Harbor Freight Air Punch/Flange Tool

[Flyer58]

I need to do a little work on car floor pans and a few spot welds on various sheet metal parts. This was recommended to me. Has anyone tried it?

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-pu...tool-1110.html

[HotRodTroy]

A friend of mine uses one on aluminum fly rod cases every day and he love it.

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[Beeker]

I need to do a little work on car floor pans and a few spot welds on various sheet metal parts. This was recommended to me. Has anyone tried it?

https://www.harborfreight.com/air-pu...tool-1110.html

I have. We used them in an auto body class I attended last year and they work great.

It makes things much faster from pans to panels to patches. But one has to acknowledge that it creates that recessed lip (on back normally not visible) so things aren't perfectly flush both outside and inside; just the outside. I suppose someone could always grind it away on the backside after welds are done, but we never bothered with that.

So in exchange for an "invisible" lip, the ease of a drop-in patch, the thicker welding area, and the less time spent fiddling with butt welding clamps easily made the flange tool a preferred tool for our restorations/repairs.

I don't know if they even have the old style anymore but the new ones with the flange on one side and the punch on the other makes it perfect for plug welds and joining two sheets together.

[Flyer58]

Thanks! I called the local store today and they're holding one for me. These floor pans are in a Jeep and will be undecoated and sealed over so the seam won't be that visible.

[filetobeef]

got one yesterday .works fine but trigger plunger was leaking until i cycled it a dozen or so times.
also,the oring on the oil screw was damaged.

[MinnesotaDave]

I used one just like it on this Ford.
Pretty sure I got it at HF years ago, works perfect.

https://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthrea...irs&highlight=

[Beeker]

I used one just like it on this Ford.
Pretty sure I got it at HF years ago, works perfect.

https://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthrea...irs&highlight=

Great job on that thread! Yeah, I would NOT want to drill all those holes, the punch works much, MUCH faster.

[Flyer58]

got one yesterday .works fine but trigger plunger was leaking until i cycled it a dozen or so times.
also,the oring on the oil screw was damaged.

Well heck, Based on what you experienced I took mine out of the box and found oil around the filler plug. My O-ring was damaged too. I filled it and tried it to see if it leaked and had lots of oil come out with each cycle. I sent an email to HF Customer Service saying this may be a problem since these are two new ones have bad O-rings.

One the good side I tried it on some 18ga sheet metal and it works very well. I expected more of a bang when punching holes but it was very smooth and quiet. I like it.

Thanks all!

[MinnesotaDave]

Great job on that thread! Yeah, I would NOT want to drill all those holes, the punch works much, MUCH faster.

Thanks, that floor was a mess to be sure. Much better now.

Well heck, Based on what you experienced I took mine out of the box and found oil around the filler plug. My O-ring was damaged too. I filled it and tried it to see if it leaked and had lots of oil come out with each cycle. I sent an email to HF Customer Service saying this may be a problem since these are two new ones have bad O-rings.

One the good side I tried it on some 18ga sheet metal and it works very well. I expected more of a bang when punching holes but it was very smooth and quiet. I like it.

Thanks all!

I'm sure you'll be happy with it. They work well for what they are intended to do.

[filetobeef]

yes,easy to use and very smooth on both the punch and flanging action.

[Flyer58]

I swapped it out today after checking o-ring on the new tool at the store. Tried it out at home and it works great. I add to the Mechanic's Park section as I do the floor pans

[Flyer58]

Well I finally got a reply from HF customer service and they said no o-rings are available and return it to the store. Glad I already did and now the one I have one that works very well. Still happy.