Who has any input on a good, reasonably priced sheet metal punch/flange tool? The HF one seems to make shallow flanges (however I would use this tool probably 90% of the time for punching), the Klutch brand from Northern seems pretty stout (up to 14 ga.) however I am sure it is an import as well...Amazon reviews are all over the board for the ones they have offered. Any thoughts?? Thanks-
Bought some dimple dies from TMR customs and I really like them! The tool I am talking about is air over hydraulic and punches like 3/16" holes for plug welds... thanks though-
I've been looking at the flange/punch tools myself. Eastwood has one that runs about $10 more than the Harbor Freight ones, can't speak for the quality of either though as I'm still on the fence myself.
The punch end of the HF works well, albeit it could be better with a deeper throat. The flange end is next to useless, I agree.
I bought the Harbor Freight version and it worked ok for holes, at 29 days into the warranty it quit working so I got another one. I don't use it daily so a few days later it didn't work either, I took part of it apart and now, it seems to be working and I don't think the flange tool is worth much and yes it would be nice to put the hole deeper. I guess it is better than hand drilling the holes, most of the time
I bought one at a local tool store about 40 years ago. No idea on brand. Does a great flange up to 18 gauge. I put a little oil in each time I use it - a couple times a year probably. It is handy.
The Eastwood ones I was looking at placed a "bevel" on the edge of the sheet metal rather than a flange, I think I would rather have a flange??
I have one that works well for both flanges and holes but I don't know what brand it is. I bought it in the late 70s and the tag came off years ago.
I had an old HF for years before it quit. I got a new one and it worked for 5 mins and quit. Got another and the same shit. The new one is much bigger and more ass but worthless. The flang jaws don't offset enough either because the adjustment is machined wrong. I borrowed my neighbors and it worked great. It Looked older than me too.
I bought mine at Harbor Freight or Eastwood... probably the same one. it punches and flanges good, though I don't really do any flanging. for holes I like my Roper Whitney hand punch better. comes with several different size punches and you have way more depth than with the pneumatic version.
I have one that's over 10 years old and it's a astro brand I believe. It has always worked fine. One thing to remember is that these will not handle over 90 to 95 pds of air pressure for very long. Used snap on, Mac tools and my astro, none lasted long on 105 air pressure. One thing about these is that they are a piece of cake to fix. When they go bad it's just a simple o-ring that blows. They work on air over hydraulic. So replace the o-ring and be sure to refill the head with trans fluid, 99 % of the peeps don't realize that it has to be full to work. I've rebuilt several of them myself.
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