PRESS TOOLS

PRESS:
A press is a sheet metal working tool with a stationary bed and a powered ram can be driven towards the
bed or away from the bed to apply force or required pressure for various metal forming operations.

TYPES:
ACCORDING TO THE POWER SOURCE:
 Manually Operated or Power Driven:
These presses are used to process thin sheet metal working operations where less pressure
or force is required. These are operated by manual power. Most of manually operated presses are
hand press, ball press or fly press.
 Power Presses:
Power presses are normally driven by mechanical mechanism or hydraulic system. Power
source of these presses may be electric motor or engine.

ACCORDING TO THE TYPE AND DESIGN OF FRAME:

 Inclinable Frame Press

 Gap Frame Press
 Straight Side Press
 Adjustable Bed Type Press
 Open End Press

ACCORDING TO THE POSITION OF FRAME:

 Inclinable Frame
 Vertical Frame
 Horizontal Frame

SPECIFICATIONS OF A PRESS:

 Maximum Force: Maximum force that its ram can exert on the workpiece, this is expressed in
tones and called tonnage. It varies from 5 to 4000 tonnes for mechanical press. It may be up to
50,000 tonnes by hydraulic press.
 Maximum Stroke Length: Maximum distance traveled by the ram from its top most position to
extreme down position. It is expressed in mm. the stroke length is adjustable so different values
that can be obtained between minimum and maximum of stroke length, these are also the part of
specifications.
 Die Space: Total (maximum) surface area, along with (b  d), of bed, base, ram base. This the area
in which dies can be maintained.
 Shut Height: Total opening between the ram and base when ram is at its extreme down position.
This is the minimum height of the processed workpiece.
 Press Adjustments: Different stroke lengths. Different tonnage that can be set as per the
requirement.
  Ram Speed: It is expressed as number of strokes per minute. Generally it can be 5 to 5000 strokes
per minute.

PROGRESSIVE DIES:
Perform two or more operations simultaneously in a single stroke of a punch press, so that a complete
component is obtained for each stroke.
COMPOUND DIES:
All the necessary operations are carried out at a single station, in a single stroke of the ram. To do more
than one set of operations, a compound die consists of the necessary sets of punches and dies.
COMBINATION DIES:
A combination die is same as that of a compound die with the main difference that here non‐cutting
operations such as bending and forming are also included as part of the operation.
SINGLE ACTION DIE:
A single action press has one reciprocation slide that carries the tool for the metal forming operation. The
press has a fixed bed. It is the most widely used press for operations like blanking, coining, embossing,
and drawing.
DOUBLE ACTION DIE:
A double action press has two slides moving in the same direction against a fixed bed. It is more suitable
for drawing operations, especially deep drawing, than single action press. For this reason, its two slides
are generally referred to as outer blank holder slide and the inner draw slide. The blank holder slide is a
hollow rectangle, while the inner slide is a solid rectangle that reciprocates within the blank holder. The
blank holder slide has a shorter stroke and dwells at the bottom end of its stroke, before the punch
mounted on the inner slide touches the workpiece. In this way, practically the complete capacity of the
press is available for drawing operation.

Another advantage of double action press is that the four corners of the blank holder are individually
adjustable. This permits the application of non-uniform forces on the work if needed.

A double action press is widely used for deep drawing operations and irregular shaped stampings.

DIE OPERATIONS:
PARTING:
It signifies that scrap is removed between the two pieces to part them.
CURLING:
The curling operation is used to roll the material into a curved shape. A door hinge is an example of a part
created by a curling die.
NIBBLING:
It is an operation of cutting any shape from sheet metal without special tools. It is done on a nibbling
machine.
SLITTING:
Moving rollers trace out complex paths during cutting (like a can opener).
PERFORATING:
Multiple holes which are very small and close together are cut in flat work material.
NOTCHING:
Metal pieces are cut from the edge of a sheet, strip or blank.

TRIMMING:
It is the operation of cutting away excess metal in a flange or flash from a piece.
LANCING:
It makes a cut part way across a strip.
FORMING:
It is a metal working process in which the shape of the punch and the die is directly reproduced in the
metal with little or no metal flow.

EMBOSSING:
It is a process through which blanks of sheet metal are stretched to shape under pressure by means of a
punch and a die. Punch operates at a low speed to allow time for proper stretching. The operation gives a
stiffening effect to the metal being embossed. Stress in the material may be reduced by producing deep
parallel ridges. A large number of ornamental wares, such as plates in sheet metal are produced. A simple
form of this process, called open embossing, consists of producing simple shallow shapes by the punch
only.
COINING:
It is similar to forming with the main difference being that a coining die may form completely different
features on either face of the blank, these features being transferred from the face of the punch or die
respectively. The coining die and punch flow the metal by squeezing the blank within a confined area,
instead of bending the blank
BLANKING:
It means cutting a whole piece from sheet metal just enough scrap is left all around the opening to assure
that the punch has metal to cut along its entire edge. The piece detached from the strip is known as blank
and is led for further operations. The remaining metal strip is scrap. Blanking is nearly almost the first
operation and may be the only one necessary or it may be followed successively by many others. Blanking
is often combined with other operations in one tool, all the work being performed at one stroke of the
press.
PUNCHING:
It is the operation of producing circular holes on a sheet metal by a punch and die. The material punched
out is removed as waste. Piercing, on the other hand, is the process of producing holes of any desired
shape.
CLEARANCE (VIMP)
Die opening must be larger than punch and known as ‘clearance’.
PUNCHING
Punch = size of hole
Die = punch size +2 clearance
Remember: In punching punch is correct size.
BLANKING
Die = size of product
Punch = Die size ‐2 clearance
Remember: In blanking die size will be correct.

The clearance may also be determined with following equation

C = 0.0032t√τ
Where τ is the shear streanth of the material in N/mm2
The total clearance between punch and die size will be twice these ‘C’ i.e 2C
Clearance in %:
If the allowance for the material is a = 0.075 given then
C = 0.075 x thickness of the sheet
If clearance is 10 % given then
C = 0.01 x thickness of the sheet
Shear on Punch:
 To reduce shearing force, shear is ground on the face of the die or punch.
 It distributes the cutting action over a period of time.
 Shear only reduces the maximum force to be applied but total work done remains same.

STRIPPER:

The stripper removes the stock from the punch after a piercing or blanking operation.
Ps = KLt
Where Ps = stripping force, kN
L = perimeter of cut, mm
t = stock thickness, mm
K = stripping constant,
Pressure Pads
Pressure pads are plates which grip the workpiece very tightly at the ends when it plastically flows
between the punch and the die. This tight griping eliminates the chances of wrinkling in the process of
metal forming. The pressure pads do a type of ironing on the sheet metal workpiece.

KNOCKOUT:
Knockout is a mechanism, usually connected to and operated by the press ram, for freeing a work piece
from a die.

DRAWING:
The drawing operation is very similar to the forming operation except that the drawing operation
undergoes severe plastic deformation and the material of the part extends around the sides. A metal cup
with a detailed feature at the bottom is an example of the difference between formed and drawn. The
bottom of the cup was formed while the sides were drawn.

WIRE DRAWING:
 A cold working process to obtain wires from rods of bigger diameters through a die.
 Same process as bar drawing except that it involves smaller-diameter material.
 At the start of wire drawing, the end of the rod or wire to be drawn is pointed (by swaging
etc.) so that it freely enters the die orifice and sticks out behind the die.
BENDING:
Bending operation makes the longitudinal axis of the stock in two or more places. This operation is done
after the stock has been edged and edged so that the stock is brought into a proper relation with the
shape of the finishing impression.