Stamping Die

What is a Stamping Die Cutting

What Are the Two Basic Operations of Stamping Dies

 

Forming

 

Forming operations using stamping dies involve reshaping flat sheet metal or other materials into desired three-dimensional shapes or profiles. Some operations include: bending, drawing, embossing, coining, flanging, hemming, stretching, and curling.
Bending operations using stamping dies involve folding the material. Bends can be simple/straight, curved/formed, and multi-step for complex forms. Deep or shallow drawing is a forming operation that involves stretching and shaping a flat sheet of material into a shallow or deep 3D shape. Embossing involves creating raised or sunken designs, patterns, or logos on the surface of the material. The die set has male and female dies with the desired design, and the material is pressed between them. Coining is a precision forming operation used to create extremely tight tolerances, smooth surfaces, and sharp edges on the material. Flanging operations involve forming a continuous raised or downturned edge on the perimeter of a workpiece. Hemming is a process of folding and bending the edge of a workpiece back onto itself, for rigidity or cosmetic reasons. Stretching is similar to shallow drawing, involving pressing ridges into sheet material to add stiffness. Curling is used to create curled or rolled edges on a workpiece. This technique is employed in the production of items like: cans, tubes, and barrels.
Each of these forming operations requires a die set with unique features. It also requires precise control over parameters such as: material thickness, punch and die clearances, and lubrication to achieve the desired results.

 Cutting

 

Cutting operations using stamping dies involve the removal of specific shapes or sections from a sheet. These operations are crucial for producing precise parts and components with clean edges. Cutting operations include: blanking, piercing, notching, trimming, shearing, lancing, slitting, and perforating.

Blanking is a cutting operation that removes a flat piece, or blank, from the sheet. The stamping die consists of a flat-faced punch and a die. Piercing involves creating holes or openings in the material using a punch and die set. The punch often has an angled face that makes the cut slightly progressive from a point.  Notching operations cut small, V-shaped, or U-shaped notches in the material. This is often used for creating tabs or slots that facilitate assembly and is again performed with an angle-faced punch. Trimming is the process of removing excess material from the edges of a workpiece to achieve the final desired shape. Shearing operations cut the material along a straight line to separate it into smaller sections. Lancing involves creating a partial cut or notch in the material, used for creating tabs or hinges in components like lids or covers. Slitting is a cutting operation that involves making long, straight cuts in the material to create narrower strips or coils. This is often performed by a powered roller shear but can be a cyclic linear blade process. Perforating operations create a pattern of small holes or perforations in the material and represent a subvariant of piercing.

What does a set of stamping dies to include

Let's see the composition components of a set of stamping die. They are generally called stamping die components.

Punches and Dies Components
Punches and dies are the core of the stamping dies. So they are core stamping die components. Punches and dies are used together in a complete set.

Let's look at the punches. The die punches are also called cutting punches or pierce punches. As it is wearing part, the harder, it will be durable for use. Punches can be made in stainless steel, High-speed steel(HSS), or tungsten carbide. Most of the standard punches are in stainless steel or HSS, If there are some custom-made punches, they usually have higher hardness requirements, the materials at least are HSS or carbide.

The carbide metal stamping punches are not easy to cut and machine. They can be machined by EDM technology or grinding technology. Customers can choose different machining methods according to their precision and surface roughness requirements.

The dies also can be called die inserts or die bushes according to their shapes. They usually have holes that matched the punch shapes.

Guide pins and Bushing Components
Guide pins and bushings are guide components in the metal stamping dies and tools.
Guide Pins are also called guide posts or pillars. Guide bushings are hollow cylinders. Guide pin and guide bushing is a set of components used together to ensure the precise locating of the upper die plate and lower die plate.
Guide components are the same as other stamping die components that need to be made with more hardened materials than normal. As they are also wearing parts in stamping dies.

Relevant Plate and Block Components
They are various plates and blocks stamping die components. The Main are the upper die shoe and lower die shoe (or called punch holder and die holder). And there are also a series of relevant plates and blocks, they have many different sayings, Stripper plates, bumper blocks, backing plates, distance blocks, balance blocks, heel blocks, heel plates, etc.

Compression Spring Components
The compression springs or called die springs are essential stamping die components. They create the ideal pressure for restraining the stamping sheet material in a fixed position while it is being pierced, formed, bent, or trimmed.

The die springs also provide certain return pressure for the die stripper to permit the punches and other die-mounted tools to withdraw the material during the press's return stroke.
There are different sizes choices according to the stamping dies' dimensions.

Fastening Components
Screws, Bolts, dowels, and keys are small stamping die components used for fastening and fixture functions. They are common but also essential. They can ensure each die component is in relative positions correctly.

Other Electronic Components
The electronic components For example, electronic part senor films, misfeed sensors. They are also stamping die components, but not mechanical parts, which can not be machined by CNC methods. There are professional electronic parts manufacturers that can do this. We will not discuss more about it.