Astro Pneumatic Tool 605PT ONYX Pistol Grip Punch/ Flange Tool with 5.5mm Punch

An amazing tool for the price, I am starting up a small custom fabrication shop and have found this tool to be strong well built and very functional. It will punch out holes for 3/16" rivets quick and easy, it will also make flanges fast and perfect. Amazing results if you are tig welding 2 pieces of sheet metal together. You can pretty much weld it with out a filler or (autogenoursly) but with light use of filler metal a almost inzizable seam is achieved. Highly recommended! Don't by a local discount hardware stores unit. I tried prior to this the harbor and northern on. They were both straight units. The pistol version is much nicer to work with using 1 finger to operate vs more further it has the power to do the job right the first time and finally does not leak. This tool is just what you would expect from a snap on truck. I will be buying more air tools from this brand shortly. That says something.

Makes a nice, even butt flange for thin sheet metal. Very easy to weld and have smooth joint.

Used this to make patch panel repairs on the 18 gauge sheet metal on my 68 Camaro. Comfortable to use. The head swivels/rotates. Worked great with my small CA Air Tools compressor and a 25ft long 3/8" air line. A sheet metal flange is so much stronger, easier to weld, and fitment-forgiving than butt welding. Highly recommend this tool.

Good product, solidly made, does the job. However, one downside found. When I unscrewed it to separate halves divided by the red gasket (red on the product picture, white in the tool I've got), the inner surface of the pneumatic cylinder was rough as a nail file from the lathe machining. I polished it easily with the 1200 grit sandpaper, removed a dust with white spirit on a rag, oiled and screwed together. I believe that the rubber ring of the piston will serve much longer after this. If you wish to do the same, put the tool on black jaws with the back end up for unscrewing, this will prevent the hydraulic oil from spilling. Pour some oil into the hole up to its edges before assembling to achieve a maximum jaws' travel.

Worked perfectly.

This tool is great! Punches holes and bends the lip of sheet metal with smooth ease. Glad I added it to my metal working tools.

Great product very heavy duty, highly recommended.

Clamp and anvil alignment is poor and ends up leaving a dimple on the flange side a big scuff on the other when used on 0.040 aluminum. 0.032 galv. steel didn't show scuff but still had a pretty visible dimple at the corner of each hit. Works great if you aren't worried about looks but would be unacceptable for a professional ductwork job where the flange is visible. Punch works great. Mine had very fine aluminum swarf in both the pneumatic housing (24 and 25 on parts diagram) and hydraulic section (12 and 19 on parts diagram). Oil was glossy gray looking at the fill plug before first use. Drained oil, completely disassembled, gave a few squirts of carb cleaner, lightly oiled, reassembled, and refilled tool in about 20 mins. Oil at fill plug didn't show any gray particles after about 2 hours of hard use (8 hr shift) so it must have been dirty from the factory and not from wear in. Quiet, comfortable, powerful, and solid feeling. Would be 5 out of 5 if it weren't for the misaligned jaws