Need help finding a punch press that will press out this type of notch in aluminum rail. See Pics.

[Joemarina]

Does he really need a die inside the tube? In the pics it sure looks like the tube is deformed down a bit at the ends of the slot, to me saying there was no die inside the tube. Just a sharp punch will shear the long edges (both of them) using the side of the tube itself as a "die" with a little dishing going across to the other side? Besides, where would the inside die go, the slot is right up to the tube edge.

There is a bit of deforming, that would be ok. I guess that would happen over time on the die. Any ideas on where to source a punch for this?

 

[rcoope]

I would seriously investigate laser tube cutting. Even doing a few parts it might be quite competitive. We just did a project with five each of six different tube parts, each part coming from a different aluminum square tube size, and it was way less to laser cut them than machine them as we did the previous round. Are there any other features on the extrusions you need to make, like holes or special shapes on the ends? Then laser will get even more competitive.

 

[surplusjohn]

Rcoop. That is interesting. Annother argument for not punching with your own punch press is that you can advoid the safety compliance issues of owning a press.