[Cu-wireless] FYI: cool tool, the chassis punch

[David Young]

The name of a tool that will put holes in sheet metal for RF/data/power
connectors is a "chassis punch." There are all shapes and sizes of them,
including the "D" and "Double D" shapes I need, however, only the round
ones are affordable: round ones are $30 versus $150 (!) or more for a
D-shaped punch.

The way a chassis punch works is that you drill a pilot hole in your sheet
metal, and then you stick a rod (called a "draw stud") through the pilot
hole. On one side of the sheet metal, you put a "punch" on the rod, and on
the other side, a "die." When you screw tight the whole mechanism with a
wrench, the punch pushes a piece out of the sheet metal and into the die.

A chassis punch has advantages to drill bits in that it makes a uniform,
clean hole, without risk of snagging your work piece or "walking"
your drill bit across the work. (There is also something called a
Unibit---might be a brand name---which will produce clean holes.)

Now you know another tool choice, if you ever have a project where you
need to put holes in sheet metal.

A place to buy tools and materials on-line is www.mcmaster.com. They
have a great Web site. It is very easy to use; in that way it is sort
of the CDW of tools and materials.

Dave

-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung at onthejob.net     Engineering from the Right Brain
                        Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933