Punches

Punches are hardened-steel tools that pierce, mark or stamp a material with a blow or with pressure. In this collection you will find punches and dies for punching machines, which pierce sheet and profiles with cordless machines, and hand punches for marking the drilling point or setting nail heads below the surface. The right type depends on the job.

Punch and die must be chosen as a pair and must match the machine. In the product names you will find the machine model, such as M18 or M12 for Milwaukee, and the hole size, such as the 20 mm round for Makita. The round punch is for circular holes, the oval one for slots. Always check that punch and die are the same size.

To mark the drilling point, centre punches are used, which leave a small dimple for the tip of the drill to sit in. To set nails below the surface or drive out pins, pin punches or nail punches are used. Chrome-plated marking punches are used to stamp numbers and letters on parts.

Number and letter punches are steel characters that you strike with a hammer to stamp figures and lettering on metal or wood. They are used in workshops to identify components and in maintenance to number the elements of an installation. Choose the character size according to the space available on the part, and always use a rigid support under the piece for a clean impression.

Place the tip on the exact spot and strike with a hammer of suitable weight, keeping your fingers away from the head of the punch. Wear safety glasses, because chips and fragments can fly off. Do not use a punch with a split or mushroomed head, and work on a stable surface.

In the workshop, punches are used to pierce thin sheet, centre holes on profiles, mark parts and drive pins or dowels out of assemblies. In metal fabrication and maintenance they are used to fix reference points and to align holes before a subsequent operation. They are simple tools, but found in almost every toolbox of people who work with metal.