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2024-07-04Project: Fabric Punch
Before running out to some 4th of July celebrations, my son and I ran off a quick fabric punch out of mild steel. We had no drawings, and used no measurements, but I've very pleased with it.
I've been experimenting with some utility-style kilt-making, and part of that project involves putting riveted snaps through up to 8 layers of fabric. My prototype was out of a light muslin, and even that was a pain in the ass trying to cut tiny little snips through with a pair of scissors. The end result was great, because the snap securely covers and grabs a much larger area than the hole for the shaft, but it was labor intensive, and hard to get aligned.
So I thought, "what I need is a hollow punch" and "hm, I own a lathe."
I grabbed some 3/8 hex mild steel I had laying around (I think it's 1018, but I'm not even sure). We chucked it up, faced it, center drilled, grabbed a drill bit at random that looked about right, and drilled about 1" into the end. I turned the end down to a chamfered shoulder, swung the compound around by eye to something that looked about right, and cut a taper into the end until we had a clean and sharp intersection with the drilled hole. A kiss of fine-grit paper and oil made for a sharp-feeling edge.
We took the rod out, cut it down to a reasonable length with a hacksaw (I've got a port-a-band, but this was small and my son hates the noise), chucked it back up and faced and chamfered the back end. Conveniently, by sheer chance it's almost exactly 4".
On our first test back in the house, we went straight through the fabric and halfway through the mat underneath. Whoops :-) Had the same problem on a stack of 8 layers of the fabric I intend to use it on. All around a smashing success.
Thoughts
It'd be nice to do this out of some material that could be hardened, but this is plenty sharp for my use-case, which is in the low tens of holes. Worst case, I can always just chuck it back up and give it a new edge. It's good to know this works so well, because I wouldn't hesitate to make more with different sizes.
Ideally, it'd have a through-hole so that punched material could be ejected easily, but I don't have a long-reach small diameter drill bit. I could counter-drill from the other end with a longer larger diameter bit, but again, for my scale I'm not sure it matters. I'd probably do that if I make another one.