Punching vs. Drilling — Holes And How We Make Them

by David Spiel

A customer calls and says that he wants to buy a three-hole punch, but I tell him that he really does not. To avoid the risk of falling into an Abbott-and-Costello routine, I explain to him that a drill uses rotating drill bits to drill through paper and a punch uses reciprocating male and female dies to push through paper. A solid punch pin pushes paper through a female hole and the waste exits below. A drill cuts the paper while spinning and the waste is ejected up through its hollow shaft and exits through the top.