---

Narrow Punches Need Guiding

Punches narrower than material thickness are vulnerable to lateral forces which bend the tip. This results in tight punch-to-die clearance on the side toward which the punch is bending and the punch dulls quickly.  If severely misused, the punch bends far enough to shave the die, damaging both tools. We recommend never nibbling off a strip narrower than 2-1/2 times material thickness.

Even in normal operation, narrow punches benefit from support at the punch tip.  Mate’s fully guided assembly provides such support with close stripper-to-punch clearance.  The stripper clamps material to the die during the entire working part of the stroke so that it can support the punch as near to the tip as physically possible.

At Mate, we recommend fully guided assemblies with full confidence for all applications using narrow punch widths.  Quality of production consistently improves and tools last three or more times longer than without guiding.