Patent ID: 7174821

Claim:
A die assembly for cutting a desired pattern from a sheet material, the assembly comprising: a) a cutting knife configured to define the perimeter of a shape; b) at least one brace extending between portions of the cutting knife on opposed sides of the perimeter, the brace having a punch aperture, c) a punch secured to the brace and positioned within the perimeter of the cutting knife, the punch comprising: i) a hollow cutting nose having a leading end with a cutting edge for cutting a material to be punched and a trailing end opposite the leading end; ii) a shaft extending from the trailing end of the nose and passing through an aperture in the brace; iii) an upper retainer joined to the shaft and having an upper retainer surface abutting an upper surface of the brace; iv) a lower retainer joined to the shaft and having a lower retainer surface abutting a lower surface of the brace; and v) an internal waste evacuation chute extending through the hollow cutting nose and through the shaft for evacuating plugs of punched material from the nose.