Turret punch

A turret punch or turret press is a type of punch press used for metal forming by punching.

Punching, and press work in general, is a process well suited to mass production. However the initial tooling costs, of both the machine and the job-specific press tool, are high. This limits punch work from being used for much small-volume and prototype work. A turret punch is one way of addressing this cost. The tooling of a turret punch uses a large number of standard punch tools: holes of varying sizes, straight edges, commonly-used notches or mounting holes. By using a large number of strokes, with several different tools in turn, a turret press may make a wide variety of parts without having to first make a specialised press tool for that task. This saves both time and money, allowing rapid prototyping or for low volume production to start without tooling delays.