When you’re working with electronic components, there’s a good chance you’ll use precision metal stamping to form some of them. Here’s a closer look at some of the benefits this metal-forming method offers.
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One of the advantages of using precision metal stamping for your fabrication needs is that the market is in a growth phase. Moreover, electronics are among the products driving that positive change.
A market analysis from Grandview Research indicated that the global metal stamping market would likely achieve a 4.7% compound annual growth rate from to . The researchers also clarified that the consumer electronics market was a primary driver of that change.
They noted that parts such as mobile antennas are often crafted with metal stamping. Additionally, the analysts mentioned that the Asia-Pacific region would see high growth during the forecast period. That was partially due to Apple shifting a significant percentage of its manufacturing to India a couple of years ago, they explained.
Additionally, the report discussed how electronics manufacturers use metal stamping for some internal parts, including the frames for smartphones and speakers. This market growth should mean that people who need these manufacturing services have plenty of choices as they look for reputable providers. Additionally, some clients may find they can use the same providers for internal and external electronic components.
Electronics manufacturers need dependable and scalable options for making what are often tiny, delicate parts. Precision metal stamping offers those advantages and others. Many electronic components have very small error tolerances. Stamping can provide the accuracy and repeatability needed for successful production runs of these parts.
Metal stamping is often a part of the creation of printed circuit boards (PCBs), too. The process breaks down into two main stages. Fabrication relates to all aspects of the component’s design. Then, the assembly stage is when all the components get mounted to the board’s surface. There are usually multiple designs considered during the early phases. That’s especially likely with more complex PCBs. At this time, the design team will weigh numerous options, which could include whether to use metal stamping.
Another aspect of metal stamping’s reliability is that it has centuries of history behind it. The first stamping machine for sheet metal received its patent in , although people used it for making things like pans and dishes.
Metal stamping is now a well-established option in the electronics sector, so people can feel confident it will meet or surpass their expectations. That’s crucial when making electronic components that are as intricate as PCBs and many of the other parts in today’s high-tech products.
3D printing has substantially broadened options for making electronic parts more efficiently. It’s also an economical way to create small batches of components, such as for prototyping. However, manufacturers can also bring 3D printing into the stamping process.
In one example, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory used 3D printing to make a hot-stamping die. The development team found the die would work for up to 25,000 usage cycles and confirmed that aspect made it suitable for industrial applications. The team mentioned that most dies are currently imported to the United States, but this method would allow more domestic production. Moreover, this method gave them the flexibility to use multiple materials in a single die.
People have also explored how to automate and accelerate precision metal stamping. The ability to increase output is a notable advantage for manufacturers creating things that are in as high demand as electronic components. One option is to use a high-speed stamping press. In the electronics industry, those machines typically achieve 500-1,200 strokes per minute.
However, some stamping facilities also use robots to boost output further. Matt Jurczyszyn, the vice president at KUKA Robotics, discussed some of the things that make his company’s stamping clients pursue robotics. “The biggest challenge for stampers continues to be getting the maximum output of lines,” Jurczyszyn said. “This requires fast, linear, and stable part transfer from press to press – with high availability and low maintenance time.” His company has an automated solution for tool changes.
Metal stamping works with a wide range of materials, including aluminium alloys and stainless steel. That versatility makes it a good choice when people need to make electronic components for advanced products.
In one example, a metal stamper made custom busbars for the transportation sector, including some electric vehicle models. These components transmit energy from battery packs to other parts of a car, ranging from sunroofs to sensors.
Kurt Meissner is the sales manager for key accounts at Kenmode, which handled the contract. As he explained, “Every busbar design is different from one battery to the next because of fit and function. We work with our customers’ engineers to find the most economical way to produce the busbars needed.”
Meissner continued, “One recent project for an electric vehicle required 13 new tool designs for the metal-stamped busbars, which were sourced and built quickly by our in-house tool design team to a very successful and on-time launch.”
People also use various metal stamping options when creating electronic components for high-tech medical devices. Bob Denholtz is the president of DureX Inc., a registered contract metal manufacturer that specializes in medical equipment and devices. He discussed a client who needed a metal card cage enclosure for a circuit board.
Representatives at DureX Inc. suggested that the client use progressive die stamping once the volume requirements got high enough to justify it. This hard-tooling method gradually adds new features to complete the part. This method is an efficient option for high-volume stamping. Previously, the client paid $125 per card cage.
Denholtz said of the project, “When volume rose to 1,000 parts a week, we reduced the cost to $55 per cage by switching to multiple staged tools. Although the hard tooling cost was substantial – about $350,000 – the OEM achieved [return on investment] in only five to six weeks.”
Today’s electronics component manufacturers are under increasing pressure to deliver parts quickly that meet exact specifications. This overview shows why precision metal stamping can work well for those requirements and others. Even so, people should carefully examine the parameters of their individual projects that require metal forming and evaluate whether metal stamping is the most appropriate option.
When you need a high volume of parts quickly and made to exact specifications, you probably require the accuracy and speed of precision metal stamping. Not every project will benefit from this process, but for those that do, the advantages are many. Is precision stamping the best choice for your project? The answer depends on multiple factors, including your time, costs and whether you need various changes in the parts during production.
Precision metal stamping streamlines the process of metal stamping to create a mostly automated method of forming metal tools or parts. The exact measurements of the finished products set precision stamping apart from other metal fabrication methods.
The technique of precision stamping most benefits the operations of microstamping. In this process, the smaller parts created require even greater precision than needed for making more substantial pieces. A single millimeter of distance in error could affect the integrity of a microstamped part. Accuracy is not just necessary but a requirement for manufacturing such small items.
Though precision stamping offers greater quality and control of the final products, it may not be the best choice for every engineering project. Like all metal fabrication methods, precision stamping has both advantages and disadvantages.
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Precision stamping, which may include progressive die stamping and single-step processes, offers several benefits, particularly for high-volume projects.
While precision technology enables the creation of the smallest, most detailed parts with accuracy that ensures their quality, years after production, not every project will see benefits from using precision stamping. This process has a few disadvantages in specific cases that may make other metal fabrication options a better choice.
The only disadvantages with precision stamping are for those who need individual, customized parts, such as prototypes. The process of creating the required parts has initial costs for running simulations and tests. For some precision stamping processes, these startup costs may outweigh the cost of the production run. Depending on the pieces required, you may wait longer for precision stamping and have problems making changes during the run.
These problems disappear with microstamped parts. The use of thinner metal and the process to make smaller parts makes it easier for stampers to put out microstamped parts more quickly and to make changes to them on the fly.
Precision metal stamping starts with a mouse rather than the metal. By making a prototype first, an engineer can see how the metal will act when bent or cut into specific patterns. However, even before crafting a model, engineers turn to software to build a virtual version in the computer.
The stamping process has multiple press options and methods of tooling. Press choices depend on the operation — manual or hydraulic.
While the press is one part of the equipment, the other consists of the dies used. The machine exerts the force needed for the stamping while the die customizes how that force affects the shape of the metal. Some dies cut while others shape.
Presses may do one task or many, depending on their design. Multi-die presses reduce the production rate, cutting costs on large-volume projects. Combining the machinery with the dies needed while integrating the plan from the computer make up the tasks the engineers working on your project must do to increase efficiency, reduce costs and ensure accurate production.
The metal used for stamping starts as flat sheet metal or coiled metal. Metals are ideal due to their durability and ease of use. To attain the level of precision needed with the equipment available, most metals used have soft or medium hardness levels.
The choice of metal often depends on the qualities needed. Because stamping often happens to room temperature metals, the natural attributes of the raw material remain in the finished part. Conductivity, strength, shine and other qualities make certain metals more desirable for projects.
For progressive projects, the parts may have a shared sheet that moves between presses. This sheet holds the unfinished parts together until they complete the process. In the end, the finished parts may need trimming from the shared sheet, but some processes can omit the need for this sheet or create a design to greatly reduce the amount of waste.
To ensure quality, most precision stamping projects begin with computer modeling. The computer can simulate how the metal will react to the stamping process to see if the design needs changes before production begins. This virtual design step sends the plans directly to the machinery, saving time and preventing human errors.
The process used for precision stamping depends on the complexity. Some projects require multiple operations on each part. Process names come from the number of activities and the level of automation for the stamping procedure:
While undergoing one of the above tooling methods, parts may have one of the five most common stamping procedures done to them:
Engineers may add other procedures to the above, depending on the intricacies of the product. More complex parts may need multiple steps and several different dies to finish. Added complexity may increase time or cost. For questions on your project, talk to your precision stamping partner throughout the project.
Following completion of the parts, some stampers will also assemble base units. Though this preassembly does not include a complete circuit board or engine, it can save time during the main assembly, reducing the time from production to shipping. In the business world where time is money, assembly services as a component of precision stamping can make a dramatic difference in cost savings and production efficiency.
Precision stamping projects have more applications than standard stamping because these parts have more accuracy in their creation. Greater accuracy benefits microstamped parts that have smaller tolerances for creation errors than more substantial pieces. For microstamping, minimum diameters of the components can be as tiny as 0.002 inches.
Intricate metal stamping is another variation on precision stamping. Unlike some projects that have simple shapes, elaborate projects may require multiple steps in the process to produce. Engine parts, gears, electronics and more that have complex creation processes benefit from more automated, multi-step progressive stamping options.
Applications for metal stamping that require high levels of precision include electronics parts in consumer goods as well as vital components of military equipment and more.
To partner with a stamping company, you need to invest your time and budget well. With some companies lacking the quality equipment or experience required, you could find your project stopping before it finishes. Knowing what to look for in a precision stamping partner will ensure your project meets or exceeds your expectations.
When selecting any company to partner with you for engineering parts, you need to know you can trust the experience of the company. The newest companies have not established reputations for their work, and older businesses may have glowing reviews from long ago but no recent ones. You need to consider how a company has performed both over time and recently. A history of superior performance is only one part of the factors you should consider when choosing a company for your stamping project.
Long tenure in metal manufacturing is not enough. The company must also show growth during that time, adopting innovative technologies to improve operations continually. Technology must help solve problems the company has encountered in the past, not used solely for the sake of innovation. For instance, DIE-TECH adopted a new tool and technology method called NewT, which cut turnaround time to four weeks for metal stamping projects. Projects deemed impossible by others only take a little longer than four weeks to complete and deliver with this method.
Catering to the customer’s needs should be a core value for any company, but this aim is especially crucial for companies that create custom metal stamped parts. Some businesses will turn away projects because they cannot complete them. Even worse are the companies that accept difficult precision stamping projects and fail to finish them as required. Such businesses only seek monetary gain rather than working to help their customers. A quality metal stamping company should do everything possible to reduce their customer’s costs without compromising quality.
When it comes to crafting quality stamped parts, our company, DIE-TECH has had experience since . We accept projects turned down or failed by other businesses. Our techniques and tools are top-notch, creating the precision your project needs, whether large or small. To continue our reputation as leaders in the industry, we approach every project with a three-pronged method:
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