FieryFurnace Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Not sure if this should go in the "tools" section......the disription thing under tools didn't say anything about making them so I decided to post here. I need a drift for punching small hammer eyes. (I'm thinking about making a splitter.) Right now I have a regular round hole punch that will punch a little over 1/2 inch holes. However, I was wondering if a drift is different than a punch, if so how is it different. Is there a blueprint somewhere on making one? Also the only carbon steel I have is leaf spring and half inch sucker rod. Should I find something else or will one of those work? The main thing I need to know is how is a drift shaped and the type of steel needed. Hope that's all clear! Thanks, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Dave - Use the search feature on the top of the page - type in making a drift and there will be many results that will have info you need. - JK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 A drift is usually tapered and is allowed to pass through a previously punched/slitted hole to give a sized finished hole, Eye punches are slightly different as they are normally used from both sides of the blank to produce an 'hour glass' shape to retain the shaft when it is fitted. Modern practitioners may disagree with this. I believe Brian Brazeall has a post on this site somewhere on producing hammer heads which has pics etc and explains his approach very well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkC Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 with a drift you need a long taper back to the final size, to make it easier to hammer through and reshape the hole. you do not even need to use tool steel for a drift, because it isn't a punching tool, just used to reshape, refine, or resize a hole. you can use mild steel if you quench often. graphite lube is nice too. for the best lesson and info, use the uri hofi blueprint. his method is fast and easy. don't have the blueprint number handy, but if you go through mr hofi's blueprints, you'll find it easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 On the other hand, if you have access to high alloy tool steels, making your tooling out of them means you don't have to worry so much about heat transfer when the tool is buried in an orange hot block. Since I teach it's a good thing not to have to worry if my students are doing the "3 strikes then out and cool/lube, repeat". For a recent example I just had to touch up an S1 slitter rather than remake a lower alloy one. They are pretty fierce on them when hammering the eyes making ballpein hawks---I don't let them drift with the hammer eye drift until they have done the work with a cheap easily found bullpin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FieryFurnace Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 Thanks for the help guys. I made what I think would qualify as a drift this afternoon. I made it out of leaf spring that I had tapered down to size. It's small, 5/8" at the largest part. I'm going to temper it off to a purple probably...since Mr MarkC said that about making it out of mild. I also got the eye punch made and tempered. I had asked about that a while back! Thanks, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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