Press Tools

Press tool is a device by which the sheet metal can be converted into required shape by various press operations. It can also be defined as a device used for punching out sheet metal components from the stock strip by a device called press. Various cutting and non-cutting tools will be loaded between fixed table and moving ram of a press. The pressure when exerted from top and bottom sides by the press, the component is produced according to the punch and dies profiles in the tool. The component is produced from a press tool is applicable in different aspects like automobile parts.

For each automotive body panel, the sheet metal stamping process requires two distinct Types of equipment: the stamping press and a set of stamping dies. The set of stamping dies represents custom manufacturing equipment used to make specific product geometry. The stamping press represents flexible manufacturing equipment, capable of producing many different automotive body panels (hood, door, fender, etc.) simply by changing the stamping dies. Thus, a particular stamping press produces an individual panel in batches, making the setup of the dies critical to controlling the process mean.

Sheet metal panels require multiple die operations using either a single press or a series of presses in a press line. Stamping dies and presses have numerous input variables (tonnage, shut height, press parallelism, counterbalance pressure, nitrogen pressure in dies, press speed, etc.) that can influence stamping panel quality, especially during die setup. The resultant geometry of the sheet metal panels depends, in part, on these settings. Using the same press settings each time a particular die is set would help reduce long run variation in the associated panels. Unfortunately, the relationship of the numerous press settings and other process input factors (incoming material, blank size, etc.) on panel geometry is not well documented or understood by manufacturers. For example, many of the input variable settings use a single value for the entire panel. Individual panels, however, have multiple features in different areas that are not necessarily controlled by the same set of input variable settings. This situation limits the ability to bring the process back to the target value when SPC charts exhibit out-of-control conditions for certain features, especially if other features do not change .In addition, none of the process input variables possess a direct cause-and-effect relationship with a panel feature. For example, increasing the tonnage by some amount will not cause a predictable change in a panel feature, as it does in machining where adjusting the position of a cutting tool has a predictable impact on the process mean.