For years, many fabricators chose to retire their turret or rail-type punch press and opted instead for a laser cutting machine. It eliminated the need for tooling and opened the door for various blank and cutout shapes — not just round or rectangular holes, not just straight lines. The punch press was the past; the laser seemed to be the future.
Today, the punch press has experienced a kind of renaissance. The unprecedented demand for IT infrastructure calls for a lot of sheet metal, much of it with formed components like electrical knockouts, extruded holes, and louvers — shapes usually produced with form tools on the punch press. And if fabricators don’t have a punch press, they might invest in special tooling that allows the press brake to act like a punch with form tools: louvers, embosses, clips, extruded holes, and more.
Read the full article in The Fabricator.