Has Anyone Made A Gas Check (Cap) Punch ?

[Cane_man]

^^^ awesome drawings, looks great!

what type of lathe do you have and what type of round stock did you use? did you do any heat treating?

[Idz]

I used 3/4" dia 1018 steel round and 7/8-14 threaded rod purchased from ENCO. Aluminum is so easy to punch and form that heat treating parts isn't necessary. I see almost zero wear after punching out 600 checks. The aluminum sheet stock is flashing stock from HomeDepot ~$15 for a 6"x25'x0.011 roll.
I have a 9" ENCO hobby lathe which works well if you tighten up the ways.
After making a few versions I could make a die set in a few hours. Finish on CRS isn't great but it seems to work just fine.
A few tricks I learned:
Chamfer and smooth the entrance to die to compensate for press misalignment between die and punch.
The relief hole on the back of the punch acts as a stripper to pull the completed check off the forming pin.
The sides of the forming pin should be polished so the check doesn't stick.
The slot can be cut with a hacksaw but a cutoff saw or slotting saw is easier to get a straight cut.
The forming pin should be .01-.02 lower than the slot so the disk is punched out before its formed.
The clearance between the punch and die should be about .002 for .010 aluminum sheet.
Make the die first and use it as a gage to turn the punch OD.
Screw an old pill bottle on top of the punch and it will capture a 100 or so completed checks.

[blikseme300]

I used 3/4" dia 1018 steel round and 7/8-14 threaded rod purchased from ENCO. Aluminum is so easy to punch and form that heat treating parts isn't necessary. I see almost zero wear after punching out 600 checks. The aluminum sheet stock is flashing stock from HomeDepot ~$15 for a 6"x25'x0.011 roll.
I have a 9" ENCO hobby lathe which works well if you tighten up the ways.
After making a few versions I could make a die set in a few hours. Finish on CRS isn't great but it seems to work just fine.
A few tricks I learned:
Chamfer and smooth the entrance to die to compensate for press misalignment between die and punch.
The relief hole on the back of the punch acts as a stripper to pull the completed check off the forming pin.
The sides of the forming pin should be polished so the check doesn't stick.
The slot can be cut with a hacksaw but a cutoff saw or slotting saw is easier to get a straight cut.
The forming pin should be .01-.02 lower than the slot so the disk is punched out before its formed.
The clearance between the punch and die should be about .002 for .010 aluminum sheet.
Make the die first and use it as a gage to turn the punch OD.
Screw an old pill bottle on top of the punch and it will capture a 100 or so completed checks.

I had not visited this thread in a while but now that I have some free time and wanting to make a check making tool I revisited.

Idz, the design you present here is awesome! I will be starting on a set soon once I get my honey-do list done.