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A centre punch plays an important part in precise and clean drilling. Available with round or square heads, each punch point features an accurately ground angle of between 60-90 degrees to ensure optimum precision.

Cromwell stocks a wide variety of marking tools for metalworking, including high-quality centre punches from well-known brands, such as Eclipse Blue®, Facom® and our own brand, Kennedy®.

What is a centre punch?

A centre punch is a metal bar with a hardened conical end. It's used to make an indentation to mark the centre of a hole to guide a drill bit for accurate drilling.

Why a centre punch?

For drilling in metal, a centre punch ensures safety and accuracy. The indentation it makes in a workpiece creates, not only a visible reference point but also guides and stabilises the drill bit to prevent slipping, which may cause injury and damage to the workpiece.

When are centre punches used?

Used widely for metalwork, a centre punch makes an indent that acts as a starter hole for drilling. There are many other punches used in this line of work, such as a pin punch, a starting punch and an aligning punch. All are used for metal marking, but only the centre punch and dot punch are designed for drilling tasks.

Centre punch types

There are three different types of centre punches, which are used depending on the type of task.

• Centre punch   -   Used with a hammer to mark indentations with the endpoint.

• Spring-loaded punch   -   Used by hand, the spring releases energy to impact the steel point and mark the workpiece.

• Dot punch   -   A smaller version of the centre punch, a dot punch marks holes for visibility in a workpiece or creates a precision indent for drilling.

FAQs

What's the difference between a round and square-headed centre punch?

Both do the same job however some experts believe that a square-headed centre punch provides a larger striking zone and prevents the punch from rolling off.

What is a centre punch made of?

The materials used to make a centre punch depends on the brand. A lot of centre punches are made from mild steel with a hardened tip, others can be made from chrome-vanadium steel. Obviously, the type of material used will reflect in the price, so we advise you to look around and be mindful of the type of quality you're looking for.