Kerner manual. Mark. We drill where needed! Mechanical spring punch - a tool for working without a hammer

With sufficient hardness of the metal, a drill or a self-tapping screw screwed in with a screwdriver can easily slip off the intended point, and in such a situation a large scratch or even a broken drill cannot be avoided. To prevent this from happening, it is customary to make holes or cores, and there is a special tool for this - a center punch!

The puncher - what kind of tool?

The puncher is a completely simple device - a steel rod from 100 to 160 mm in length, with a diameter of 8-12 mm. The rod is at the same time a handle, so it has multiple notches to prevent slipping out of the hand. The tip of the tool is usually made of extra hard alloys and sharpened at an angle of 30° to 75°, depending on the goals that are pursued. The sharper the angle, the more accurately the markings are made, up to punching the center of future holes.

For example, a 45° punch from a tool is useful for further centering arcs or circles, while a 90° punch hole allows the drill to hold tightly to the surface. The use of this tool is quite simple - first make a markup on the surface with a pencil, then apply the puncher in your left hand (if you are right-handed) to the drawn line, press it firmly and hit the end with a hammer in your right hand.

Just don't confuse a puncher with a punch! Of course, if necessary, it is also possible to punch a hole for a nail or screw in thin metal, moreover, if the tool is well sharpened, this can happen quite by accident if you do not calculate a little force. However, the core of the puncher from such use will very quickly become dull or, even worse, break.

However, this part of the tool is interchangeable, so when buying it, do not forget to purchase a couple of such consumables.

The compass puncher makes it easy to mark arcs of small diameter, and the bell puncher serves to more accurately mark the central holes on the workpieces, which are further subject to additional processing. The principle of operation of these tools is extremely simple - attached to the product or workpiece, hit the end face with a hammer and got the desired core.

Mechanical spring punch - a tool for working without a hammer

If you need both hands to work with a conventional puncher, then only one hand is needed to work with a mechanical or spring tool. The principle of operation of such a tool is to tightly compress and independently release the spring, which actuates the internal striker, which strikes the rod.

There is also an electric automatic center punch, in which, instead of the effort of the human hand, the striker is actuated electrical circuit, which creates a short-term magnetic field. The striker is retracted under the action of the field, the chain opens, and the released striker strikes the rod. Mechanical and electrical punching ways to significantly speed up the punching process- per minute you can do up to 40-50 holes!

However, such time savings are unlikely to be relevant if you purchase the tool for household needs- this means that you will get it out of the case no more than once a year. The best option for home use there will be either a standard core drill or an inexpensive spring version, for permanent work it is better to purchase at least a high-quality mechanical core, even better - its electric version.

Do-it-yourself puncher - what can be made of?

The puncher can be made from a thin drill, sharpening it at the right angle. However, a thin rod is very unstable, and every now and then it will jump out and fly away in different directions from the impact. Therefore, either consider the option of a good pen, or purchase a ready-made tool. By the way, with ready-made tools, not everything is so simple - the rods often become dull very quickly, after the first 50-100 punches. This is explained simply - the manufacturers used a cheap alloy.

In this case, you can not do without your own creativity! Again, an old drill or a carbide drill will come in handy. Your task is to fit one end under the drill chuck or. To do this, you may need to cut off excess parts with a grinder or grind on a grinder. When the job is done, insert the rod into the chuck and turn the tool on 500-1000 revolutions. In this mode, bring the rod at the right angle to the sharpener and sharpen until you get the desired point. After that, cut off the excess length from the rod and fit it to the puncher. Everything about everything can take you about half an hour.

Close relatives of the puncher - beard-doboynik and jumper

The puncher, the beard-doboynik and the jumper are so outwardly similar that it is easy to confuse them! However, the functions they perform are all completely different. The punching beard has almost complete resemblance to the puncher, with the difference that its working part is a truncated cone. The puncher can also leave large marks on the metal, however, most often, it is used to punch small holes in the metal or to finish off fasteners in the material.

The doboyniks are most often made of chrome-vanadium steel. It is better to choose a tool with a hardened tip and striker. The handle should be thick enough to fit comfortably in your hand. Be sure to purchase a tool with notches so that it is easier to hold it in the palm of your hand when hitting. The bolt from the puncher also differs in a tip in the form of a tube, at the end of which teeth of durable metal are soldered. A bolter is used to punch holes in brick and concrete walls.

Or rather, they used it ... Now, when it is faster and easier to make a hole with a puncher, builders will not bother with working with a jumper. However, for domestic needs, the tool will come in handy - it’s more difficult not to buy for the sake of several holes a year, and the price is higher. The convenience of the tool lies in the fact that during operation the crumb is collected inside the tube, which needs to be taken out and shaken out from time to time. When there is no bolt at hand, the hole can be made with an ordinary drill, preferably an old one, which is no longer a pity. Tapping on the drill, gradually turn it along the axis, remove it from time to time and blow through the hole.

Another close relative of all these tools is the awl-punch. It is distinguished from the usual awl by a hat or a handle adapted for hammer blows. Such a tool is useful to anyone who works with leather or thin sheets of metal. Small holes are easily punched with a punch.

We must not forget about the metalwork chisel - a metal rod that cuts metal or is used in finishing works if you need to chip off a small piece of concrete. The chisel is made of hardened steel, one end of the rod is slightly rounded for the convenience of hammer blows, the second edge, which is also called the "shank", is flattened and sharpened. Often, for the safety of the hand that holds the chisel, a plastic nozzle with a cap is put on the impact side.

Hi all.

In today's review, we will talk about an automatic center punch that I purchased on eBay. If suddenly you decide to drill hard metal or material with a smooth, even surface, then the drill may slip off the intended point, leaving behind a fairly decent scratch. To avoid such situations, a center punch is used, which makes a small depression (hole) in the surface of the material being processed. As a rule, a punch is a metal rod made of carbide steel. One end of it is pointed, and on the other "butt". We put the tip in the place where we need to drill a hole - we hit the "butt" with a hammer and the hole is ready. It’s simple, but not always convenient, since, firstly, you need to use both hands, and, secondly, to constantly carry a hammer with you is also a so-so prospect. In order to simplify the process, an automatic center punch was created. But first things first.

So, this product was ordered a long time ago, however, I only got around to writing a review just now. But during this time I managed to check the tool in almost all possible situations and so far nothing has broken, which is good news :) If you are interested, you can see the route of the package from China to Belarus.

A live punch is not much different from what can be seen on the seller's page and looks like this:


In addition to the appearance, the seller’s page also has core characteristics:

Material: HSS high speed steel material, hardness up to HRC58 - 60;
Color: gold + red;
Total length: about 125mm.;
Style: conical;
Usage: industrial;
Load type: compression;
Red ball-shaped plastic handle for shock absorption, good for hand grip;
Can be used for marking, punching, scoring and scribing on wood, metal and plastic, can also be used to break glass.

This tool also has a more budget variation - without the red plastic handle. It just seems to me that because of the rather stiff spring, it will not be very convenient to use them. So it's better not to save here, especially since this performance cannot be called expensive.

The total length of the core is 128 millimeters.


The diameter of the brass handle is 11.5 millimeters. The handle is covered with a grooved pattern, so that the core does not slip at all even in a wet hand. So they are equally comfortable to use even in the rain, even after swimming in an oil bath :)


The diameter of the needle is almost 4 millimeters.


So his dimensions not so big, and given the weight of only 77 grams, the core can be considered more than a compact tool (given that a hammer is not required to use it). It can easily fit in a pocket or small bag, which improves mobility while working on, say, rooftops or other challenging environments.

Despite their apparent simplicity, core devices can hardly be called elementary. There are 8 pieces in total.


To simplify the perception of how it works, I will give a diagram of the device of such a tool:


To put it simply, in order to pinch the hole, you need to put the needle at the right point and press the core from above, at a certain moment there will be a click and the tool will do its job. It works by compressing and then abruptly releasing the shock spring, which sets the striker in motion, striking the counterpart and then the needle.

A bias spring is installed on the counterpart of the side resting against the needle, which compresses under load.


Due to the fact that on the one hand its diameter is narrower, and on the other wider - the movement of the counterpart of the striker occurs with an offset relative to the center. That is, roughly speaking, its shank rests against the edge of the striker.
In the striker, in turn, on the one hand there is a hole that acts as a trigger mechanism.


At a certain moment, the shank of the impact part is centered and falls into this hole.


The load applied to the striker from the side of the needle disappears and the shock spring does its job - releasing abruptly, the striker strikes the counterpart, and that, in turn, hits the needle, which is why the mark is obtained.

The shock spring is located under the red plastic part so that it can be used to adjust the force of the shock, which is important.


In principle, there is nothing more interesting and useful both in appearance and in the device of this tool, which means that you can proceed to its practical tests.

For starters, a Soviet-era hammer was used as a test subject:


"Holes" on closer inspection:


As you can see, they are all neat, approximately the same both in diameter and in depth. And, most importantly, one mark takes 1-1.5 seconds, no more.

Duralumin:


For fun, I tried it on a regular board :):


It didn’t break through, but the marks are more than decent.

And here is a short video on how it all looks live (I immediately apologize for focusing - my camera cannot focus the way I would like, but the essence of the process is clear):

Summing up everything that was written here, I can say that the instrument met all the expectations placed on it. In operation, it is trouble-free, besides, using an automatic core is much more convenient and faster than a conventional one. True, at first the center punch sometimes stuck and had to disassemble and assemble the impact part in order to restart the process. The installation of an eccentric spring on the contrary helped to get rid of this problem. So if you have to make holes in hard steels, ceramic tiles etc., then you can consider this product as an upcoming purchase. It is not expensive, but at the same time it will really reduce the time of work and the integrity of the surface of the processed material.

On this, perhaps, everything. Thank you for your attention and your time.

I plan to buy +130 Add to favorites Liked the review +102 +182

Anyone who has ever tried to drill solid surfaces knows how difficult it is to make a hole exactly in the intended place. The drill tends to slip at least a little to the side. You have to try again several times. But if there is already at least a small hole in the right place, the process goes much faster. But how to make it? For this, a special core tool was invented, it is also a center punch.

A conventional core tool consists of one piece - a strong steel rod. It can be U8 steel, hardened to 65 HRG and tempered. Chrome vanadium alloy or other durable types are used. One end is sharpened in the form of a cone, the other is flat. The rod itself is seven-sided or rounded. The length of the punch ranges from 10 to 16 cm, the thickness is 0.8-1.2 cm.

The process of marking cores (holes for installing a drill) occurs as follows. Hold it with your left hand. The sharp end of the tool is installed in the place of the intended hole. With the right hand, a precise blow is applied with a hammer on the butt plate (flat part). On the processed surface there is a trace from a center punch (core). This word should not be confused with the concept in geology, where it refers to the rock produced by drilling.

To prevent the hand from slipping over the tool during operation, the cylindrical surface is covered with special notches or knurling. The conical (working) part is sharpened at a certain angle. The sharper it is, the higher the marking accuracy. A core with a sharpening of 30-45 ° marks the centers of circles, 75 ° is used when basting a hole for a drill.

It does not make sense to sharpen the core with emery, since its material cannot be processed in such a way.

Application

With the help of a core, you can make a mark on any surface. It is advisable to use it when working with smooth materials. These are tiles, polished surfaces. Most often it is used when drilling metal. Therefore, core is more often referred to as metalwork tools.

It is also actively used by masons. For this, special masons' punches have been created. They are not much different from locksmiths. They are often dyed powder paint in a bright color to make it easier to find in case of loss.

Cores are also used to make processing lines visible. To do this, the applied markings are passed with frequent cores, making it dotted.

What are there?

• manual;
• automatic;
• electrical;
• with special features (center finder for coring on cylindrical or spherical parts, a device for marking at the desired distance from the edge of the workpiece).

The automatic punch allows you to:

• mark with one hand;
• work without a hammer;
• adjust the force when working with delicate materials;
• get marks of the same depth;
• get the job done faster.

An automatic core allows you to make up to 50 strokes per minute at a distance of 2 cm between the holes.

Instead of a core point, a brand can be inserted into the rod and parts can be stamped.

An automatic (mechanical) core looks a bit like a metal fountain pen. It consists of two chambers, each of which has its own striker. The first is made in the form of a cut cone. There is a shock striker, which will apply cores to the surface. Behind it is a spring-impact striker with a guide rod. Its spring is slightly offset to the side.

Behind it inside the case there is a through hole. In the second chamber, a piston with a beveled edge spring-loaded with a powerful spring.

When the tool is placed on the surface and the thrust cap is pressed with the thumb of the right hand, the striker rests against the edge of the spring-loaded piston, lifting it up. The spring behind it is compressed and creates a counter pressure.

At the end of the compression process, centering and alignment takes place towards the primary chamber. This leads to the fact that the stem breaks and falls sharply into the hole.

The spring pressure is transmitted through the intermediate elements to the striker. It hits the surface of the material, and a hole from the automatic center punch remains on it.

In some models, the lower head can be changed, thus extending the life of the tool.

The impact force of the automatic core can be changed by turning the stop cap on the top of the tool. In this case, the spring under it is weakened or compressed. The minimum impact force is 10 kg, the maximum is 15 kg. Hole depth from 0.2 to 0.3 mm.

Electric core

In electric punches inside the case there is an electromagnet coil, a tip, a spring and a striker. After pressing the body, it lowers, the washer of the tip, which does not move at this time, closes the electromagnet circuit. The impact occurs when the solenoid retracts the ferromagnetic striker. It strikes the tip, leaving a mark on the surface.

Which core to choose?

A simple core is the cheapest, an electric one is much more expensive. When choosing a tool for yourself, decide how often you are going to use it. If only occasionally, then a conventional or inexpensive automatic is enough (so that you can do without a hammer). For professional activities, they buy high-quality mechanical or electrical.

If you have car valves lying around at home, do not rush to throw them away!

I want to tell you how you can make an excellent core from a valve with your own hands, which will work no worse than the factory one, and it will not look bad at all.

Only the inlet valve needs to be used, as it is completely one-piece and does not have a cavity inside like the exhaust valve.

Materials and tools

To make a core, we need:

• intake valve from any car;
• screwdriver or drill;
• grinder or emery;
• heat-shrink tubing.

Manufacturing

Clamp the valve in a vise and cut off the cap.

After the cap has been cut off, we clamp the valve into a screwdriver or drill in order to sharpen the end of the workpiece with a grinder or emery.

In extreme cases, this can be done by holding the valve with your hands, while not forgetting about safety.

Now I clamp the valve into the screwdriver from the back and clean the entire surface.

I sharpened the valve from the side of the cap and you should get it as in the picture.

Then, with the help of a burner, a technical hair dryer or a lighter, I upset the heat shrink tube.

Now our core has a beautiful appearance and completely ready to go.

Core check

And to check how the core works, I will be on a steel strip 2.5 mm thick.

The core does its job perfectly and, as you can see in the photo, the tip is absolutely not blunt.

Video from the author of homemade

Good luck to everyone, and the implementation of all plans.