Battery Hydraulic Hole Punching V’s Hole Saws

04-04-2019

Making a round or square hole in sheet metal should be a straight forward process with the correct tool. However, most tradesmen know that to consider the complete cost of making a hole you need to take into account both the material cost (tools and consumables) and the labour cost (time needed to make the hole, clean up and make good any damage). The labour element makes up the highest cost in making a hole, but is often forgotten when buying a new tool. When making a square hole the labour element is compounded further.

Hydraulic hole punches are not a new invention, and are in use daily by control panel builders and electrical contractors, making accurate holes in enclosures, gland plates and control consoles. They are ideal for any company working in restricted space or if an effortless hole needs to be made with minimal fuss. Any company making holes in sheet steel on a regular basis will find that a battery hydraulic punch driver will pay for itself very quickly when compared to hole saws.

The initial cost of a hydraulic punching tool is higher than a hole saw, but with the average number of cuts at 800 per punch, and the time saved not having to clean up, hole punching becomes an attractive alternative.

The finished hole produced by a hole saw will be rough & inaccurate and requires dressing before equipment or glands can be applied, whereas a punched hole will be an exact size hole and requires little or no dressing before use. 

The workplace needs to be kept clean and tidy to prevent contaminants entering expensive control equipment and causing further delays or damage. Hole punches are swarf free when cutting and provide low vibration and low noise benefits to the workshop and operator.

Many enclosures have a high gloss painted exterior which should be maintained during the hole making process. Hole saws will scuff and damage painted surfaces, making it necessary to spend time re-painting and touching up imperfections. The hole punch route doesn’t cause any damage to painted surfaces.

The benefits of hole punching don’t stop there. As the blades are not rotating, but acting in a linear motion, it makes punching of square, rectangular and special shapes, e.g. key locks, D-shapes possible, which would otherwise have taken a considerable amount of time with drills & files. Customer specific hole shapes and sizes can be produced to order for both mild steel and stainless steel applications.

New Battery hydraulic punch drivers make the punching process easy for 1 person, using powerful 18V Li-Ion batteries to punch holes up to 146mm round or 138mm x 138mm square.

To add further advantage to hole punching, a new technology has just been released called Speed Punch, which eliminates the need to thread punches onto the draw stud and makes hole punching up to 3 times faster than with traditional punches.