[Newbie] What are transfer punches used for and why would I need a whole set?

[HMF]

What are transfer punches good for in the home shop and why do I need a whole set like this?


Nelson

 

[PIKEMAN]

That sounds like a question my wife would ask me!:whistle:

i know how they are used, but explaining it tis a whole nother story.

As far as the set question, if you need one, you need them all.

 

[brasssmanget]

You may not ever need the whole set, but it sure is nice to have the ones you need. I use mine all the time, and sure appreciate having them available when needed. At the very least get the standard holes sizes for drills & bolts you use frequently.

 

[Rbeckett]

If you are laying out a complex piece and accuracy of hole placement is required, then transfer punches are a day saver. Set up your new part insert an appropriate punch that fills hole completely and give it a tap. This centers tha drill in the exact center of the hole and insures that your very accurate in it's placement. The more options that you can cover the better. Remember there are decimal, metric, whitworth, acme and others so a very complete set will cover nearly any sized hole you needed to mark the exact location of. I made a basic set a few years ago out of drill rod that I turned to correct size and ground a 60 degree pyramid point on the tip and hardened. Worked great till some one decided they needed them much more than I. I hate lifetime tool "borrowers". I guess thats what prompted me to form a personal policy that it is OK to borrow an item once, the second time indicates I need to own that tool on my own. Yes, I have a huge collection of tools (on the order of a quarter million dollars worth easilly over 40+ years of collecting and working with them), but I have never been waiting to finish a job because I lacked a certain or specialty type of tool. My Matco tool box costs more than my car. And the serial number is longer too. Just the box alone weighs over 1000 Lbs, empty. Filled must be moved by a medium duty or larger flat bed wrecker. A little car one will not lift the deck when it is ready to load.

 

[Tony Wells]

If you build "things" that are multiple pieces that you can't practically measure and place the holes joining the pieces all separately, then yes, you need transfer punches. There isn't much you can substitute for them. Before the days of CNC and DRO, or in light fabrication, they were the only way to make things go together. Of course, they aren't much on interchangeable parts between different assemblies, but that's not what they are used for, generally.

Just don't use them for centerpunches......they are not centerpunches. Mark the location with a gently tap, THEN go get the centerpunch.

 

[DMS]

What everyone else said.

Also, this is not their intended purpose, but I have found that they work well for disassembling pens (of the type you would turn up on a lathe).

 

[Lone Watie]

You might say that because of a set of transfer punches I have a lathe:huh:...

I needed to make a non-standard fender fit on my bike so had to mark the mounting holes on the new fender, hence the transfer punches...then, as the fender was slightly too narrow for the inside of my struts, I needed to make some bushings (haven't got that far yet) to fill in the space... hence I bought a mini-lathe so I could turn my own custom fit bushings... and then, of course, I need all these interesting gadgets to make the lathe work right, and am shopping for a mill... Kind of a roundabout way to get a small machine shop going, but...

Isn't that how it all works?

 

[Redirish]

Dalee, I have one like yours, English made, it is an awesome tool, before I retired I had to keep it hidden from the welders in the shop. They wanted to use it to mark AR235 plate.:huh:

 

[Bill L.]

Here is crap-o-cad of a usefull jig i made to use with mine.Click on it for bigger photo.

 

[peacock]

You don't need a whole set, you only need one for each size drill bit you have. Why do you need :biggrin:a whole set of drill bits.