Alaso, a Lakeland, Fla.-based manufacturer of commercial chicken housing systems, was looking for a way to boost bending productivity without putting press brake operators in harm's way. It found its answer with an electric press brake with a built-in light curtain. The bending technology, while off-putting at first, is now embraced by even the most veteran of brake operators.

Coe Press Equipment, Sterling Heights, Mich., a manufacturer of coil handling and servo roll feed equipment, has appointed Hunter Coe to CEO. He succeeds his father and company founder, John Coe, who becomes chairman of the board. Hunter Coe joined the company in 2008 as part of the assembly team....

Tensile testing is used to determine material properties and the quality of incoming sheet. Despite the fact that it obtains properties only uniaxially, this test has been widely adopted by the industry. Stress conditions in stamping, however, are not uniaxial. Because of the tensile test’s...

Hardness testing is appropriate for use with tool and die components, where resistance to indentation can help judge one of the potential component failure modes. In sheet metals, the failure condition is usually the beginning of a neck (also called a smile) generated in tensile conditions. When stamped sheet metal fails, it is usually unrelated to the degree to which it can handle a hard ball pressing into it.

In recent studies, dry-film lubricants have been shown to give better lubrication conditions compared to oil-based liquid lubricants. This factor, as well as savings in the amount of lubricant used, has helped increase the use of dry-film lubricants in the automotive industry for forming of aluminum and high-strength steel stamped parts.

Schuler recently welcomed Brigitte Zypries, the German federal minister of economics, to its Göppingen, Germany, location. During her visit, Zypries learned about the production of sheet metal for electromobility. The Smartline SA315S-2.7 press processes sheet from 0.008 to 0.04 in. thick,...

Bending simulation software brings prototyping into the virtual world; uncovers new tooling strategies and bend sequences for better production; and helps fabricators make more parts in less time.

Past columns have been devoted to magnesium’s physical and mechanical properties as they relate to the warm-forming process and tool design. It was found that low die corner and punch temperatures improve the limiting draw ratio (LDR), which is the ratio of the initial blank diameter to the punch...

Drawing can be defined as a forming process in which the flow of metal into a cavity or over a post is controlled. Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about deep drawing is that the metal is stretched into the part geometry. While it’s true that a lot of the parts (including automobile...

To reduce vehicle weight while improving performance cost effectively, automakers are integrating high-strength steels (HSS) into their manufacturing strategy. As a result, HSS is the fastest-growing light-weight material used in the automotive industry. This remarkable growth is attributed to...

One of the most important things to keep in mind when designing a progressive die is how the metal will feed through it. All too often the process for making the part is adequate,but the die’s ability to feed metal accurately and smoothly from station to station is very poor. This poor feeding...

Springback, which is the elastic recovery of the non uniformly distributed stresses in a deformed part after the forming load is removed, is one of the most critical issues in sheet metal forming. Springback causes geometric changes in the final shape of the part, so it is very important,...

Bystronic has developed an automated and flexible bending cell that the company thinks can help fabricators keep up with their fiber laser cutting machines.

Splitting, wrinkling, and surface defects are common problems in drawing, a process in which metal flows into a die cavity. Often these problems result from incorrect performance of the draw reduction process. A draw reduction is a multistep process in which the surface area of the original blank...