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Improving Performance of Progressive Dies Progressive die stamping is a cost-effective and safe method of producing components. Careful design and construction of dies will ensure optimum performance.8512
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A progressive die performs a series of fundamental sheet metal operations at two or more stations in the die during each press stroke. These simultaneous operations produce a part from a strip of material that moves through the die. Each working station performs one or more die operations, but the strip must move from the first station through each succeeding station to produce a complete part. Carriers, consisting of one or more strips of material left between the parts, provide movement of the parts from one die station to the next. These carrier strips are separated from the parts in the last die station.
There are six elements that should be addressed when designing and building a progressive die to maximize its performance:
Interpreting the part print,
Starting material into the die,
Part lifters and part feeding,
Flexible part carriers,
Upper pressure pads, and
Drawn shells.
Interpreting the Part Print
The first step in the proper design of a progressive die is to correctly analyze the part print. The tool designer must interpret the print to determine the function of the part by looking for such things as the type of material, critical surfaces, hole size and location, burr location, grain direction requirements, surface finish and other factors.
The die designer must understand the part well, particularly if it has irregular shapes and contours. However, modern computer-drawn prints make this more difficult because computer-drawn part data can be downloaded directly to the die-design computer. As a result, the designer may not become thoroughly familiar with important part features.
Also, many computer-drawn parts are more difficult to understand, because often, only one surface is shown and it may be the inside or outside surface. Computer drawings often show all lines, including hidden features, as solid lines instead of dotted lines. This leads to interpretation errors, which in turn leads to errors in the building of the die.
To better understand complex part shapes, it is helpful to build a "sight" model of the part using sheet wax, rubber skins or wood models. Dimensional accuracy is not critical for these models, as they are used primarily to visualize the part. Rubber skins and sheet wax also can be used to develop preform shapes and to develop the best positions for the part as it passes through each die operation in the progressive die.
Starting Material in the Die
Care must be taken to ensure that the strip is started correctly into the die. Improper location of the lead end of the strip will do more damage to the die in the first 10 strokes of the press than the next 100,000 strokes. "Lead-in" gauges must have large leads and a ledge to support the lead end of the coil strip when it is inserted into the die. Large leads on the gauges are important so that the die setup person does not have to reach into the die, as well as for minimizing the time required to start a new strip into the die. Also, one gauge should be adjustable to compensate for variation in strip width,.
The position of the lead edge of the strip is critical for the first press stroke, and must be determined for every die station to ensure that piercing punches do not cut partial holes in the lead edge. This could cause punch deflection or result in a partial cut with trimming punches, which can result in an unbalanced side load as the strip passes through the die. Any of these conditions can result in a shift of the punch-to-die relationship that may cause shearing of the punches.
Improper location of the lead edge of the strip also can result in an unbalanced forming or flanging condition that can shift the upper die in relation to the lower die. Heels should be required to absorb this side load, particularly when forming thick materials.