If you want to produce a component or any other item of metal, the options are varied. Manufacturers can turn to electro or electroless plating. They can contract thin coating fabricators or consider powder coatings. One other option available in Boston, to name one American city in which this method is possible, offers another means through which the forming and shaping of components is also accomplished quickly and cost-effectively. This is metal stamping tooling, stamping or hard tooling.
Metal Tooling: Basic Processes
Metal stamping – also referred to as pressing, involves various metal forming processes. The processes involve such things as
- Bending
- Blanking
- Coining
- Drawing
- Embossing
- Forming
- Piercing
- Pressing
- Punching
In metal stamping tooling or hard tooling is called stamping.
What Is Hard Tooling?
All the operations performed during metal stamping requires dedicated or hard tooling. This differs from another method used in metal stamping – soft tooling. Soft tooling is more common with press brakes, turret presses, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) and laser profilers. Its name indicates it to be a process easily adjusted and modified without any difficulty. It is a process best for short runs – those not demanding a long tool life. Some Boston companies start with soft tooling until they have a need to produce volume work. They then turn to hard tooling.
Hard tooling is the opposite of soft tooling in several ways. It is for longer runs and producing high volumes runs of one specific design or configuration. In industries where parts need to be produced quickly and efficiently, hard tooling is a preferred method. Yet, it is not simply speed and long runs that hard tooling benefits. Hard tooling provides three desirable qualities:
- Superior dimensional precision
- Excellent level of accuracy evident in stainless steel and copper dies
- High degree of uniformity
Hard tooling does so not only in a single run but also through several successive production runs. It is not for beginners, as it often requires an expensive initial investment.
Metal Stamping Tooling – Hard Tooling
Metal stamping produces a multitude of components as well as panels. They are responsible for automotive and appliance components in Boston and elsewhere across the country. They produce significant pieces for computer technology industries e.g. computer chassis and cases, as well as those who manufacture electrical switches, connectors and boxes. If the parts require rapid, precise and uniform production, metal stamping tooling – hard tooling will take responsibility for the task and deliver.