caught my attention as soon as you cut to that shot. I like it!

@occasionalmachinist

Ай бұрын

I did think about a punch and die, but I would need a die set to hold them in just the right relationship, and Murphy's law says there will also be panels beyound the throat of the press. This is more low tech but more adaptable too. I try to make clean up as quick as possible, so I tend to have chip trays to collect the majority of the swarf if I can. The one for the mill is new, but the oil quench was done on the cabinet that sits under the drill table - the top is a removable chip tray too.

@fxm5715

Ай бұрын

@@occasionalmachinist A rolling chip tray makes a lot of sense, too. You are always a source of interesting ideas. As far as a punch and die goes, I was thinking the kind with a bolt through the middle joining the two halves and which you use to drive the punch through the work, as opposed to the kind that goes in a press. They may not be as quick or as precise, but they are a lot more versatile! Thanks for sharing your work and your ideas.

@occasionalmachinist

Ай бұрын

@@fxm5715 Might work - the concern here is that the material these cutouts go into is 3mm Al. I'd be a bit concerned that the thickness would either snap bolts or just bog down (the cut out in question was 13.5mm across the flats so a bolt would likely be M6, perhaps M8)

@machinists-shortcuts

Ай бұрын

​@@occasionalmachinistUse a piece of urethane as a die. No need to line up the the punch. A couple of example demos on my channel.

@fxm5715

Ай бұрын

@@occasionalmachinist Agreed, 3mm in aluminum is a bit gummy for a punched hole that small, with an imprecise, underpowered punch.

A good solution. I recall Greenlee made a single-d punch for that size round connector, not sure about a double-d - a cursory search found a US engineering firm that custom-makes them- pretty pricey though. It was always nice to be able to borrow a punch for odd shaped holes like serial ports or IEC plugs, but most of my homebrew DB25 or DE9 panels or PC slot plates were drilled and filed by hand; a filing guide similar to yours would have taken most of the drudgery out of doing them. Greetings from the northern suburbs.

@occasionalmachinist

Ай бұрын

Yes - I think the next one that I do will be a 9 pin D - for some reason the 25 pin D connectors don't get used much these days (maybe all those pins that don't do anything...) One thing that in hind sight I should have done was put some cross hairs on the template for more precise positioning. There's always something.

it was a bit like cooking!

Michael -- That was tedious work. The end result was good . I have a suggestion . A Rotary Table would make fast work of that job. Using a small end mill you could accurately machine the Diameter . You could also accurately machine the two flats . There would be a limited amount of filing to clean up the radius corners . I'm not a smart ass - I'm tryin to help . - Jim

@occasionalmachinist

Ай бұрын

You are right, and one day I'll finish up the little R/T so I can do that. The only one I have is 8" diameter, and for little things like this, getting it out seems a bit silly some time.

Hmmm, nice but why not 2 plates and the sheet metal sandwiched between them? Otherwise in case of thin sheet metal it will bend during filing. Harden steel? For a file not a best friend. For a few holes don’t needed., in my opinion. Or is it for a higher run? Could be I don’t get it. ❤

@occasionalmachinist

Ай бұрын

A few bits of the story were edited out, but this is for 3mm thick Al panels, so bending is not a major concern. They are a pretty standard connector so for a one off, I would agree that it was more time consuming, but I expect to have to do one or two of these every few months, so over the next year, I think it will earn it's keep. If I had two plates, I'd also need some way to line them up. The steel is not really hard, just hard enough that I'm not going to accidentally file into the template. A small round file like the one used is relatively inexpensive and I'm only filing the Al till the feel changes, so I don't think I'm damaging the file in a major way. Thanks for asking though - it keeps me honest!

@TorteTS

Ай бұрын

@@occasionalmachinist Much appreciate your feedback, thank you.

Can't you just grind a little bit off of the sides of the drill bit? 😜