Need To Punch 1/4" Square Holes

OK, a little more information. The holes are going into 5/8"X1/8" flat bar. The tolerances are not critical as these are holes for carriage bolts.

I'll check out Tom's channel and see what I can find. I was thinking that I would pre-drill the holes and then move to the arbor press. Maybe I can make some kind of fine toothed broach?
I found a 1/4" punch and die that will fit the ironworker that I have at my day job but I really don't want to spend $95 on this job. I thinking there must be some down and dirty, quick and easy way to put hole in some bar stock to accept carriage bolts.

Keep the ideas coming guys.
 
rmack898 said:
I need to punch 1/4" square holes in 1018 steel that is .125" thick.
My first thought was to drill a .25" hole and use a broach but with the material being only .125" thick, the gap between the broach teeth is bigger than the thickness of the material.

Maybe a simple punch and die but Im not really sure how to make one.

I may have to punch about 300 holes so what ever method I use, has to have some kind of tool life.

I'd like to hear some suggestions as there may be an obvious solution that I'm not thinking of.
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rmack898 said:
The holes are going into 5/8"X1/8" flat bar. The tolerances are not critical as these are holes for carriage bolts.
Click to expand...
In that case I'd predrill at 17/64" and punch with a hollow-ground 1/4" HSS tool. You might not even need a die: just a plate with a 5/16" hole. You could make up an aligning and indexing fixture that could be used for both drilling on the drill press and punching on the arbor press (or do the punching on the drill press as well).
 
Thinking outside the box here...

If you're holding a bolt from turning, does it really need to be square? They make a round head bolt with a spline below the head that you drive into steel. Stud bolts for most car wheels is a common example. Go talk to your local Fastenal store.
 
Could you stack two or three thicknesses of the material with whatever pilot hole the broach needs through each and lined up to each other? Clamp them so they don't move and run the square broach through the "gang"?

Or, how about making a bushing/guide support for the broach out of a length of a 1" round (or whatever is handy). Center it on your 1/8" steel with the appropriate broach pilot hole in it and shove the broach through on your arbor press?

Bruce
 
Karl_T said:
Thinking outside the box here...

If you're holding a bolt from turning, does it really need to be square? They make a round head bolt with a spline below the head that you drive into steel. Stud bolts for most car wheels is a common example. Go talk to your local Fastenal store.
Click to expand...

This is a reproduction piece and it needs to replicate the original.

BGHansen said:
Could you stack two or three thicknesses of the material with whatever pilot hole the broach needs through each and lined up to each other? Clamp them so they don't move and run the square broach through the "gang"?

Or, how about making a bushing/guide support for the broach out of a length of a 1" round (or whatever is handy). Center it on your 1/8" steel with the appropriate broach pilot hole in it and shove the broach through on your arbor press?

Bruce
Click to expand...

That may be the best way to go here, I think I'll give it a try and see how it works.
Thank you guys.
 
The u tuber AVE did a short video where he made a very basic rotory broaching tool and used 1/4 inch hss tool blank as the tool.

He's always quite amusing to watch too as a side bonus


Stuart
 
They're non-precision through holes in 1/8" strap. IMHO anything more than a punch is overkill.
 
What's the resolution of a plasma torch? Could this be done with a plasma-cam, including cutting the strips?


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