Going to be making some gates in the near future from 25mm x1.5mm round tube. I need to drill the ends for galvanising and flatten for welding to the uprights. I made a small batch before by flattening drilling on the pillar drill then flattening the ends in the vice. A very time consuming process.
I will be making a larger batch in future of potentially 30 of them, so 8 bars a gate times two ends means 480 to drill and flatten. I'm wondering if it's possible to make something to do this faster? I'm aware of punch and die sets for flattening and punching the flat bit but that's not what I want. I need the hole to be in the bit that's still round so that the zinc can flow in and out.
Someone suggested turning down some hardened digger pins I have to 22 mm to make the inner former then using a puch of some sort with a lever to punch the hole through the round tube. Is it feasible to do that?
I will be making a larger batch in future of potentially 30 of them, so 8 bars a gate times two ends means 480 to drill and flatten. I'm wondering if it's possible to make something to do this faster? I'm aware of punch and die sets for flattening and punching the flat bit but that's not what I want. I need the hole to be in the bit that's still round so that the zinc can flow in and out.
Someone suggested turning down some hardened digger pins I have to 22 mm to make the inner former then using a puch of some sort with a lever to punch the hole through the round tube. Is it feasible to do that?