Experiment No.

1
Blanking and Punching
Sheet Metal Working:
Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of
the fundamental forms used metalworking, and can be cut and bend into
a variety of different shapes. Typically sheets of metal are sold as flat,
rectangular sheets of standard size. If the sheets are thin and very long,
they may be in the form of rolls. Thicknesses can vary significantly,
although extremely thin thicknesses are considered foil or leaf, and
pieces thicker than 6mm are considered plate. Its low cost and good
formability, combined with sufficient strength for most product
applications, make it ideal as a starting material.

Punching:
Punching is a separating technique, mainly used to process holes into flat
materials like paper, plastic film or sheet metals. Normally, the punching
equipment consists of two tool parts – one support for the punches and
one for the dies. While the punches enter the dies, the material is being
shear cut. Punching is a forming process that uses a punch press to force
a tool, called a punch, through the work piece to create a hole via
shearing. Punching is mainly used to process round or profile holes into
flat material, but it is also suitable for applications where waste removal
can cause problems.

Fig:01
A scrap slug from the hole is deposited into the die in the process.
Depending on the material being punched this slug may be recycled and
reused or discarded. Punching is often the cheapest method for
creating holes in sheet materials in medium to high production
volumes. When a specially shaped punch is used to create multiple
usable parts from a sheet of material the process is known as blanking.
In metal forging applications the work is often punched while hot, and
this is called hot punching. Slugging is the operation of punching in
which punch is stopped as soon as the metal fracture is complete and
metal is not removed but held in hole.

Characteristics of Punching:

 Its ability to produce economical holes in both strip and sheet

metal during medium or high production processes.
 The ability to produce holes of varying shapes - quickly.
 Punches and dies are usually fabricated from conventional tool
steel or carbides
 It creates a burnished region roll-over, and die break on sidewall
of the resulting hole.
 It is a quick process

Important points:

 Punch Size < Die Size (Basic Requirement)

 Punch Size = Hole Size. (Needed)
 Clearance → Die.
 Shear → Punch

Over the last years, punching also became very important for the
processing of metal foils for technically sophisticating products, e.g. for
aerospace or electronics industry.

Fig:02
Blanking:
Blanking is a metal fabricating process, during which a metal workpiece
is removed from the primary metal strip or sheet when it is punched.
The material that is removed is the new metal workpiece or blank.
Blanking involves cutting of the sheet metal along a closed outline in a
single step to separate the piece from the surrounding stock. The part
that is cut of is the desired product in the operation and is called Blank.
When the force is applied by using the punch on to the sheet, the
cutting or shearing action will be taking place in the sheet producing a
piece/blank.

Fig:03
In blanking Operation, the die size is made equal to blank size and
clearance is provided only on the Punch and also in blanking, the shear is
provided only on the die.

Important Points:

 Die Size = blank Size.

 Clearance → Punch.
 Shear → Die

Characteristics:
 Its ability to produce economical metal workpieces in both strip
and sheet metal during medium or high production processes.
 The removal of the workpiece from the primary metal stock as a
punch enters a die.
  The production of a burnished and sheared section on the cut
edge.
 The production of burred edges.
 The control of the quality by the punch and die clearance.
 The ability to produce holes of varying shapes – quickly.

Types of Dies
The followings are the types of dies that are used in sheet metalworking

 Simple Die.
 Compound Die.
 Progressive Die.

Simple Die:
If only one operation is performed in one Stroke and at one Stage is
called as Simple Die.

Fig:04

Compound Die:
If more than one cutting operation is performed in one stroke and
at one stage called as Compound Die.

Example:

Washer is the example of compound die.

 Fig:05

Progressive Die:

In this, more than one cutting operation will be performed in one

stroke but at different stages and punched out sheet is progressing
from one stage to another stage for completing the punching
operations so that Blanking will be the last operation.

Fig:06