Knuckle Buster Replacement

Dunno about the ones HFright sells, but the genuine USA-made Roper-Whitney punches are pretty decent:-

They come in different sizes.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

That looks like what I have. I'm squeezing the dickens on the handles, finally punches, knuckles bang adjacent sheet metal :-( ...Jim Thompson

A good pair of cut resistant gloves has to be better than suffering a busted knuckle! Hurts just thinking about it...

All of the lever operated punches are going to smash your knuckles. How about bench punch? Pricy, but safer.

These might use your existing punches and dies:

Bigger:

what's wrong with a drill bit?

-Lasse

More...

Look for these on used equipment sites.

Although useless for small holes, a hydraulic hole punch works for larger diameter holes. Basically, it's a chassis punch set which doesn't need to be crammed into a bench vise. The down side is that you can still smash your knuckles between the lever and the pump body.

I can see you've never tried a hand punch. I have two Roper-Whitney hand punches and use them heavily. I think I'm on my 3rd or 4th set of punch and dies.

Advantages:

1. If you center punch the location, the hole is accurately placed.
2. No deburring or secondary cleanup.
3. No shaving or turning to clean up.
4. No wandering drill bit.
5. No broken drill bits.
6. Will not melt plastic if you use too high a drill speed.
7. Much faster than a drill. I can punch at last 5 holes in the time it takes to position, drill, and clean a single drilled hole.

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Roper Whitney's larger one, the XX, has an optional bench mount. Also, the deep thoat means your knuckles are a lot further away from the sheet metal. Warning: The set of punches it comes with are slightly weird sizes, and the extras you will want aren't cheap. One plus of the bigger one is that it can use D-hole punches for BNC connectors.

Doug White

I've got one of these "hand punches".

But it's probably a bit big for Jim's application. Carried it back in the back of a V*lvo wagon (from da Windy City).

My favorite stood way taller than me and had a foot pedal to operate. Electric motor spun a big-ass flywheel which drove the punch. Need an old-fashioned meter hole? Bingo, you've got it ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Maybe the punch is not made for the guage your punching?

Cheers

Maybe I just need longer handles >:-}

Reminds me of how I "assisted" a Craftsman end wrench many years ago by adding on a piece of pipe (*). Bent the wrench, but got the head-bolt loose. Took it back to Sears... the clerk smirked and handed me a new one :-)

(*) I know, I know, I now own a rather long and sturdy torque wrench but, when you're 22, who can afford one? ...Jim Thompson

So does the H-F punch I bought one several years ago.

I bought one when I was 20.

Reminds me of when I lent a 18", 1/2" breaker bar to a friend. I got it back bent, He still couldnt get the spindle nut off his bug. He used no extraleverage other than himself ;)

He was a avid weightlifter.

Cheers

At least you got away with it.

Years ago, I was jury foreman for an industrial-accident case... a guy used a pipe cheater-bar on the handle of a wrench when operating a sticky valve, the wrench handle snapped, he went flying and hurt his back. He was suing the maker of the wrench (claiming it was defective and should not have snapped) and the installer of the steam boiler on which the valve had been installed (claiming that the installation was faulty, placing the pipe and valve in a location where the use of a bent wrench was necessary to operate it).

We found against him on all counts. The steam boiler had been repiped by somebody else, years after installation (which was when the piping was messed up), the wrench had been bent (no evidence at all that it was weak or defective when originally sold), and the injured man shouldn't ever have been operating that particular equipment due to seriously inadequate expertise, training, and literacy (he was in the habit of "lubricating" the sealed valve by spraying its exterior with WD-40... right around a gas-fired boiler... and testified that he understood the word "inflammable" to have something to do with maintenance).

I felt rather sorry for him - he was pretty clearly in pain (although probably not as bad as he was making out to be - he failed a "trick test" by the medical evaluator) but was suing the wrong parties. Probably couldn't sue the party who was really responsible - his employer - due to Worker's Compensation law (he probably wanted more than Worker's Comp had paid him).

Seeing this situation from the sidelines led me to promise myself that I wouldn't use cheater pipes on wrench handles!

By the time I was 22 I was married with one kid and 3 months from graduating M.I.T. ...Jim Thompson

That looks like what I have. I'm squeezing the dickens on the handles, finally punches, knuckles bang adjacent sheet metal :-(

...Jim Thompson

That link at roper whitney is for the light duty punches. Go to the pull down labeled punching and select medium duty for the next step up in punching capability for the same hand pressure. Go the next step and look at a #10 or #12, I got a #12 on ebay a few years back for $50, does 7 tons of force with less muscle than you used to bust your knuckles on the little one :-).

I was days from going into basic training, but I didn't know it yet. You don't rebuild a high perfomance engine without one.