Designers and manufacturers of progressive or stage tooling are faced with a project involving production of metal stampings that will be post-processed with painting, powder coating, or plating operations.

Hydraulic clamps are used in place of manual or toggle clamps to hold the workpiece or tool in place during stamping. This article examines the four steps that comprise the selection and installation of a hydraulic workholding system: cylinder selection, cylinder force and stroke, power source selection, and system connection.

Learn how Gauthier Industries, a stamper and powder coater, organized its powder coating operation into control points to help regulate quality and efficiency as parts move through the finishing process. Areas discussed include pretreatment, the paint booth, inspection, and tips for efficiency.

Cost often is a deciding factor when you purchase a grinder. However, the saying "you get what you pay for" can be true when you're talking about tools. The price tag alone doesn't always reflect some of the more important factors--performance level, cost to operate, and tool life--that make a grinder worth its cost.

Recent changes in tooling technologies, material specifications, part quality requirements, and inventory levels have driven the demand for new developments in the way a mechanical press operates. This article discusses how link motion and bridge-frame structures help stampers. This includes a description of what link motion is and how it works, and how bridge frame presses affect frame deflection.

This article explains why it's useful to monitor press tonnage, the types of tonnage monitors available, the choices for mounting load sensors, calibrating a monitor, and options available for tonnage monitors.