A Brief History of Stamping

Have you ever seen a stamping machine? They are some of the fastest and most precise machines in industrial factories.People might think they are a recent invention (since they look a bit as if they&#;ve just come from a Sci-Fi film) but, as you can imagine, humans have always been interested in pressing, stamping&#; and doing all sorts of things to metal!

Please visit our website for more information on this topic.

Let&#;s take a look to mythology: every pantheon of gods has their own blacksmith from Hephaestus &#; who forged Zeus&#; own armour! &#; to Wayland &#; a recurrent character in English legends. And why were they so well considered? Because metal is the source material of so many items&#; it makes your life easier, even if you&#;re a god!

Humans discovered gold, silver and copper during the Prehistory, because they are metals present in nature. They worked with them using force &#; that is, a big hammer. At some point they also learned more advanced techniques, such as smelting, melting, casting and riveting. But still everything was very noisy.

Then, the Iron Age came, and everyone was in love with &#; of course &#; iron, mainly because it was stronger and more resistant than bronze. However, working it was a bit of a pain because it needs a very high temperature &#; not like bronze. That&#;s why good quality steel was very rare until the 19th century!

During the Medieval Period, being a blacksmith was a very respectable profession, part of the so-called seven mechanical arts. They used charcoal in their forges resulting in the loss of a huge number of trees.This led to the use of coal as a fuel &#; which has the disadvantage of being contaminated with sulphur, impoverishing the quality of forged metal. Medieval blacksmiths spent a long time heating and hammering iron before forging it because they had noticed this brought better quality. The scientific explanation for this is that this method removes oxygen (which brings rust) and adds more carbon into the iron.

The Industrial Revolution brought a pretty cool invention which would change everything: the steam hammer! This machine could forge large steel and iron items. So, for the first time, stamping could be done at a large scale of production and with a relatively low cost.

The contemporary era put hydraulic and electric energy into the game. These new sources of energy make high levels of pressure possible, something that would have seemed a fantasy barely a century ago! Besides, the evolution of dies has enabled the stamping industry to create a varied catalogue of items. For instance, you can contact us and we&#;ll customize any of our products to accommodate it to the needs of your project!

And so, what&#;s the last step in the stamping history? Well, look at our new beauty, the Bruderer BSTA 500-110B, which is able to produce 1,100 stampings per minute&#;

At European Springs we like to think we&#;re helping create the future of stamping. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to discover more exciting news from the stamping industry!

European Springs

Power press with a fixed barrier guard Mechanical press

A stamping press is a metalworking machine tool used to shape or cut metal by deforming it with a die. A stamping press uses precision-made male and female dies to shape the final product. It is a modern-day counterpart to the hammer and anvil.

Components

[

edit

]

A press has a bolster plate, and a ram.[1] Presses come in various types of frame configurations, C-Frame where the front & left and right sides are open, straight-side, or H-Frame for stronger higher tonnage applications. It is very important to size the press and tonnage based on the type of applications, blanking, forming, progressive, or transfer. Strong consideration should be given to avoiding off-center load conditions to prevent premature wear to the press.

A 440 ton progressive die stamping press

Bolster Plate

[

edit

Aomate supply professional and honest service.

]

The bolster plate is mounted on top of the press bed and is a large block of metal upon which the bottom portion of a die is clamped; the bolster plate is stationary. Large presses (like the ones used in the automotive industry) may be equipped with die cushions integrated in the bolster plate to apply blank holder or counter draw forces. This is necessary when a single acting press is used for deep drawing. The ram / slide is the moving or reciprocating member that the upper die is mounted to. Ram or Slide guidance is a critical element to assure long die life between die maintenance. Different types of slide guides are available, 4 point V-Gibs or 6 point square gibs on smaller presses and 8 point full length slide guides on larger straight side frame presses. The dies and material are fed into the press between the bolster and slide. Good press designs must account for plastic deformation, otherwise known as deflection when frame design and loads are considered.[2]

Ram / Slide

[

edit

]

The vertical motion of the slide acts like a hammer to an anvil. The most common Mechanical Presses use an eccentric drive to move the press's ram slide, length of stroke or slide travel depends on the crankshaft or eccentric, whereas hydraulic cylinders are used in hydraulic presses. The nature of drive system determines the force progression during the ram's stroke. Mechanical presses have a full tonnage rating point above BDC / Bottom Dead Center, normal full tonnage rating points are .187", .25" & .5". Hence a mechanical press has a tonnage curve and should be operated within the press capacity limits. Link Motion mechanical is yet another option, this provides a slide slow down near BDC / bottom dead center for soft touch tooling. This link feature can improve die life and reduce reverse-snap thru tonnage for blanking operations.[3]

On the contrary, Hydraulic Presses do not have a tonnage curve and can produce full tonnage at any point in the stroke. The trade-off is speed, a mechanical press is much faster when compared to hydraulic. On the other hand, Hydraulic Presses are much more practical for deep forming or drawing or parts or when dwell time at the bottom is desired.

Another classification is single-acting presses versus double- (seldom triple) acting presses. Single-acting presses have one single ram. Double-acting presses have a subdivided ram, to manage, for example, blank holding (to avoid wrinkles) with one ram segment and the forming operation with the second ram segment.[4]

I-PRESS AB PLUS full featured safe press & automation controller

Other Components & Controls

[

edit

]

Typically, presses are electronically linked (with a programmable logic controller) to an automatic feeder which feeds metal raw material through the die. The raw material is fed into the automatic feeder after it has been unrolled from a coil and put through a straightener. A tonnage monitor may be provided to observe the amount of force used for each stroke. [5]

References

[

edit

]

The company is the world’s best high speed stamping machine supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.