Multiple hand stamp helping hand.

[tonyfoale]

A couple of weeks back jjr2001 posted a great simple idea for a holder for number and letter punches. http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/h...622#post104816
The next morning I pulled a small piece out of the aluminium scrap box and made a close copy.

Click on the thumbnails for full size pictures.
Here is my version, I saw no reason to make it any different to jjr2001's.

As expected that turned out to be a great help to keep the punches square to a flat work surface. However I often need to punch several numbers in a line and with even spacing. More often than not the row of numbers will be quite wobbly. I needed a tool to help and I started thinking about it after making the copy of jjr2001's. I don't like to spend too much time making tools because my main interest is using tools, so I wanted a simple idea and it came to me when trying to get to sleep last night. It is very simple and took very little time to make. It basically consists of two pieces of aluminium, the scrap box yielded those without needing their external dimensions being changed. A little milling and drilling was all it took.


Here are the two main pieces, the minimum amount of machining is evident.


The assembled tool complete, empty and loaded with 3 punches. It can take up to 7 punches.
The clamping bar is moved to the right so that the protruding piece holds the punches up against one another. The wing nut clamps the bar.


Ready to use, note the 5 mm round rod (made from a broken drill bit) which is used to allow one punch at a time to be hit.

This holder was made for 1/4" punches but it is only a question of scaling to accommodate any size. It would be next to impossible to be able to hit multiple punches with equal force without building a much more complex tool. That is the reason for the upper circular guide holes and a secondary round punch. The secondary punch can be moved from one letter/number punch to another as each indentation is made.

One disadvantage of stacking the punches side by side is that the centre distance between the characters is the same as the width of the punches, 1/4" in my case. That might be too wide in some cases. There are various ways around this which I'll leave to the ingenuity of any readers who make their own.

I did some videoing whilst making and using the device which I'll post when I've made one out of various clips.

[Jon]

Very nice. I was just commenting in a double-stamp holder thread about increasing the size to four stamps so that bitcoin mnemonic seed words can be easily stamped; your tool accomplishes that nicely. A few examples of the products on the market that your tool can replace:

https://www.blockplate.com
https://coldti.com
https://cryptosteel.com

[tonyfoale]

I just made a small addition to the punch holder. It was obvious that I would keep losing the secondary punch. So I drilled an additional hole for it and inset a small magnet. Now the punch is kept with the tool and won't get lost.

Click on thumbnails for full size.

[jjr2001]

Nice one Tony. Keeping a straight line is always a challenge when stamping multiple and your tool makes it easy to keep them all in a line.
Hey Jon, I thought coins came from the mint! (just kidding, my son was mining them a few years ago).
Back to the shop for me

Cheers, JR

[DIYer]

Thanks tonyfoale! We've added your Hand Stamp Holder to our Metalworking category,
as well as to your builder page: tonyfoale's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Hand Stamp Holder by tonyfoale

tags: magnet, punch, holder

[NeiljohnUK]

Neat, you should offer them to the UK gun trade, latest E.U. origin demand, that only the UK are enacting as usual, every major component needs to be serialised, frame, receiver, barrel, bolt etc, stamped in a minimum 1.6mm font... As ever the E.U. fear the law abiding, whilst ignoring the criminals.

[cales2021]

Hi Andy

I came across this post and liked the concept. I have drawn your idea up in Fusion 360 and 3D printed it and it works fine. The Fusion file uses Parameters so you can rescale to any size of punch and any number of punches. See my blog link below which has a link to the Fusion file.



https://www.altrish.co.uk/2021/06/15...60-parameters/

Woody

[DIYer]

Thanks cales2021! We've added your Multiple Punch Holder to our Storage and Organization category,
as well as to your builder page: cales2021's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Multiple Punch Holder by cales2021

tags: punch, 3D printing, holder

[blkadder]

Now if I only had a milling machine. Maybe I can have one made up for me if I can figure out how to put into CAD.

[WmRMeyers]

Now if I only had a milling machine. Maybe I can have one made up for me if I can figure out how to put into CAD.

You got a file? How you think the original machine tools were made? Files, hacksaws, hammer and chisel... And practice! Or should I say "Improvise, adapt, and overcome!"

Find a copy of Workshop Practice Series, Book #18, Benchwork, or the the first volume of Henry Burghardt's Machine Tool Operations. The middle chapter is titled "Bench" and will give you the basics. A vise, a drill press, and some measuring and marking stuff will help, too. Scribe, square, (combination square would be best) and layout fluid, or a wide-point Sharpie...

I made the T-nut that holds my AXA-clone toolpost on my TH42 Atlas lathe with a handful of files, a carbide-tipped scriber, and a hacksaw. Couldn't get to any of my vises that day, so did all the work held in my hands. Took about 4 hours, in steel. You could use aluminum, and make filing it easier, and probably chiseling out some of the waste before you filed it, too. Or make a sandwich of 1/8" plate of some sort, with the channel for the punchs hacksawed out of thicker material, and screwed or riveted together, instead of carving out of solid metal. 3D printed, too. Lots of ways to get 'er done!

First item is Volume 1, 4th & 5th are downloadable
versions of volume 2. https://archive.org/search.php?query...Operation&sin=

Bill