Demystifying Die Protection

Originally die protection was developed just to prevent damage to the tool and die during the operation of a stamping press. As sensor and controls technology knowledge has evolved and stampers knowledge of it has expanded, die protection technology has been expanded into other applications, such as increasing production rates and to perform quality assurance.

Technology is rapidly changing lives and how people live. Most days they leave the house and go to work without noticing that anything differs that day from the day before or even the week before. But every day the world changes. It may be gradual and subtle, but change is constant and unstoppable.

One of the best examples of this is the evolution of cell phones. These days everyone has a cell phone and many people have more than one.

The first hand-held phones on the market were bulky and had a short battery life. Service was restricted to major cities and highways. Cell phones evolved and now can be used as movie cameras, to access the Internet, send text messages, do daily planning, alert with alarms—and the list goes on and on.

The point is that as dependence on electronic technology increases, stampers must stay current and use the technology that is available.

Questions to Ask About Die Protection

In considering how technology may improve your operations, you may start by asking some questions. The first question to ask is, what is the industry standard? In other words, what is the competition doing? The answer is likely that they are using die protection.

The second question to ask might be, what can I do that other stampers cannot? Some stampers can perform 100 percent inspection on critical dimensions. By doing so, they can set control limits to detect when a process is starting to go out of control before they produce bad parts, thus eliminating defective parts and the need for rework. With vision systems becoming more user-friendly, many progressive stampers are integrating cameras into their stamping processes to gain even more of a competitive edge over their competition.

Like almost everything else, embracing new technology starts with becoming familiar with the basics. Die protection is no different.

So, what is die protection? Originally die protection was developed just to prevent damage to the tool and die during the operation of a stamping press. As sensor and controls technology has evolved and stampers’ knowledge of it has increased, die protection technology has been expanded into other applications, such as raising production rates and performing quality assurance.

In some cases, die protection technology has allowed die builders to create very intricate dies that were impractical to manufacture before because they were vulnerable to die crashes. As a result, some of the more intricate dies allow stampers to form components in one stage that would have required two or more operations, thereby eliminating some secondary operations.

So what comprises die protection? Die protection has two main components: sensors and controls. Sensors are the “eyes” of the die protection system; they detect what is going on in the die. Controls can be described as the brains of die protection.

The rest of the article can be read at TheFabricator.com.