Punch press

A punch press operable to feed a work in a forward direction, the punch press comprising:

• a die on which the work is mounted;
• a punch opposing the die;
• a support that supports the punch to be movable toward and away from the die;
• a shifting member including an opposing surface that opposes a basal end surface of the punch, wherein the shifting member is configured to be movable toward and away from the die together with the support and the punch and rotatable about an axis extending in a direction in which the shifting member moves toward and away from the die, wherein the shifting member includes a recess in the opposing surface into which the basal end surface of the punch is retracted;
• and
• a rotating mechanism that rotates the shifting member about the axis to shift the shifting member between an abutment position where the basal end surface of the punch is abut against the opposing surface and a retraction position where the basal end surface of the punch is retracted into the recess,
• wherein the rotating mechanism includes:
• a first gear arranged on the shifting member,
• a linear actuator configured to be movable back and forth in a tangential direction of a hypothetical circle of which a center is the axis, and
• a second gear arranged on the actuator and meshed with the first gear,
• the second gear is moved back and forth in the tangential direction by the actuator to rotate the shifting member, and
• wherein the shifting member is one of a plurality of shifting members, and
• the actuator solely rotates each of the shifting members, and
• wherein the actuator is inclined at a predetermined non-perpendicular inclination angle relative to the forward direction.