Hyraulic Greenlee Hole Punches

While digging around today, I came across a nasty canvas sack full of rusty Greenlee hole punches..from 1/2" to 4" in diameter. They came out of a machine tool dealer that was closing the doors about a year ago, and Id actually forgotten about them. Used the bead blaster on them, got most of them fairly rust free, will finish the rest of them tommorow.

Then what?

Ive used many Greenlee punches, conduit work mostly..up to about 1 1/4 diameter, using the trusty Bolt and Socket Wrench method..but I figure its gotta be a bitch pulling a 4" punch through the side of a can.

Ive got a hyraulic hand pump..but no clue as to whats needed to somehow put the hand pump and hte punches together. Im doing more industrial electrical now days, so it would be really nice to have the ability to use these.

There was no bolt, nor bearing etc for manual operation..so Im gonna have to come up with the draw bolts, some bearings etc at the very least.

Will a grade 8 bolt be enough to wrench on? How thick can this sort of punch actually cut? Ive got a client who wants me to install muffin fans in a bunch of Moog mills..and the cabinets are fairly thick. Id rather not spew cuttings in all the drives and electronics with a sabre saw...brrrrrrrrrr

Gunner

"If thy pride is sorely vexed when others disparage your offering, be as lamb's wool is to cold rain and the Gore-tex of Odin's raiment is to gullshit in the gale, for thy angst shall vex them not at all. Yea, they shall scorn thee all the more. Rejoice in sharing what you have to share without expectation of adoration, knowing that sharing your treasure does not diminish your treasure but enriches it."

- Onni 1:33

Reply to
Gunner
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The one I've used has a few different length sleeves that slide over the cylinder rod. The end of the rod is tapped for 3/4" NF as I recall. Your typical Hoffman type enclosure is a breeze, I've done 1/16", maybe 1/8" aluminum, too

Reply to
Rick

Do a search for Greenlee Slug Buster to get an idea of the parts needed. Nothing that you can't make, I'm sure...

Reply to
Rick

OK, now I remember a little more. I think the OD of the cylinder rod end has the same thread as the ID of the larger punches. I think that's 3/4" NF. The end of the rod was tapped so you could use the smaller punches with a stud (think that's 3/8 NF).

Sorry for the numerous replies, late here!

Reply to
Rick

I used to have a set up to 5" and a Greenlee 767 hand pump. Different length drawbars and sleeves for different size knockouts. Finally sold them on ebay. An ebay search will give you an idea of what the whole set looks like.

Reply to
ATP*

According to Gunner :

A "can"? Could you please translate for me? What gauge and what material?

Hmm ... was the hydraulic hand pump one which would draw in a stud? I took one which I picked up (pump and cylinder in one assembly) and made a screw-in stud to fit two different sizes of Greenlee punches, and a screw-in spacer to push on the die half while the hydraulics were pulling on the punch. To be honest, I've yet to actually *try* it in a project -- waiting for the time that I am sure that the project is laid out right.

Well ... most of mine *came* with plain bolts -- but black oxide finish, not the typical finish of the grade 8 bolts which I have bought.

But -- what I *use* are special bolts from Greenlee which have a thrust bearing assembly captive under the head. They make a *massive* difference in the required torque -- and a thick grease on the threads also helps.

Often, the biggest problem (when wrenching at least) is having the workpiece sufficiently rigidly mounted to keep it from moving as you pull.

Be warned that there are two series of the punches -- the "chassis punches", which cut close to nominal size, and the "knockout punches" which cut to accept conduit fittings and the like, and which were significantly larger than marked.

What material? I've cut 1/8" aluminum panels, with a good solid bench vise holding the punch. It needs a solid bench to take the wrenching forces. And I did this with a thrust bearing screw.

A *good* hydraulic driver would be limited by the strength of the threads in pure tension. If I were building one for punching 4" holes in steel cabinets, I would probably find one of the hollow Enerpac hydraulic cells, using as large a diameter of thread as possible through the cell, reduced to what is needed for the punch, and with a *large* nut on the back for the cell to push against.

Get a hose long enough so you can put the pump on the foor while you pump it. Or even nicer would be one of the electrically driven pumps like I have for large AMP crimper heads, which pumps up to a preset limit (appropriate for the heads, I think around 8000 or 9000 PSI) and then releases all on its own. With your scrounging ability, I'll bet that you find such a pump -- say about three days after you mount the last of the muffin fans below.

Understood. That also leaves out the air-driven nibblers, which otherwise might be a good choice.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Measure and see what you have - are they knockouts or hole punches ?

Knockouts marked 3" isn't a 3" hole. Hole punch 3" is a 3".

Electrical trade used it on tubing.... Electronics used it for hole size.

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member

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Rick wrote:

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

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