Die cut for stack of postcards?

[Jessica Kaufman]

Hi all,

I have the little tie-dye/batik studio in the back of the building, and have purchased a stack of 1000 postcards that each need a 3/4" - 1" (ish) hole punched through the top. The printer I'm using doesn't have a diecut machine, and I'm trying to find something in town that can basically drill a hole or cut a hole through this stack. 

Ideas? Point me in a direction? All help appreciated!

Jessica

[Steve Altemeier]

We have a drill press in the space, but I think that would give you very ragged edges.  Other than that, we have a laser cutter, but I think that would be a bad solution just due to the amount of time and manual work that would be required to cut a thousand cards.

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[Avi Silverman]

I had those same thoughts.

You could get a hammer punch tool - something like this: https://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-1271M-Arch-Punch/dp/B00004T7WH It would still be a lot of manual labor, but I imagine you could do a handful at a time. Probably still not ideal though, and might not cut so we'll.

A Dremel might work to cut a hole without leaving the edges too raggedy, since it spins so fast. As an aside, we should get one of those Dremel presses for our Dremel tool.

[ChaBuku Alex Bakke]

I wonder how many postcards we could get through with the laser at a time. I could set up a template for a whole bunch of stacks then make circles in each stack and set it to run. 

How well placed do the holes need to be? 

On Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 1:41:57 PM UTC-4, Steve Altemeier wrote:

We have a drill press in the space, but I think that would give you very ragged edges.  Other than that, we have a laser cutter, but I think that would be a bad solution just due to the amount of time and manual work that would be required to cut a thousand cards.

On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 1:01 PM, Jessica Kaufman <waxon...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

I have the little tie-dye/batik studio in the back of the building, and have purchased a stack of 1000 postcards that each need a 3/4" - 1" (ish) hole punched through the top. The printer I'm using doesn't have a diecut machine, and I'm trying to find something in town that can basically drill a hole or cut a hole through this stack. 

Ideas? Point me in a direction? All help appreciated!

Jessica

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[Zak Smolen]

I think that the thicker the stacks get the more issues you would have with kerfing and beam intensity. Maybe a few (3 or 4) wouldn't be bad but that would still mean you can only do about 40 or so at a time.

I have done some work with power tools and stacks of paper before when trying to make a hollowed out book safe. I think drilling may be possible, with a few precautions:
- Sharpen the drill bit. I actually have a little jig for that favorited on thingiverse
- Clamp the paper very tight. The less movement of the paper, and space between the paper, the cleaner the cut will be.
- Crank up the drill speed. I think the drill press may be enough, but if not one of the hand power drills may cut it.
- Pre-drilling may help. It might give a cleaner hole if you pre-drill a smaller hole.

I think we could take a small stack of scrap card stock or something similar and see what sorts of results we can get.

Also... nobody has mentioned the ~3 ton hydraulic press we have currently in the space.

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[ChaBuku Alex Bakke]

Curious about ideas on how to do this with the hydraulic press! 

Could clamp a fat stack of postcards between two thin boards to keep them flat for cleaner cuts and then drill out the whole stack in the drill press.

[Zak Smolen]

Yes, I was thinking that for drilling, pre-drill holes in two boards. That way the clamp pressure would be distributed across the whole card, which should prevent marking them from clamps ad such, and hold them better.

Not exactly sure with the press. I assume we would still have to do it in batches, but would probably make a jig and then just try to drive a circular cutter through a stack of them. Just thinking that if 6000 lbs can cleanly cut copper sheets, it could probabvly drive a punch through a stack of paper.

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[Avi Silverman]

Paper is soft though... Ever tried cutting paper with tin snips? I could be wrong though.

I think a jig for the drill press and really sharpening the bit is a good idea. If they're in standard type of plastic wrapping like regular note cards are, that could possibly work. I would think that you would want the bit spinning faster though, so drill (like Zak said) or Dremel it. If they don't have to be exact then manually with a steady hand could work.

[John Hay]

I have a 1-1/16" dia hole punch (took me a while to find it). It can go through cereal boxes and heavy card stock. You might be able to do 2 post cards at a time.

John Hay

www.JohnnyHay.com

[Zak Smolen]

500 iterations at 20-30 seconds each ~= 3-4 hours of punching, Just sayin... :)

[John Hay]

More like 2 seconds per x 1000 postcards = 34 minutes. Plus the added benefit of portability. The hole punch fits in the palm of the hand and can be operated with a thumb. You can do it while watching TV or at a bar while drinking. And you can share the work load with friends.

John Hay

Sent from mobile 🚫⚓

[Zak Smolen]

Haha for some reason I imagined that you were talking about an actual punch (like hammer driven) and not just a hole punch, hence my estimated time for lining everything up. Yeh, even going slow for neatness it shouldn't take more than a few seconds for each one with a hole punch. Just a little carpal tunnel and a netflix show or two.

[John Hay]

Yeah this is a scrapbooking hole punch designed to cut paper and cardstock.

John Hay

Sent from mobile 🚫⚓

[John Hay]

John Hay

Sent from mobile 🚫⚓

[Sondra Dorn]

Hey Jessica, try the UPS store on Merrimon. I know they have a cutting machine to cut cards down.
Sondra

[Sondra Dorn]

Not that previous comments aren't great ideas! :-)

[Tim Swihart, Sr.]

Once the lens gets changed, they could be laser cut.  A jig would let them be done in batches.  Each hole should take about 3 seconds (based on having just cut 100+ 1.25" diameter wooden "coins" on a different laser a week or so ago).  A simple jig would make alignment quick/easy.  Might even be able to cut stacks of 2 or 3 at a time cleanly to speed it up even more.

How could the "correct" answer not include using some cool new technology?  :-)

[Bob Sinclair]

Coming in to this discussion rather late. Sorry; horses....

The disc cutters I demo'd for the press have a flat cutting face that essentially pops the entire disk out at the same time. In my hands this hasn't worked well for more than a couple of sheets of index cards. I think if you look at a standard paper punch the cutting face is profiled so that one or more points slice the paper and the rest of it cuts like scissors. 

I think the following will work though, although how rigorous the setup needs to be would remain to be seen. I would take 2 pieces of plywood larger than the cardstock and create a clamp using bolts -- may need some sort of guide to position the cards inside the clamp. Then use the drill press (or the mill) with a (new!) forstner bit at a slow speed. These bits slice the edge before they chew out the middle so I think you will get a clean result as long as the clamp holds the cards secure.

Forstner bits are usually expensive, but the Leicester pawn shop has bins full of them quite cheap (can't talk to the quality or durability though!)