CNC Punch Presses

A CNC punch press makes holes and forms in sheet metal by driving a punch through the sheet into a die. On a turret punch press the tools sit in a rotating turret, and the machine moves the sheet under the ram and punches with each stroke. Besides round and shaped holes, it nibbles contours with overlapping hits and forms features that cutting processes cannot: louvres, countersinks, embosses, extruded and tapped holes.

That is the punch press's place next to a laser. When a part has many standard holes or formed features, punching is fast and finishes them in the flat. The laser is freer in contour and needs no tooling. Combination machines put a punching head and a laser in one frame. Punched blanks usually go on to a press brake.

Compare the punching force and the maximum sheet thickness, then the sheet size the machine handles without repositioning. The number of turret stations, and how many of them rotate the tool, decides how many jobs run without a tool change. Hit rate matters for perforated work. Look at sheet loading and part sorting if the machine is to run unattended.