The Armour Archive

Hey I just wanted to post on here, for the benifit of other up and coming armorers running on a tight budget, a quick review of the sheet metal punch I got.

It's a Grizzly brand sheet metal punch, and it's a knock off of the Whitney XX deep throated punch. It is a fraction of the price. I paid about $75 for the punch, the bench mount & several extra punches and dies ($1.25 each) in my most common size needed. If I got all this from Whitney I'd be paying around $300-$350 I think.

It comes in a blow molded plastic case, always a plus. It came covered in oil, which is better than rust, but looked like motor oil. No complaints here.

The punches and dies threaded in easily. The punches body itself is sand cast I believe, it looks to be a good casting, easily beyond my ability to cast that well. It has a rubber pad on the arm that slips off easily, but whatever.

I punch 9/64ths holes in 16g 304 stainless with relative ease. I've punched several hundred on the original punch without issue. I also punched through street sign aluminum and 14g brass.

The bench mount ($12? Can't recall) was absolutely worth it! Order this with it! It's easy to use, and once it's on it acts like a stand so you really don't need to bolt it if you don't want to. I use a c-clamp because bench space is at a premium in my 6x10 work space.

Anyone looking to punch lots of holes should seriously consider this, I'm sooo done buying cobalt drill bits

Considering the thoughtfulness of Chinese mfgs, they probably coated it in oil, and then slipped the rubber handle onto it.

Have a link for us? I might buy one for the local workshop

The rubber handles are most likely dipped into a vat and left to cure.
The home product is called plasti- dip available in several colors and even a spay can version.
Ace hardware may have it in stock or special order to your location.
Works well to ID your tools on a job site and pads handles on pliers and screwdrivers a little.

http://m.grizzly.com/products/Heavy-Dut ... tand/H7862

Do you know if the punch and die sets work in Whitney's 5jr or XX punch?
The threading is a bit odd and additional replacement parts might be useful.

That is the one, I'm quite pleased with it. I have a Beverly knock off as well which is a real turd which required a lot of rigging to get results with. The punch however, was great right out of the box.

And I don't know if Whitney parts work with it, but you can order any part for it from grizzly. You can find an exploded diagram with part numbers on their website.

Are the beverly knockoffs really that bad?

It was worth the $80 I paid for it

NOTE the following is about the harbor freight metal shear, not the grizzly metal punch
I had to regrind & retemper the blades, replace the adjustable blade alignment screws, add spacers and washers into ill fitted joints and do a lot of cleaning, oiling and sanding. Once I got it working I used it a lot. Now it's out of whack again, and I fear I won't be able to re-rig it to work for much longer. The main problem is the inability to line the blades up precisely for good cutting. The main benifit is that it doesn't cost $500! If I "went pro" I'd get a Beverly. If you're only building as a hobby is fine. The rigging you have to do will teach you (by force) all about what makes it work and what a good metal shear shouldn't do.

The parts I got to fix it up were all from the hardware store, and cost maybe $8-10. The blades I ground on my cheap bench grinder. The retempering I did in my oven. I have heard of some people getting official Beverly replacement blades and using them on their knock off, but those blades are about the same cost as the knock off shear itself.

There's a thread on the knock off shear that I added to in which I described the kinds of screws and washers I got, you can probably find it if you search.

I saw that grizzly had one might give it a go

I didn't know grizzly had a throatless shear, I thought they only had straight shears. If you find it on the webpage, could you post a link?

m.grizzly.com/products/Plate-Shear-5-/H0731 just looked don't think there throatless.

The manual shears all look like slitting shears.
There are a few eletric/pneumatic shears but most are not rated for tigh corners and require a bit of scrap befor you can produce quality cuts for armour fab.

Max,

Wow never had to do so much work on a new HF shear and I have had quite a few going at the same time for a while. That said my experience with HF is that most of their stuff is fine but you have a good chance of getting something defective.... but since their return policy is so good I'd have just taken it back if it were new.

I did break some blades but as I was cutting 12 gauge after the better part of a decade it was ok.

Will have to look into this grizzly punch. I am getting tired of drilling all my holes... wish I had a punch that could handle 12 gauge....

RPM

At 12 gauge your looking for something like the Whitney 7 or 8.
The shallow throat depth limits use to about 2" from the edge of your piece and less if you have done any major shaping like a elbow cop.

The punch and diesets are fairly easy to turn on a thread cutting lathe if you know a machinist with time and heat treating oven.

There is a bit of geometry with clearance and such but its not to bad as a home or student project.

zalbad wrote:Are the beverly knockoffs really that bad?

The Chinese production used to be; their blade temper and quality since seems to be improving in response to market demand. Time was when people with forges would fire their forges up and re-do the blade tempering to stop them from chipping -- they'd been treated over-hard and were too brittle. Now the worst of it seems to be you have to make a point of checking all the bolts' torquing, and feeler-gauging the Harbour Frightfuls' blade spacing yourself, as the factory blade setup is not the most meticulous -- to make sure the blades' edges do not collide anywhere in the stroke. You still get what you pay for; that Beverly may well still be serving your grandchildren. I wouldn't expect that of the HF answer to the Bev B-1. They rate it for 16ga mild, but they're saying you can get through 14ga mild if you take little bites at a time. SS is a more difficult proposition; expect to stay very conservative with that stuff.

It's at the point where it's become a middling attractive starter shear, sufficing well enough for everything but helm making.

If I could get someone to replace/rework/remake my blades for me so that it worked consistently, I'd be very happy with mine. For the price, I got what I paid for I've used it a bunch (mine is an old one, 5 years or so) and I hope I can keep it going.

Now if someone did a $100 HF Beverly up fit service, they'd get a lot of business!

Thanks for the review I have been thinking about one of these.

10% off discount code!!

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Ot: where can you get replacement blades for the HF shear. Quick note, I've been using mine for 10 years, and haven't had any real problems. I sharpen them every one I a while.

Hf sells them, as well as replacement parts for a few of there other tools.

I haven't been able to find the blades on the website.

You can have them reground at a shop where they do that sort of thing for machine shops.

HF discontinued the replacement blades. I've also read that the replacement blades were superior to the blades they came with. Not that you can get them anymore though!

Really.... it has not been that long since I got some. I'd call them direct and ask. They have tons of things not on the website and in store.

RPM

I couldn't find them on the web and that was what they told me when I called to ask if the store carried them. It was about 1-1/2 years ago though. Maybe they have an updated line of them?

If you find them let us know!

Yeah don't call the local store for these call the main warehouse in Camarillo CA. I walked in and picked a pair up not long ago.

RPM

I have video reviews of both the Harbor Freight Shear, and the Grizzly Hand Punch on my youtube channel.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_FcIy19MEA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrKIQhW0dWA

Cool, thanks for linking that. I changed over to a different size die set over the weekend, for the first time, and had a nearly impossible challenge getting the top die out (the punch?). Anyone have a good method for removing them if they stick?

I was eventually able to remove it, change out to a different size, and remove that one to change back, but it was much more difficult than I would have liked.

Is it as hard to change the dies on the #5 clone as it is to change them on my XX Clone?

May be useful: Unfreezing a Stuck R-W No. 5 Jr.

You may try a little bit of polishing or lapping of the passage the punch goes through, for it might be a little rough. A rough, gritty, hard feel to the lever motions of your Grizzly would suggest something of the kind.

Hey all,

I wanted to bump this up. reading Maximus Atreus's review and having seen the link that losthelm posted for the XX punch, I ordered the punch kit only - H7862; it came in the mail today.

First, I've owned/ used the Harbor freight knock off for years, and really freaked out when they discontinued it
I like the XX vs the No. 5 jr. for two reasons, I can see where I'm putting the hole and I can lock it in a vise and use a cheater bar.

Out of the box this thing is ALOT beefer than the HF, it comes with off sized punches/ dies so I tried the HF extras and they fit nicely; mainly using 1/8 and 3/16 sets.

tried the HF base and it fits fine, don't really use it because I don't have the dedicated bench space. But you can grab it in a machine or leg vise just fine and use a pipe extension on the handle.

Put 10-12 3/16 in holes in 14 ga mild and there was no flex ! (usually use the 1/8 for starter holes followed by a 3/16 drill) with the HF I had to 'ease into' the punch to keep the dies lined up.

Sofar for the money it appears to be a good investment, gonna run a spangen through it and see how it holds up

Thanks for the thread Maximus Atreus Of Rome!

I want to buy this, but I also want more sizes of punches/dies they don't seem to make. Besides HF, are there any other confirmed brands that fit this punch?

If it's bigger holes, or different shape holes, you want to step up to one of the monsters. An R-W No. 8 might show up on eBay eventually.

A DIY special that will probably call for machinist work would be to devise a holder for punch and die for use in a 20- or 50-ton hydraulic press, using the company's spare-parts punches and dies, which sell reasonably.

That is overkill, of course. If you can score a deal on a used 5-ton arbor press, now...