Deep Drawing Press Guide
Deep drawing presses are some of the most popular metal forming machines available to manufacturers the method involves the use of metal dies to form hollow sheets of metal into the desired shape. To be more precise, the metal forming process may be called deep drawing if the produced object's depth is equal to or greater than its radius. The method of deep drawing starts with blanks of metal. The manufacturing of parts or items with deeper shapes is typically supported by single blanks. These metal blanks are often mounted on a spool, which enables the efficient forming of metal. The metal bubble of the drawing press is defined by the pressure of the metal die at each stage of the deep drawing process.The Deep Drawing Press explained
Rigid tools consist of a punch, a die, and a binder. In a deep drawing press, the plate holder closes after inserting the sheet blank. The sheet is then clamped between the die and the binder of the deep drawing press. The punch stretches the sheet over the die radius and forms it in the die. In this way, the amount of punch force needed to form is continuously increased up to the bottom punch dead center. While pure deep drawing presses do not reduce the thickness of the sheet, forming is achieved in stretch forming solely by reducing the thickness of the sheet. Stretch forming is widely used to form only slightly curved parts with a low draw depth.
When drawing complex body parts, a combination of stretching and deep drawing is usually used in practice. The sheet must be stretched by the deep drawing press and, if possible, without going beyond the material boundaries. There are approximately 300 to 400 sheet metal parts that fit together to form the body of a car. To produce high-quality sheet metal parts optimally for their specific application, specialized software simulates the entire deep drawing press.
Advantages of a Deep Drawing Presses
Hydraulic Deep Drawing Presses are particularly advantageous for high volume production as the unit cost drops significantly as the number of units increases: once the tools and dies are formed, the process can continue with very little downtime or maintenance. Tool building costs for a deep drawing press are lower compared to similar manufacturing processes such as progressive stamping, even in smaller quantities; in these situations, deep drawing can also prove to be the most cost-effective production solution.
Typically, there are many different ways to perform a specific metal production with a hydraulic deep drawing press. You can do a lot with stamping or shearing, press brake bending, and welding, but a deep drawing press has many advantages, let’s take a closer look at some of them.
Speed
No other process can match the speed of the up and down impingement press. This is usually the most efficient method when you need a large number of parts.
Reduced Assembly Steps
Deep drawing creates shapes with closed ends. This avoids cutting and welding of multiple components.
Hassle-free Results
Deep drawn can or tube shape has no joints. This makes deep drawing the ideal process for anything that needs to be watertight or gas-tight.
Increased Accuracy
The parts coming off the forming press are extremely repeatable. Assuming the tooling is done correctly, they will also be very consistent with the drawing.
Complex Shapes
We've talked about simple shapes like cans and sinks here, but drawing deep can create more complex forms. What about the engine sump or complex filter housings? No problem!
Strong Parts
Many metals harden when deformed. Their crystal structure allows some movement but otherwise gets blocked. Deep drawing causes large distortions in the metal which can result in very hard finished parts.
Final Remarks
In deep drawing applications, hydraulic presses provide exceptional flexibility. They also offer programming versatility that can be used to optimize them for each specific application for maximum productivity and finished product integrity. If you want to process cylindrical objects, a deep drawing press is most likely the best choice. A circular metal blank can be easily drawn into a circular 3D object with one pull factor, minimizing both production time and cost. One example of a popular application of this method is the production of aluminum cans.
However, deep drawing presses are of course not a universal solution for complex sheet metal parts. Tooling is costly and setup can be time-consuming, so it is better suited for large quantities and long series. However, in some cases, this is more than compensated for by the resulting simplification of parts and the benefits in terms of strength and performance.
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