Punch Sets

You can get the original Waldron punch and die set from Roll Models.  Here's the URL to their catalog page:

www.rollmodels.net/.../catalog.htm

Scroll down to "Waldron".  

I have the Micro-Mark set, though, and am happy with it, except for the fact that there was no template or label to indicate the size of the punches.  Do you have the set, or have you heard bad things about it?

Waldron is the top of the line, best there is out there. They make two sets, one size is the mini-set, which is the one most appropriate to modeling. It is 100 bucks or more, but I've compared it to other brands, such as the sets at umm-usa.com, and those are cheaper, but only offer about 8 or ten sizes, so the Waldron comes out to be a better bang for your buck.

Check out umm-usa.com though. The punch sets they do have are wonderfully built and high quality.

I have a Micro-Mark punch set. I love it! I don't use it often, but when I want it...

I have both Waldron sets and they are very nice.  However, if you order from Roll Models be prepared for it to take several weeks for it to be delivered.  I recently ordered some resin from them and it took over a month to get my order.  

Steve

the Baron

Do you have the set, or have you heard bad things about it?

No, I don't have any punch sets at the moment and have heard nothing bad about any of the sets out there. However, one of the reasons that I asked about what is available is that the Micro-Mark set only went up to about 5mm in size.

The prices on these sets seem to astronomical and I was wanting to hear what the consensus of the forum was before making such a large investment on something so small. 

Another question would be, is there any worry about the punch bending?

I think you'll find 5 mm is extremely large for modeling. I find myself using .3 mm to 1 mm for most everything, including scratch building and punching out decals for 1/72 and 1/48 planes. Never had a punch bend or break. They don't require much tapping force at all to punch out a decal, or even .030 styrene.

Thank you all for the help. Most of my models are 1/32 aircraft and 1/12 F1 cars, so, I thought that the larger sizes would be more useful.

Ah, OK, thanks, understood!

I get a lot of use out of mine, and as Nathan notes, I use the smaller punches a lot more frequently, than the largest one in this set, which is 5mm.

I bought the MicroMark set because it was cheaper than the Waldron set, though, looking at MicroMark's website, I think the price was a little less when I bought mine.  That was about 15 years ago, though, so I can't be sure.

As far as bending the punches goes, no, there's no worry about it, not in the normal use on a scale modeler's bench.  You'd have to use a claw hammer and an anvil, to bend the steel used to machine the punches.  As it is, I used a homemade tap hammer that I crafted from a piece of 1 1/4" dowel for a head and a thinner dowel for the shaft.  I later replaced it with a nylon-tipped jeweler's hammer, also from MicroMark.  It has a nylon face on one side of the head, and a solid metal face on the other.  The nylon head is soft enough not to mar the edge of the punch.  It doesn't take much force to punch through the material, in any case.

The only drawback to my set, as I mentioned before, is that there was no label or any other markings or calibrations, to indicate the size of the punches, either on the punches or marked on the face of the die.  That would have been helpful, but it doesn't really prevent using it.  I recommend the set.

I have several sets. This [below] is one of the weirdest:

 (Hexagonal punch sizes (across flats) are: 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4mm.)

TomZ2, I love your signature!!!  I can so relate!  Raymond

That's a great set!  I guess you use it for bolt heads in scale, for detailing?