Windmill Tower Punch

[JBarker]

Just received an early Christmas present! It's been on my wish list for some time.

nice job Paul, I love mine. I still need to purchase a powerful enough cordless impact wrench to punch thru the angle instead of by hand.

[windybob]

The ones I have don't have the hex drive. I often considered grinding it for that, but the holes are in the way. Oh well. Helps keep muscle tone.

[JBarker]

Just received an early Christmas present! It's been on my wish list for some time.

Paul,

I purchased a new Dewalt cordless impact wrench, and it has enough power to punch the holes without using the round bar. Great time saver.

Jerry

[PaulV]

Just received an early Christmas present! It's been on my wish list for some time.

Paul,

I purchased a new Dewalt cordless impact wrench, and it has enough power to punch the holes without using the round bar. Great time saver.

Jerry

Great to know Jerry! I have to replace a couple of sections in a Stover tower this week so will give my impact a try.

[mtblah]

Jerry , thanks for sharing that Dewalt battery impact driver works ,
I will have to wait to try that tip as Thomas has the old version with the ratchet handle on top , someday when he get the newer version I'll get to use on tower repair .
Mike B

[TdcJD]

Actually the one I got is not racheting. I misunderstood and thought all the ropers had the racheting handle. In actuality the racheting handle is an upgrade you can get for it. Oh well haha, but if I can just take the handle off and use my Milwaukee impact or 1/2 racket that's just as good if not better!

Ps. Mike you are welcome to my tower punch anytime you need it. I don't think I'll use it very often haha

[Wayne]

Yeah it's one of our tools that can gather dust before we need it, but it becomes our best buddy when we do need it. Mine is the old style like Windy has so I some time have to put a cheater bar on it to punch a hole.

[Ron Stauffer]

There is a factor that comes into consideration that was not addressed. Back in the day, there was corner tower angle that was up to 3 by 1/8 inch size but not anymore. The largest 1/8 inch angle is now 2 inch. Of course, there is not 2 1/4 inch angle that aermotor used for 6 and 8 foot mills. This is why new aermotor towers are 2 x 3/16 for 6 & 8 and 2 by 3/16 for ten. You will struggle to put holes with a hand punch in 3/16 metal.

I would assume most of you guys have port a powers with a hand hydraulic pump. There are import hydraulic punches that work really well that have four sizes of punches - 3/8, 1/2, 5/8 and 3/4. They will punch 1/4 inch metal and I have punch punched two layers of 1/8 inch together. It has held up well oh and and I couldn't tell you where my hand punches are...

[Ron Stauffer]

Cost is about $150.

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We have made towers. When handling 20 foot pieces of steel, we drill all the tower holes. But we make patterns to speed up the process so that way we are only doing layout once. Once we have a pattern, we clamp it to a new piece to drill the holes. Drill press and chop saw are in the middle with 20 feet of roller conveyor on each side to ease moving the material. Good cobalt twist make putting holes in.fast. In the field, we use Milwaukee titanium shockwave bits in an impat.

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Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

[JBarker]

Ron,

Thank you for sharing pics of your shop and the tools you are using. This is the reason I really miss the old windmill forum that Brad had for years, there were so many valuable ideas, tips and tool recommendations we could source for information. We are missing all that knowledge that was passed on from the older windmillers in the old forum. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and secrets. Thank you Paul V and the others that are willing to teach us more on windmilling.

Jerry Barker