PB Cohen Creations

I recently bought a couple of pancake dies from Potter USA, aka Kevin Potter. Kevin has a few videos on YouTube about how to use these tools to punch out shapes from sheet metal. Here's one, Using Pancake Dies (Shearing Dies) with PotterUSA hydraulic press. I have just a couple of personal tips for those of you who have never used these before.

First, it will take a bit of strength on your part to pump up the jack on your hydraulic press — particularly if the die is big (one of the ones I bought is 2.5 inches wide), and the metal is on the thicker side (I was using 18 gauge brass).

Second, at least if you're punching out a big shape in thick metal, you should wear earplugs — at least if you're punching more than a couple of pieces at a time. And particularly if your ears are already sensitive to loud noises, from all those rock concerts, or noisy pet birds. The "pop" when the die breaks through the metal is very loud. You might also warn other people in the building that you'll be making noise more similar to the sound of a gun shot than is wise to make among unsuspecting people.

Third, at least if you're punching out a big shape in thick metal, you should use some sort of spacer to move the pancake die and metal down lower — this will give the jack better leverage than it would have if the sandwich is nearer the top. In these two photos, the pancake die is represented by a light green piece of paper that's been folded in thirds. You can click on these for bigger versions.

DON'T do this

We have a lot of random pieces of steel around the shop we can use as spacers, but hydraulic press people have spacers and pushers and things available.