Small pin punches for the home Gunsmith

Interesting but frankly ..no.. Drill bits are way to hard to use as a punch.. Good chances they will snap.. Would suck to some how get a drill bit stuck in place of a roll pin..

A decent set of punches is like $30... Not to mention you won't have a huge drill chuck blocking trying to see what you're trying to do
 
I save the shank of every drill bit I break in a jar to use as odd size punches...but one thing to never forget, they are hard & brittle and an over-exuberant "tap" can result in flying chips...NEVER USE ONE WITH OUT EYE OR BETTER YET, FULL FACE SHIELD.
 
Because he's using the shank portion that is not as hard I can see this working.

But I have to agree that the chuck would sure get in the way of seeing what's happening. Instead of a chuck I'd rather drill a hole in the end of a piece of round bar that will take the drill bit and use a small set screw to clamp it in place.

In fact around here somewhere I've got such a beast. And instead of old drill bits I use pins cut from lengths of hobby store music wire. Stores that cater to model railroad and RC models will typically carry a rack of various sizes of 3 foot long very straight music wire. It's tough stuff and cheap. And it makes great replacement pins for a home made punch such as I've described. It also comes in a helluva wide variety of sizes.
 
I used to scrounge up all the broken 1/16" Starrett punches (which there seemed t be a never ending supply of) that I could and reground the working end to suit, on a bench grinder.

I used a pneumatic or cordless electric drill to turn the punch while it was ground to size, and made the small diameter punch section quite short, just enough to get a pin started moving. Used to do a LOT of mangled roll pins in helicopter flight controls parts.

Great for punching out the centers on Cherry Max rivets too, if that means anything to anyone. And for making center and prick punches.

The short section does not bend as easily as the long punch section that is standard on the new punches.

Cheers
Trev
 
fastenal has lengths of oil quenching O1 drill rod in small sizes .. like 1/8 or smaller ... make your own by shaping it.. heat it red, quench in oil, and temper to get the right Rc
- or even shape the ends to make special micro chisels, screw drivers, gouges, awls ...etc

if your cheep.. get some old steel cable or sling choker cable ( the good stuff will hardenable like 1075,1080,1095 carbon steel ) .. .. just cut out the strands, shape n heat treat

or if you have some worn out old round Small files .... just re-temper them so they are a softer Rc and they'll do ok.. nicholsons are close to 1095 carbon steel ( as i was told by an engineer from their plant )

its good to get in the habit of making your own tools... after awhile its easy to make stuff better than mass produced factory chi-com stuff
 
Transfer punches are used to put down a template and insert punch to transfer the hole location to the parent material. the end of the punch is ground to a point like a center punch,as it is used to mark the location of the new hole hence transfer punch.A roll pin punch has a small rounder ball type end that centers on the pin and doesn't expand the pin.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/363683/grace-usa-roll-pin-punch-set-7-piece-steel

http://www.harborfreight.com/28-piece-transfer-punch-set-3577.html

R
 
ronnie01 said:
Transfer punches are used to put down a template and insert punch to transfer the hole location to the parent material. the end of the punch is ground to a point like a center punch,as it is used to mark the location of the new hole hence transfer punch.A roll pin punch has a small rounder ball type end that centers on the pin and doesn't expand the pin.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/363683/grace-usa-roll-pin-punch-set-7-piece-steel

http://www.harborfreight.com/28-piece-transfer-punch-set-3577.html

R
Click to expand...

I am aware of that. Still doesn't chance the fact that they do work, work well and are more then capable for gunsmithing. In fact they were recommended to me by a well known gunsmith. And that they are only $20.

Shawn
 
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