Basic Die Making

This article is intended to introduce basic tool making knowledge to beginner toolmakers, die
maintenance technicians and press technicians. We will first define what is a stamping die and
difference type of stamping dies exists in the market. Step by step introduce die component and it
function and application. It will also discuss some terminologies use in the stamping industries such
as cutting, forming, lancing, ironing operations etc.

What Is a Stamping Die?

Basically, Stamping operation is a cold-forming operation, which mean that, it runs under room
temperature and no heat was introduced to the entire operation intentionally. However, heat is still
generated from friction during the punching process. As such, proper lubricant needs to be applied
during the stamping operation to reduce heat and wear rate of die members.
A stamping die is usually consists of a serious of precision punches and dies that cuts and forms
sheet metal into a desired shape or profile within a specified dimension zone. The die members
(punch and die) are typically made from special types of hardened tool steel. In some cases, die
members are made of special material called carbide to prolong tool life and enable it to runs in much
higher speed. ( 800- 1,500 spm in some cases)

A typical die set design can be seen on Figure 1.

Name of Tooling components:1. Top Die shoe
2. Top thrust plate
3. Punch holder plate or punch plate
4. Punch
5. Stripper backing plate ( some tools without this plate)
6. Stripper plate
7. Die plate
8. Die backing plate
9. Lower Die shoe
10. Guide pillar and bush

The part that the Die produced is called a piece part (see
Figure 2). Usually, a Die can produces 1 part per cycle
( Stroke ) but some Dies can produces more than one
piece part per cycle and runs as fast as 1500 strokes per
minute with close tolerances up to +/- 0.05mm ( 0.0019
inch ).

Types of stamping Die.

There are many kinds of stamping dies exist in the market, all of which perform a few basic
operations, either cutting, forming, bending, drawing or all of them. The Die can be runs manually
( manual loading and unloading of piece part ) or automatically. The automatic Die we called a
Progressive Die. Which consists of many operations within a Die.

Cutting operation
Cutting operation is perhaps the most common operation
performed in a stamping die. The component to be cut is
placing in between the punch and die. Desired shape and
form is cut after two members bypass each other. Usually,
the Die is bigger than the punch to allow smooth enter of
the punch. The sizes difference between the punch and die
are called the cutting clearance.
Cutting clearances change with respect to the type of
cutting operation being performed, the metal's properties,
and the desired edge condition of the piece part. The cutting clearance often is expressed as a
percentage of the metal's thickness. Different clearances applied to different material thickness and
different type of material to be punched. The most common cutting clearance used is about 5 percent
per side of the metal's thickness. In general, the harder the material the bigger the cutting clearance
will be applied.
Example 1. . A steel sheet of 1mm thickness ( 0.0393 inch ). Cutting clearance 5%.
Cutting clearance = 1mm ( 0.0393 inch ) x 0.05 = 0.05mm per side ( 0.00196 inch )
Example 2. A Brass sheet of 1 mm thickness ( 0.0393 inch ). Cutting clearance = 4%
Cutting clearance = 1mm ( 0.0393 inch ) x 0.04 = 0.04mm per side ( 0.0015748 inch )
High punching force is needed to perform the cutting operation. In general, the punching force can be
calculated as follow:F=AXS
Cutting force = Area ( Perimeter of shape to be cut x thickness of material ) x Shear strength of
material
Note : Shear strength = 80% of the tensile strength.