Started working in a slightly different steel working environment and have a few new tools. Have a few punch presses at my disposal and I did a quick search on limitations according to tonnage.

The simplest rule of thumb is for every 10 metric tons, you can punch through a shear area of 275 mm^2 – that’s thickness times punch perimeter.

So now I have a rule of thumb when to use the 10,20 or 40 ton press….

I gleaned the info from this site https://www.machinemfg.com/punching-tonnage-calculation/   Thanks for that.

Another rule of thumb there is punch clearance should be about 15% of material thickness. And you need 50% more force for stainless. So figure 180 mm^2 of area per 10 ton.