Punching louvers

[Duuuuuuuude]

Anyone ever try to punch their own? Been thinking about trying it on a small scale in aluminum...

[THX_138]

Shouldn't be too hard just so long as you have a matching press die to back up your punch die to catch the shape.
Not having a reach tool that holds both die sets consistently may be the trick.
If you hand stamp every one in a free hand type layout it may be tedious to keep things lined up.
Definitely interested to see what you come up with.
Pictures please!! Even of your failed attempts
Always easiest to learn from others mistakes.... Save us all the hassle of practicing






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[Duuuuuuuude]

I've got the punch done, working on the other half now.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Progress. Looks like it may actually work too.

Here's part of one half of the die. Basically I drilled 3 holes...2 for 1/4" alignment pins and one slightly over 1/4" for the quarter round shape. Then it was cut in half, and milled down to proper height.





And the finished dies. The punch half is 1/4" steel rod milled down to a quarter round, rounded ends, and brazed to another section of 1/4" rod for a handle.





The first couple tries were really, really bad. Nothing but dented and bent .025" aluminum. Then I tried a relief cut with the dremel. Better, but still really ugly.



A new scrap piece of metal, a bit cleaner cut, and a little less force on the hammer gave me this...



It almost looks like a louver!

And it didn't fold the metal up either...



I think my next step is to mill some more off of the top of the die so that it isn't so deep, round the edges more on the punch, and find a way to cleanly cut the metal before hand. The dremel is just too messy and inaccurate.

[SMR 510RR]

I bet it would work 10x better if the sides of the material you are punching are also supported. I would basically do exactly what you did but use a ball end mill to mill half of the support die to the correct width, if you leave like 1" on either side that would be ideal.

Maybe even clamp the material down and then send the upper form die through the center of the clamp if that makes any sense. That should solve all of the warping issues.

[THX_138]

Originally Posted by SMR 510RR

I bet it would work 10x better if the sides of the material you are punching are also supported. .

Yep.... Just like this



It will also work better if you squeeze the shape into the metal instead of hammering it in.

An arbor press it should work pretty well, if not you could just close it in a vise .





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[Charlie-III]

Nice work Duuuuude. I wonder if a little heat before forming will help? Too much heat will likely warp the sheet, a little may make it easier to form.

[reddevildemo]

Nice job, I bet there would be a market for such a tool. I know I'd be interested in one for sure.

[Duuuuuuuude]

If I had a ball end bit I would have used it, but I don't, so I didn't. Hence the drilling and milling and whatnot.

The die pictured shears and forms the metal in one shot. I'd like to do that but haven't gotten that far yet. Some sort of press has been considered though.

[SMR 510RR]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

If I had a ball end bit I would have used it, but I don't, so I didn't. Hence the drilling and milling and whatnot.

The die pictured shears and forms the metal in one shot. I'd like to do that but haven't gotten that far yet. Some sort of press has been considered though.

You could use locating pins to guide the two halves together and use a cheap arbor press. It would be nice to have it shear the opening for you but you would have to move to some nice hard steel for your dies and have a very tight fit and nice sharp edge.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Took a few thou off the top of the die, broke the sharp edge off of the back side, rounded the corners some more on the punch, and used an x-acto knife to score the metal instead of cutting clear through.


Le louver!





Compared to the one from last night...



And another after getting the punch evened out (didn't get the handle on dead center ). Roughly 3/4" long now.



Minimal warpage.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by SMR 510RR

You could use locating pins to guide the two halves together and use a cheap arbor press. It would be nice to have it shear the opening for you but you would have to move to some nice hard steel for your dies and have a very tight fit and nice sharp edge.

I could, but I'd have to be using a much larger tool because I want to do large panels. Indexing pins would be in the way.

A dead shear would be nice, but I don't think it'll be necessary since the material is so thin. Scoring it seems to be enough. It still leaves just a little bit of a nasty edge, but a knife takes care of most of it.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Damn, look at you! It looks like a proper tool, congrats.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Damn, look at you! It looks like a proper tool, congrats.

I know, its weird, right?

[Duuuuuuuude]

Did a run of 4 to see how straight and consistent I could make them. Only one came out acceptable, the rest were either so-so or really crappy. Its going to take some practice to get the technique down. I'm also thinking I may need to make a smaller punch...1/2" or 3/8" wide. Otherwise they came out straight.



I also tried some on a small bit of .037 that I had, but it seems to be too thick. I've got to run into town this afternoon yet, so I'll pick up some more 1/4" rod and another sheet of .025 aluminum.

[trevinator]

Sweet!

That is awesome..... I see some really scale looking panels in the future!

[THX_138]

Lookin' good

Shouldn't be long before you get it perfected

My question is.... Whatcha got in mind for a project that you are wanting little mini-louvers






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[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by THX_138

Lookin' good

Shouldn't be long before you get it perfected

My question is.... Whatcha got in mind for a project that you are wanting little mini-louvers

I think I may dig out my old drill press from under the house and see if I can't use that as a press for these. There isn't a lot of force involved so it should handle it fine. Might help make these more consistently.

I'm building panels for my Exo-clone and didn't want flat boring ones. I though louvers would be a cool idea.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Aaaawwwwwww yyyyeeeaaaahhhhh!

[Mr.Joshua]

Nice work man...looking awesome

Edit: that would be a nice way to make a hood scoop as well