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DESCRIPTION: A computer controlled sheet metal punching machine that is easy to use, versatile, accurate, safe and very, very affordable. A department or small business could easily pay for the punch on the very first job.

USERS: Electronics engineers, fab shops, artists, machine builders, model makers.

VERSATILE: Make a huge variety of functional and decorative items. Functional--9 sizes of EIA 19" rack panels, chassis, buss bars, shields, grills, instrument panels, sprockets, templates, brackets, spacers, gaskets, racks, etc. Decorative--vents, lighting pieces, signs, stencils, frames, weather vanes, trivets, etc.

CAPACITY: The PB188 moves 18" in X and 8" in Y, but bigger pieces are accommodated with additional effort. Punch to the center of a 16" deep sheet by flipping over. Strips or bars more than 18" long can be moved and reclamped. Punches and dies for holes up to 1/2" are available, but any size or shape of hole or outside contour are easily made by nibbling with a small punch. Copper, aluminum, and fiberglass 1/8" thick and steel to 11 gauge are reasonable, but don't expect to punch the largest size hole in the hardest, thickest material.

ACCURATE: General sheet metal work is expected to be within .005". The BP188 is 10 times more accurate. Preloaded ball bearing slides and special belts take care of slop and backlash. Once programmed, unskilled operators make perfect prototype parts or identical production parts. The BP188 eliminates using oversize drills and rat tail files to make mating parts line up. Parts fit--exactly.

SAFE: No flying chips, smoke or coolant. No compressed air, low voltage wiring. No rotating spindle to grab clothing. Parts or tools cannot be flung across the room.

TOOLS: Punches and dies are inexpensive and easily sharpened by hand. A complete set of all possible tools is not needed. Many parts are produced with 1 or 2 punches. A small selection of round and square punches can make any size or shape hole or conture by making overlapping holes with a small punch.

REQUIREMENTS: Needs just a 110 Volt outlet, Windows XP computer and a table to set it on.

EASE: Use a Windows CAD/CAM program (like BobCAD for mechanical and Artcam for artistic work). Import designs in various file formats or create your own drawings. Use commands like mirror, rotate, repeat, scale, to construct complex geometry with only grade school math. The CAD/CAM package then generates a list of hole locations. It becomes routine to punch thousands of holes, each to an accuracy of 1/1000 of an inch. You would not consider doing this by hand.