Rotex punch: the hole story

OccupantRJ · Apr 17, 2011

In a couple of previous threads about finding tools at yard sales, I had commented that I had found some expensive equipment at some over the years. Someone called BS on me, and challenged for some pictures. I was using the Rotex turret punch I had bought for $40 at a yard sale today, so I decided to include a few pics of it while it was being used for an actual project. The new units like mine sell for in the teen thousands $$ new, so I feel like I may have gotten a bit of a deal on it. The Rotex has a rotating turret with punches in the upper section, and female die buttons on the lower. The turrets unlatch with a lever on both top and bottom, then the turret is rotated to align the desired punch setup to the front, where it latches into position. Each punch has a small locator *** in it's center to allow one to align the punch in the proper place for punching. After alignment, the handle is pulled down and POP! you have a hole. My unit punches from 1/8" to 2" diameter, and has a 24+ throat depth to allow punching a hole anywhere in a 4 X sheet of metal. It also has a small shear included in one of the positions to allow cutting off of small strips to length. As you can see from the pics, it's a handy sucker for sheet fabrication work. I was punching jigsaw starting holes today, but I took a moment to punch a 2 incher for you while I was there, just to show the naysayers that it would. The metal used today was aluminum of about 18 gage. You have to work out a little for the large punch in steel.

OccupantRJ · Apr 17, 2011

More pics below.

A_Pmech · Apr 17, 2011

You $&#!@&$ I WANT a turret punch too!

$40? Gawd that makes my stomach turn...

930dreamer · Apr 17, 2011

WOW, that's a machine and for $40 to boot. :bowdown:

OccupantRJ · Apr 17, 2011

A_Pmech said:
You $&#!@&$ I WANT a turret punch too!

$40? Gawd that makes my stomach turn...

AP, I only paid $25 for the stomp shear like yours, from the same guy..... :rocker:

A_Pmech · Apr 17, 2011

OccupantRJ said:
AP, I only paid $25 for the stomp shear like yours, from the same guy.....

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

At $40 for my shear, I overpaid obviously!

OccupantRJ · Apr 17, 2011

Back story. I saw a yard sale in the paper one Friday that listed a few power tools and such, so I called the number listed, even though the sale was for the following day. I was able to talk the old, old, guy into letting me have a first look at the stuff that day, so I went over. When I got there, I bought quite a few items from him, as he had some good tools you don't see every day. He and his son had hobbied with hovercraft years ago, and son had moved overseas. Finally I asked him if he had anything else he wanted to sell. He took me into a side room, and there sat the stomp shear and the Rotex punch. He commented that that was the kind of stuff nobody would want, so he had not planned to sell them at the yard sale, but was going to scrap them! I managed to convince him to sell them to me, and let him set his price without influence. He picked $40 for the Rotex, and $25 for the shear. I had to push at him to take $100 by telling him to take his wife out that night. His only request was that I bring him a steel plate to crack walnuts on, as he had been using the table of the stomp shear to do this, and was worried about losing this ability. :eyecrazy:

I agreed to his terms and loaded out the goods. The next day, I devoted my time to making a small steel topped table for him to be able to crack his walnuts on, and delivered it to him. We were both happy....

wiz56 · Apr 17, 2011

I have one only slightly better than the turret punch. I have a manufacturing business and rent part of my building to another company.........anyways a few years ago I was driving by on a Sunday to check the building and I see something red sticking out of the renters dumpster. My wife was with me and I asked her what that looked like to her as we were passing by and she says.........we ain't dumpster diving today. Well you guys know what happened next. I threw it in reverse and went back to take a look, ten minutes later my old lady is fuming mad, driving my forklift and helping me pull a Big Red Snap On toolbox base cabinet out of the dumpster. The bottom drawer needed some new slides, and the drawer had a little kink in it from when they threw it in the dumpster but hey I have a KR series box with the big chrome Eagle on the front of it for little of nothing.

Oh and I also have a Weideman turret punch I bought some years ago that needs some help that I am willing to sell for $750.00 but it has a broken ear next to the handle. Don't have the piece that broke off but some of you guys seem to be handy on here so fabricating the missing ear shouldn't be a problem. If you are interested...........I'll take some pictures

OccupantRJ · Apr 17, 2011

wiz56 said:
I have one only slightly better than the turret punch. I have a manufacturing business and rent part of my building to another company.........anyways a few years ago I was driving by on a Sunday to check the building and I see something red sticking out of the renters dumpster. My wife was with me and I asked her what that looked like to her as we were passing by and she says.........we ain't dumpster diving today. Well you guys know what happened next. I threw it in reverse and went back to take a look, ten minutes later my old lady is fuming mad, driving my forklift and helping me pull a Big Red Snap On toolbox base cabinet out of the dumpster. The bottom drawer needed some new slides, and the drawer had a little kink in it from when they threw it in the dumpster but hey I have a KR series box with the big chrome Eagle on the front of it for little of nothing.

Oh and I also have a Weideman turret punch I bought some years ago that needs some help that I am willing to sell for $750.00 but it has a broken ear next to the handle. Don't have the piece that broke off but some of you guys seem to be handy on here so fabricating the missing ear shouldn't be a problem. If you are interested...........I'll take some pictures

Free tool boxes are good, too!

bimmer1980 · Apr 18, 2011

NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there has been one listed over here on craigslist for about $2000. I can't quite work up the motivation at that price....

$40...dang, I wouldn't have been able to get the money out of my pocket fast enough....

Alchymist · Apr 18, 2011

Probably the only other odd tool for sheet metal like that punch thats handy is a corner notcher. With a small shear, box brake, punch and notcher a sheet metal shop is pretty well set up.

UncleJoe · Apr 18, 2011

RJ......You ****!!!!!!!!

Nice punch you have there.

willy3486 · Apr 18, 2011

Thats a nice piece. From time to time I have seen good deals at yard sales. I work on electronics and when I was getting started I stopped at a yard sale. It was an old man selling out his stuff. He had been a Electrical tech. I bought all kinds of stuff,tools and parts. Then about 7 years or so I stopped at a yard sale down the road from me. The guy worked in Nashville but had this house about 1 1/2 hours away. He had retired and had both places fully stocked. He had all kinds of stuff, cutoff saw for 40,hand tools, and even a powermatic table saw that needed a motor for 60 bucks. I wish now I bought the tablesaw. I had one just like it but I could have put 200 in it and doubled my money. Yard sales,flea markets, and junk stores have been where I find the best deals. Auctions seem to always go higher than I want to bid so I never go to them.

OccupantRJ · Apr 18, 2011

Alchymist said:
Probably the only other odd tool for sheet metal like that punch thats handy is a corner notcher. With a small shear, box brake, punch and notcher a sheet metal shop is pretty well set up.

I've had a couple of near misses on a corner notcher. The next one is mine.

cnc-me · Apr 20, 2011

First off, YOU ****!

Thats one sweet punch you got.
That would really be slick for doing small electrical panels.
Does it have a 1-7/32 size? for 30mm pushbuttons.
I use a 7/8" hole for 22 mm pushbuttons, I'm sure it has that.
Looks like you could use it like an arbor press also.
I got a project coming up where I would like punch holes for a standard
20 amp duplex outlet. I think the dies would be to expensive for a one
shot job like that (only four duplexes or 8 holes total).
Glad you got to those machines before they were scrapped.
Hate to see good equipment like that, end up in a scrap pile.

tinbender 66 · Apr 20, 2011

That's the best deal(s) I've ever seen! I've been a sheet metal worker all my life and I've used the Rotex a lot. If I could find one for $1000. I'd be happy. Your a lucky sob

OccupantRJ · Apr 20, 2011

cnc-me said:
First off, YOU ****!
Thats one sweet punch you got.
That would really be slick for doing small electrical panels.
Does it have a 1-7/32 size? for 30mm pushbuttons.
I use a 7/8" hole for 22 mm pushbuttons, I'm sure it has that.
Looks like you could use it like an arbor press also.
I got a project coming up where I would like punch holes for a standard
20 amp duplex outlet. I think the dies would be to expensive for a one
shot job like that (only four duplexes or 8 holes total).
Glad you got to those machines before they were scrapped.
Hate to see good equipment like that, end up in a scrap pile.

Why not CNC mill out the openings? I also made a male pilot to do several thousand D shaped holes for a power cord strain relief on a hand operated pantograph engraver a few years back. I used a small end mill in the collet, and sized the male pilot tracer for the end mill diameter.

danski0224 · Apr 20, 2011

That's an awful big piece of tooling for punching jigsaw starter holes.

I'll give ya $80 for it.

OccupantRJ · Apr 20, 2011

danski0224 said:
That's an awful big piece of tooling for punching jigsaw starter holes.

I'll give ya $80 for it.

Oh, how thoughtful of you...... :lol_hitti

I might have ridden in on the turnip truck, but I rode in the cab!

I'm invoking my signature line on this one.

cnc-me · Apr 20, 2011

OccupantRJ said:
Why not CNC mill out the openings? I also made a male pilot to do several thousand D shaped holes for a power cord strain relief on a hand operated pantograph engraver a few years back. I used a small end mill in the collet, and sized the male pilot tracer for the end mill diameter.

No CNC mill.

Could do it on the CNC router, would have to be aluminum though, and a
very small end mill, and most likely some hand filing.
Maybe I will just buy some covers instead.

isb cornbinder · Dec 3, 2018

You got an almost unbelievable buy on your ROTEX. I paid $1300 cdn. When I consider what a new ROTEX costs, I got a very good deal and you should be ashamed. LOL. Congratulations.

Keyblazer · Dec 3, 2018

Awesome.

strength_and_power · Dec 3, 2018

That looks super useful. Nice score.
I saw several CNC punches with CNC tables at Fabtech, man those things just rocked right along.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OccupantRJ · Dec 4, 2018

Restoring it at the moment.

OccupantRJ · Dec 24, 2018

I got the Rotex refurbed and painted it with some of my Kangaroo green. I went through the rotating heads and cleaned up all the crud that had accumulated through the years. This unit had also been in a 5 foot flood for several days. The locating alphabet letters were always a little weak looking to me, so I restamped all of them. It just so happened that I had a set the same size and font as the factory used.

3 Gun Shooter · Dec 27, 2018

A long time ago I used to work for Rotex Punch. They were in San Leandro, on the side street from Peterson Tractor. I did a lot of their design work and set up their screw machines and chuckers.

rsanter · Dec 27, 2018

I bought an iron worker at a yard sale several years back.
Would have never guessed I would fine one at a yard sale

OccupantRJ · Dec 27, 2018

3 Gun Shooter said:
A long time ago I used to work for Rotex Punch. They were in San Leandro, on the side street from Peterson Tractor. I did a lot of their design work and set up their screw machines and chuckers.

I saw in print somewhere that the lower dies were drilled .012 off center for individual alignment purposes. Are you up on that info? I can see the offset in some of mine.

3 Gun Shooter · Jan 2, 2019

OccupantRJ said:
I saw in print somewhere that the lower dies were drilled .012 off center for individual alignment purposes. Are you up on that info? I can see the offset in some of mine.

They were 'drilled' off center slightly that way they could be tweaked for easier operation and cleaner hole.

dkmc · Jan 2, 2019

Just stumbled on this with the recent bump up.
RJ.....Wow! What a score on the Rotex, and nice job on the rebuild!
I scored a Niagara 30" jump shear some years ago for $50, so I "sorta" know
the feeling. I guess I gotta start checking out garage and yard sales more.

OccupantRJ · Jan 18, 2019

Some additional info on Rotex turret punches.

https://www.sterlingmachinery.com/media/brochures1/file/rotex-turret-punches-brochure.pdf

911TES · Apr 5, 2020

I’ve been looking for a good, clean Rotex for a year, or so and haven’t been able to find one. A lot if beat-up ones for sale, but I’d like one in very good to excellent condition.

90roadster · Apr 5, 2020

I passed up one of these recently at auction for under $500 all in with fees. Still kicking myself for it !

911TES · Apr 28, 2020

I found one and it’s been delivered. I’m in the process of getting it all cleaned-up. I’m pretty happy with it and will post some pics.

danski0224 · Apr 29, 2020

Must be excited... 3 posts in 9 years...

The Tool Tyrant · Apr 29, 2020

...and here I was so stoked when I found an 18A for a grand at a local sign company that was closing down after 80 years in business...damn RJ, $40...that's just wrong!
Very nice resto, she looks like new.

bigcreek · Feb 2, 2021

Wow $40 is amazing. I might have that beat however in a roundabout sort of way. A couple weeks ago I bought a lot at an auction that contained a Rotex punch and a circle shear for $400. I posted the circle shear on Craigslist at night for $700 and when I woke up the next morning I had a text on my phone of someone wanting it. We settled on $650. I am keeping the Rotex but a free Rotex plus a couple hundred profit. heck yes. Oh disclaimer though my Rotex is the 10 punch model not the 18 punch model so not as cool but still a nice deal.

Rotex punch: the hole story

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