How to make hole in sheet metal NOT normal to surface

[Brian E. Evans]

As somebody who served his apprenticeship under a German Machinist's Guild (my "translation") Master Tool & Die Machinist, I suspect that it was compoundly punched in a Closed Form die-set. My "suggested approach" would be that the piece was "grabbed and formed" into the (from the "open" side of the "V") and, when that "closure" was made a second "stroke" punched the holes through the angled faces. Such die-sets were not "common" in the late-1960's, but I saw and made such things. [It is hard enough today to find a machinist who knows what a tooling ball is!]

Lou would that be similar to what is called a Horn Die?

 

[Lew_Merrick]

Lou would that be similar to what is called a Horn Die?

A Compound Die is one where one action (oft-times blanking takes place during the first portion of the presses stroke, a second action usually forming or punching takes place as another portion of stroke and, sometimes, a third action takes place at the closure of the stroke. This is opposed to a Progressive Die where the material moves from Station to Station to add actions. I have heard the term Horn Die applied to several different tool sets.

 

[HaroldL]

The only Horn Die I've seen and used is on a press brake and is actually a Horn Punch. The horns allow the forming of a longer form when there are return flanges that would require a shorter punch body to fit between them. This is clearly illustrated in this video.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

The only Horn Die I've seen and used is on a press brake and is actually a Horn Punch. The horns allow the forming of a longer form when there are return flanges that would require a shorter punch body to fit between them. This is clearly illustrated in this video.

What is shown in the video is (in my experience) a garden-variety v-form die. At least that is what I grew up calling it.