How to dismantle an old Whitney #20 punch?

I picked up a #20 Whitney punch in sorry condition and was wondering if anyone had ever dismantled one before.

I found the original instructions and this is a 'pre' 1968 one without a removable ball race sleeve.

As found, the punch spindle has a bit of wobble to it when raised but not enough wobble that when punching, the punch ever touches the die. #1 Does anyone know if this wobble is normal?

I also want to inspect the ball bearings and clean the races. There are 3 set screw that hold the internal 'stop collar' on at the top of the punch body but after removing the screws, the collar doesn't budge. #2 Has anyone removed the collar and does it pull out, twist out or what?

As I don't have a sharp die or punch for this machine I can't really test it. With a rusted punch die set, its motion seems smooth but I want to inspect/clean to see if I can get it smoother before I invest in new punch/dies.

Thanks!

I have one, bought new from Roper Whitney about 15 years ago. They still sell punches and dies and I think the prices are reasonable.

Mine has wobbled a bit from Day 1, but, as you observed, it finds center before the punch reaches the die. I've not had any problems with it, nor tried to correct it.

Can't help with the second question, never tried to disassemble the thing.

Do you have the ratchet handle? I think they're also still available. I don't know how you can get up to 20 tons of force without it, and I'm not skinny either. Worthwhile accessory.

My criticisms of the punch are: 1) the provision for stripping is inadequate for small pieces, and 2) no place on the body to easily mount positioning guides or length stops. But it does punch holes!

I also just picked up a pre 1968 one and am trying to get it apart and cant figure out how to remove the stop collar. I have the set screws out but the collar seems stuck. Did you get yours apart yet?

I had a #12 apart a while back. It's similar, most likely.

If I recall correctly, I just backed out the ballscrew and the various parts came out. No special force required.

It's been a while, so I might have that wrong.

Yes, thats what this one should look like as well. I gave up on mine and lubed it as best as I could. That collar just would not come out, I tried unscrewing the main shaft with the long handle on it and it wouldnt budge, I didnt try it as hard as I could though as I was afraid something would break. Soaked it overnight with Kroil as well as tried a little heat too.

I'm the OP. I still can't get the stop collar out of my Whitney 20 punch, very frustrating. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears (or eyes).

When I got the punch I did get the ratchet handle with it but it's broken (doesn't ratchet) and it's huge (must be for a Whitney 40 punch)

I know this is an older thread, but I just had a similar issue and thought I'd throw up my experience:
I've had an older No20 apart and that went fine. In the older design, the ball race is machined directly into the casting. There are 3 set screws around the top of the casting that hold a retaining collar that looks identical between the old and new punches. In that older punch all I did was douse everything in kroil, remove the 3 screws, and wiggle around with a pick till I got the retaining collar to pop up slightly I could then get access to the set-screw dimples with the pick and get it the rest of the way up. In retrospect holding the punch upside-down would probably have helped.

Since then I picked up a newer model punch on ebay (with feet on the casting) that's been a whole other can of worms. The newer style punches have the ball mechanism in a cartridge that's threaded into the casting with normal v-threads. The casting then has 2 set-screws that prevent it from rotating when you use the punch. The ball race and 'guts' of the cartridge look identical to the inside of the old style punch, including the 3 set screws holding in a retaining collar for the balls. In this newer punch I had ZERO luck getting the collar out intact. When I picked this punch up it had some sandy grit in the ball-race jamming it up. It looked like the previous owner had started with some punches to try and get the retaining collar to spin loose, because there were clear punch marks on the rim of the collar. I tried all the tricks: Kroil, Heat, punches, and the combinations of the above. In the end I grabbed a set of cold chisels and carefully chiseled out the part. The cartridge body is made of HARD steel: the grub screws that hold it in the main casting leave no mark at all, and I know I've had them cranked down stupidly tight while I was doing the chiseling. The upshot is that I managed not to put any marks on the cartridge while chiseling out the softer retaining collar. The ball screw gets in the way of chiseling around 2/3 of the perimeter. I chiseled out as much as I could get to in between the 2 set-screw holes where the screw wasn't in the way. I got the edge of my chiseling right up to the edge of the set-screw holes. Then I put a punch through the set-screw hole and pushed in the collar to open up a gap for the chisels to bite. At some point I got the ring to spin a little, so I used the chisels to rotate the ring and present more metal for the chisels. Eventually I got 20% of the thing to come out in a chunk. At that point I figured the rest would pull out, but no-dice. I had to keep spinning the thing using chisels and punches, and chisel out 1/2in chunks to get the thing out.

I've got no idea if the previous owner jammed it up trying to punch the collar loose, but I'm speculating that whitney has been machining these with tighter tolerances on the newer punches, and if you over-tighten the 3 set-screws, the collar warps slightly and binds up in the hole. If the punch is working fine, this shouldn't be an issue, but man is it a PITA if you need to get in there.

As of this posting Roper Whitney appears to have replacement parts for these punches. Unless they are stupidly expensive I'll be purchasing one rather than fiddling with machining up a replacement. That said, one could probably be machined with a mill and a rotary table if one had an example part to work from.

Cheers

and as of today (July 25 2017) the collars are an in-stock part costing $34.
Part no is 730260085
Cheers