Putting Holes in shim stock ?

[bobdog]

I am making shims for my Southbend Lathe and trying to put holes in shim stock. Is there any cheap dies or any ideas how to put holes in shim stock ?

 

[RandyM]

I use two methods for putting holes into thin material. One is I use standard hole punches (gasket punches). Or I sandwich the thin material between two thicker pieces and then drill the holes. I suppose you could also glue the thin material to a thicker one and then drill it.

 

[middle.road]

Sandwiched between two pieces of hardwood, then I've used a bullet style drill bit.

 

[Eddyde]

The best solution is a punch and die set like this: https://www.zoro.com/value-brand-pu...ViRZ44buionlJcLTTpIqaeyjK78jXcSIaAuUTEALw_wcB
Kind of pricy but there are import knockoffs available for much less.

 

[dlane]

I’ve used nuts and bolts before I got a shim hole punch,
I put the shim stock on the nut , center the bolt on the nut/shim smack it with a hammer, kinda rough but it would cut a hole in the shim .

 

[owl]

If it is for a complicated shape like a reed valve, photoresist and electroetching might be best.

 

[David S]

Depends on how many you want to make, but here is a video by Joe.

David

 

[kd4gij]

I have this one. It works ok on brass shim stock.
https://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece-punch-and-die-set-95547.html

 

[PHPaul]

Depending on the hole diameter needed, I find a Whitney punch works best for thin stock.

 

[benmychree]

I made my own punch similar to the Precision Brand shown in the earlier post above, used two pieces of CRS, drilled and reamed various size holes and two guide pins to align the two pieces and used hard dowel pins for the punches, which I ground with two facets on the cutting face about 5 degrees to give a shearing action.