punch and die set HELP!

HI Jan !

    I got some nice punches in the craft section of Hobby Lobby. they work great for what you want and come in six sizes. They are made for smaller hands is the only problem .

  I have about every punch and die set made as I have acquired many over the years. I used to restore boats and cars so I needed many different sizes. Also in the R.C. boat hobby as well.

I forgot to mention this .You can make your own .It's not as difficult as it would look .I take steel tubing the size I need , cut off a piece and then sharpen the edge from the inside out .This works well on .010 and .020 plastic only . But it keeps me from buying something I don't use that much !

Bick

Hi Jan,

I agree that $50 (or more) is a lot for a tool to be used infrequenty. You can make your own for a specific purpose though if you have some shim brass and steel rod of the correct size. See my post HERE for how I do it. HTH

There is another quick and dirty approach using brass tubing.  Most of that sold (except for one size) is treated to be reasonably hard.  You can sharpen the inside with a cone-shaped dremel grinder.  Then mount a little head on the other end so you can tap on it without wrecking it. Take a length (maybe an inch or two) of a dowel considerably larger than the tube diameter, and drill a hole halfway through. I use a 3/8 or 1/2 inch dowel for 1/8 punches.  Slip the dowel over the top of the punch.

I use a light hammer, like the X-acto hammer, and it will cut quite a few disks before it needs resharpening.  It cuts 10 mil strene stock great, 20 mil will work but need more sharpening.

Have a look at jewelry making supply places for punch and die sets.

Here is a very nice one that sturdier than the Waldron set as it is all metal, and it even is made to punch metal so it will last forever if used to punch plastic. This site has great stuff for model building at great prices.

http://www.contenti.com/products/punches-stamps/380-951.html

This has been my favorite go to place for model building tools.

Alex

Dang. mate, that is some hammer! I use a little one with plastic ends that I got at ... Michael's, I think? But yeah, sometimes it doesn't have quite enough heft to get something done with one tap, which usually results in an interesting, but unuseable, result.

I also have the Waldron punch set, and I feel the skinny plexi top is very fragile.  I think that's why I have seen so many broken sets.  The Armour Extra round and hex sets are more robust, but the metal rusts like crazy.  Still, they are providing years of good service.  Strangely, they don't give any indication of the sizes of the punches, unlike the Waldron set.

The beading tool on the left is not a punch tool per se, but rather it makes little domed rivets using a big stinky rubber pad for a backing.  The set goes down to crazy small sizes, like 1/48 scale buttons for people!  I have not had a chance to use the smallest size, but the larger ones have been used on 1/35 armor kits.  BTW, I have seen the beading tool for sale at a vendor's table at one of the IPMS Nationals, and it was considerably cheaper than the 8,800 Yen I paid.  The set didn't come with the stinky rubber pad, but I doubt that it would have added $40-$50 to the price tag.  I think it was at Radu's booth, but not 100% sure.  A friend picked up a set.

The giant rubber mallet is what I use for the punch sets, It might sem like overkill, but the weight combined with a gentle touch is all that is needed to knock out the bits and pieces.

It is also great for whacking my head whenever I make stupid mistakes! 

As primarily a 1/700 ship guy, I have both the Waldron miniature AND sub-miniature sets ... but have managed to break several of the sub-miniature punches because they're so frickin' fragile!

If you can't get joy any other way, PM me and we'll try to work something out.

There is a popular hand-type punch. I think it is primarily used for leather. I think it is about half the size of the subject set. It has a wheel with different sizes that you move into position. I doubt if it would work on shim brass, but it does work on thin styrene sheet.

Vongreim2

Maybe I could pay like 10 bucks for time wasted punching out 20 of those mini discs- and postage as well?

I'm an utter freak when it comes to punch & die sets. Marketing theorist Theodore Levitt famously wrote: “People who buy drills don’t need drills; they need holes.”     *IF* you want *DISCS* (not holes), you can buy punches (not dies) for $10-$20.  My favorite set: Precision Brand, ~$80.

I have purchased a number of puch and die sets, and while the cash outlay was high, it was a case of being able to do, or not do a task.  I did question my sanity at first, but the round sets have been especially useful for many projects.

Your conversion project sounds like quite a handful, so if you are the type that does that sort of thing, the punch and die sets are a worthwhile investment.  BUT, if you just want an assist in whacking out some dics, PM me and I can do it for you, assuming I have the correct sizes.

BTW, what are the discs supposed to represent?  Are they the silica packs (?) that appeared on the sides of canopies?

Hi Jan,

I agree that $50 (or more) is a lot for a tool to be used infrequenty. You can make your own for a specific purpose though if you have some shim brass and steel rod of the correct size. See my post HERE for how I do it. HTH

Yeah you say that now but, If you did buy the set, I'd bet you'd use it all the time. I know I would. Of course I'm being alittle hypocritical because I have yet to pony up and purchase one myself.