There are extremely efficient ways of making highly complex parts in massive quantities. Fine blanking is one such method. Fine Blanking and stamping processes provide extreme precision and unparalleled rigidity, allowing your crew to skip any post processing stages due to the incredible flatness and dimensional accuracy of the end product.
It is enormously satisfying to watch a hydraulic press clamp the material and punch the blank into your die. The process is completely mechanical and can go on all day, allowing you to faithfully produce thousands of pieces a day.
Fine blanking is not a common practice since it is kind of a niche operation. It is usually reserved for companies that work with clients that commission small yet extremely precise components by the thousands, such as the automotive industry. Regular stamping cannot reliably produce such a level of fine detail, let alone in massive quantities.
However, there is a catch. The die, the part that shapes and shears the piece, must be precisely machined out of steel that must have a hardness of at least 62 HRC to withstand the shaping and cutting forces of your press. Moreover, the die tends to wear over time so it needs to be replaced or refinished with extreme precision.
Every time you need to change or refurbish your die components, your crew needs to machine an exact match to the original. In most shops dedicated to fine blanking, this step is usually performed by hand chamfering, especially the leading edge.
As we know, hand finishing or chamfering is a time consuming process that can eat up the better of our day, keeping us from doing other more productive tasks. It can also be physically taxing too, increasing the risk of repetitive injuries.
One additional con is that hand chamfering introduces plenty of opportunities for human error and inconsistencies. It is not rare to have to stop production and be left out with a tall stack of scrap just because the die presented some inconsistency. If you find a piece that is off by even a few microns, you will probably have to scrap the whole batch.
This is why many of our friends working with fine blanking have switched to using chamfer end mills for modeling and cutting dies with high precision.
The use of carbide chamfer end mills drastically reduces the time it takes to refurbish a die. Repeatability is very important if you hope to produce thousands of pieces with the exact same dimensions by the hour.
There are also added benefits to using a three-axis CNC mill for fine blanking operations. The accuracy and precision provided by the CAM software allows for an incredibly wide range of geometries to create even more complex or detailed pieces and still retain increased repeatability.
The process takes some time to nail completely as there is not one standard chamfer end mill for machining high-precision dies. This makes choosing the right set of cutting tools an extremely important part of running an efficient operation.
The process of evaluating tools, and optimizing every parameter for taking full advantage of your cutting tools is extremely important, so you might need expert guidance based on hard data and years of experience in the field to find the right mills for the job. Online Carbide provides the absolute best carbide tools in the US for every kind of machining operation. Contact them today and find out more about their chamfer end mills and how they can take your fine blanking or stamping operation to the next level. They manufacture every tool here in the US, and offer unbeatable manufacturer direct prices.
