Optical Center Punch Self Holding Punch

[jjr2001]

Well I think this is a bit different than the others that I have seen. Most have several pieces. You need to align with the optical lens then switch out to the steel punch after removing the optical lens. Smack the steel punch and for the next hole insert the optical lens etc. Prices vary but up to $100.00 for a punch?
This one is self illuminating with ambient light or if you want you can use a bench lamp off to one side.
You do not have to swap out pieces of the center punch while punching.

Ok, so here is one you can make with a band saw and a drill press. I used my band saw, mini mill, and grinder.
First obtain a block of transparent or translucent plastic. (Lucite,polycarbonate,lexan). Cut out a piece about 2" x 1 5/8 x 1 3/8. Slice off a wedge at 45 degrees from the top. The 45 deg flat remaining on the main block needs to be larger than the diameter of your lens. I used my quite old Bausch 5x magnifier which is 1.045 in diameter. I stopped this bore just short of breaking out the side opposite the boring bar but let it cut out about 1/2 of the bottom. You can see the half circle in one of the pictures.

Step 2 was to drill a hole to just allow a .178 dia piece of drill blank to slip in the hole. Position this hole so it will be near the center of the half circle in the bottom of the block. Make this hole a nice slip fit to the drill blank. The punch can be most any diameter but it should be a drill blank and not drill rod. Drill blanks are hardened so you don't have to do any heat treating and annealing. I had ground a point of about 60 deg on the business end of the drill blank.

Put your lens on it and punch away. You do not need to put the optic down and pick up the punch. Just locate and punch away. Very fast. Anyhow if you make one share the build.

Cheers, JR