I have a need, and it shouldn't be rocket science, but does have some interesting "possibilities and opportunities." I'm working in HO scale, buildings, and need a bunch of pieces with openings cut to fit small (tiny?) plastic moldings, windows and doors. One or two, I cut with an exacto knife, but I'm looking at making six or eight of the same thing now, each with four windows and four doors. The material is basswood, and I have an Electropress that I'm wanting to make a punch for the different openings. Doesn't need much accuracy, anything I can make that will come within .005" will be fine, but the problem comes with the sheeting I'm using. It's scribed to simulate boards, and that scribing is done on 1/32" sheet, so there isn't a lot of split resistance left. The scribing is nearly half of that depth, with the grain, 1/32" spacing. The moldings are made so they cover the front a little, a rough opening isn't going to show unless it's pretty bad.
Does anyone have any experience with making a hollow punch, maybe coming down around a drilled hole for something like this? Doors will be about 3/8" by 1", give or take a little, windows maybe 3/8" by
1/2". I'm guessing the press is somewhere in the 1/4 - 1/2 ton range, a dandy little finger smasher. (It's a big solenoid on a heavy frame.)Greybeard