Manufacturing – Progressive Metal Stamping

Fourté’s capabilities include precision metal stamping. We design and make high tolerance precision progressive dies. These complex stamping dies are used on straight side punch presses. Fourté’s New Product Introduction (NPI) and Engineering staff has years of experience in designing, building, and implementing complex progressive dies. We work with you to understand your goals and create your strip layout.

Progressive stamping is a metalworking method that can encompass punching, coining, bending and several other ways of modifying metal raw material, combined with an automatic feeding system.

The feeding system pushes a strip of metal (as it unrolls from a coil) through all of the stations of a progressive stamping die. Each station performs one or more operations until a finished part is made. The final station is a cutoff operation, which separates the finished part from the carrying web. The carrying web, along with metal that is punched away in previous operations, is treated as scrap metal.

The progressive stamping die is placed into a reciprocating stamping press. As the press moves up, the top die moves with it, which allows the material to feed. When the press moves down, the die closes and performs the stamping operation. With each stroke of the press, a completed part is removed from the die.

Since additional work is done in each “station” of the die, it is important that the strip be advanced very precisely so that it aligns within a few thousandths of an inch as it moves from station to station. Bullet shaped or conical tooling “pilots” enter previously pierced round holes in the strip to assure this alignment since the feeding mechanism usually cannot provide the necessary precision in feed length.

The dies are most often made of tool steel to withstand the high shock loading involved in stamping, retain the necessary sharp cutting edges, and resist the abrasive forces.

Progressive Stamping Produced Examples
• Connector pins and sockets
• EMI Shields
• Contacts
• Small enclosures
• Latches or slides

Suitable Materials
• Stainless steel
• Cold rolled steel
• Beryllium
• Silver Nickel
• Electro-galvanized
• Aluminum

Advantages
• High production rates
• Very high, repeatable tolerances
• Fast process, with 80-120 parts per minute

Accuracy and Repeatability of process
• Repeatable process
• Accuracy— function of the tooling, setup, and the condition of the dies.