Hey Alan, cool design. Ultimate simplicity. The notches on the pot support hold the ends of the sheet together?
Hey Alan, cool design. Ultimate simplicity. The notches on the pot support hold the ends of the sheet together?
I have used several brands of sheet metal punches successfully on .005″ Ti and .003″ stainless steel, and aluminum of similar thicknesses, for many years. I love Eastwood tools and highly recommend their $50 punch. The $40 Nieko is good too. I was disappointed with the results I got with a $130 Roper Whitney, which used to be the “gold standard” for punches of that type. The quality of the tool was very low. Stupid low to be honest, like painting over metal surfaces that need to move smoothly past each other but got gummed up with paint. Non-branded generic versions of what appear to be essentially identical tools can be had for less, but the quality control and customer support from Eastwood is the best in the industry, bar none.
Getting clean results when punching aluminum is easy, and holes of 3/32″, 1/8″ and 5/32″ in Ti and SS usually are too. But hole diameters of 3/16″ and up on material that thin require more work with Ti and SS. The trick is screwing the die down tight against the anvil, so that the metal does not move or deform when you apply the punch. Like this:
Not this:
It’s laborious and slow, because each hole requires 4 steps: (1) locate punch on material, (2) screw die down tight, (3) punch and (4) unscrew die.
To get this:
For holes bigger than 9/32″, like in the heat shield shown below, I start with a punched 1/4″ or 9/32″ and then take a Dremel to it. If you use stones to grind the hole bigger you’ll get some spectacular white sparks flying out.
I recommend when you try out your new windscreen that you check the temperature of the top of your fuel canister frequently while running the stove. I have made similar windscreens that come down close to the valve handle and was surprised at how much heat reflected/radiated down from the burner and pot bottom. Enough so that I started putting a heat shield on top of the tank before mounting the stove:
Random thought: leaving the heat shield off in cold temperatures might eliminate the need for a Moulder strip.
I have used several brands of sheet metal punches successfully on .005″ Ti and .003″ stainless steel, and aluminum of similar thicknesses, for many years. I love Eastwood tools and highly recommend their $50 punch. The $40 Nieko is good too. I was disappointed with the results I got with a $130 Roper Whitney, which used to be the “gold standard” for punches of that type. The quality of the tool was very low. Stupid low to be honest, like painting over metal surfaces that need to move smoothly past each other but got gummed up with paint. Non-branded generic versions of what appear to be essentially identical tools can be had for less, but the quality control and customer support from Eastwood is the best in the industry, bar none.
Getting clean results when punching aluminum is easy, and holes of 3/32″, 1/8″ and 5/32″ in Ti and SS usually are too. But hole diameters of 3/16″ and up on material that thin require more work with Ti and SS. The trick is screwing the die down tight against the anvil, so that the metal does not move or deform when you apply the punch. Like this:
Not this:
It’s laborious and slow, because each hole requires 4 steps: (1) locate punch on material, (2) screw die down tight, (3) punch and (4) unscrew die.
To get this:
Contact us to discuss your requirements of buy copper clad steel plate. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
For holes bigger than 9/32″, like in the heat shield shown below, I start with a punched 1/4″ or 9/32″ and then take a Dremel to it. If you use stones to grind the hole bigger you’ll get some spectacular white sparks flying out.
I recommend when you try out your new windscreen that you check the temperature of the top of your fuel canister frequently while running the stove. I have made similar windscreens that come down close to the valve handle and was surprised at how much heat reflected/radiated down from the burner and pot bottom. Enough so that I started putting a heat shield on top of the tank before mounting the stove:
Random thought: leaving the heat shield off in cold temperatures might eliminate the need for a Moulder strip.
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