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How to Cut Costs from Your Stamped Metal Product’s Design

Tag Archive: stamped metal

  1. How to Cut Costs from Your Stamped Metal Product’s Design

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    We’ve seen manufacturers go to great lengths to avoid high production costs — from settling for lower quality materials to avoiding much-needed secondary processes.

    The problem is that these methods generally lead to a completed part of lower quality, prone to breakage and malfunctioning.

    To achieve the highest quality stamped metal parts at acceptable costs, the best thing to do is develop a thorough knowledge of metal stamping design. That way, you can include cost-saving considerations directly into the design of your stamped metal part.

    Here are three metal stamping design tips to get you started.

    Tip #1: Understand how fracture angles create burrs and impact dimensional measurements.

    When metal is cut, only part of it is actually cut — once the downward stress equals a metal’s shear strength, the remaining material fractures off. This fracturing creates a small burr, known as a fracture angle, on the bottom edge of the stamped part.

    fracture angles in metal stamping design

    Generally speaking, fracture angles are inconsequential; however, for parts that must maintain very tight tolerances, they can cause issues with dimensional measurements. To avoid costly scrapped runs and redesigns, be sure to account for fracture angles while designing a stamped metal part.

    Tip #2: Design notches, tabs,  slots, and holes with widths 1.5x material thickness.

    Notches, tabs, slots, and holes are common elements in the design of many stamped metal parts. Despite their commonality, they can sometimes be difficult for a metal stamper to create, requiring advanced techniques or secondary machining. They are also prone to being distorted, both by other forming process and in live use cases.notch design 1.5x thickness

    To protect the integrity of the notches and tabs in your part, take the time to double check their specifications. It is recommended that any perforation in your part be designed at least 1.5 times wider than the material is thick. These are small design changes that will go a long way toward easing the production of your parts and reducing their costs.

    Tip #3: Consider coining before deburring or edge grinding.

    Smoothing the stamped edge does not always require expensive secondary services like vibratory deburring or edge grinding. Coining is a cost-effective solution to flatten or break off burrs. During the coining process, edges of the stamped metal part are struck to create a smoother edge in the coined area of the part geometry. This process also adds additional strength to localized areas of the part.

    Want more design tips?

    Stamping can be an involved process, with many steps and different considerations to take. By staying well-informed of stamped metal part design basics, you can integrate time- and cost-saving measures directly into the design of your stamped metal parts.

    For more illustrations and design tips, download our free Metal Stamping Design Guide today.


    Download Metal Stamping Design Guide


  2. 3 Industries That Are Benefiting from Drones

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    Years ago, drones seemed like an idea of the future that would only exist in a science fiction novel.

    Fast forward to today, where the personal and domestic use of drones is growing rapidly. Ecommerce giant Amazon.com, for example, is working hard on a number of fully autonomous drone prototypes to make their proposed Amazon Prime Air delivery system a reality.

    Broadcasted much less often are the drones that offer commercial and industrial uses. As a specialist with experience machining and stamping parts for various flight applications, ESI looked at some of the well-known, and not-so-well-known, industries integrating drone technology into their systems.

    Military

    military drone stamped metal parts

    Perhaps the most well-known use for drones is within the military industry, where they’re known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPASs). While Predator and Reaper drones get the lion’s share of headlines, the United States Military uses or is currently investigating a wide variety of drones for a number of applications.

    Boeing’s Phantom Ray, a larger, stealth-style drone, was designed for surveillance, electronic warfare, and, unique among drones, aerial refueling. Boeing is also developing the Phantom Eye, a two-prop drone packed with tracking and sensor packages designed for use for high altitude (65,000 feet) surveillance and as a long distance communications relay.

    Boeing isn’t the only player — Northrop Grumman is developing a number of military drones as well. Their MQ-4C Triton is under development as an unarmed surveillance, battle damage analyzation, and communications relay aircraft. They are also testing the MQ-8C, a fully autonomous helicopter based on their Bell 407 model, for reconnaissance and situational awareness support, as well as fire support when required.

    Medical

    drones used for the medical industryWhen you think of industries that use drones, the medical industry probably doesn’t come to mind. While not used for direct patient treatment (yet), experiments and trials have started using drones for the transportation of aid packages and medical samples.

    One of the earlier instances of using drones for medical-related transportation was in Haiti after the 2012 earthquake — drones were used to deliver small aid packages to locations that emergency services workers had not yet been able to reach.

    Stony Brook University is currently experimenting with using drones to quickly and easily transport test samples from remote villages to urban medical facilities, turning a nine-hour trek by foot into a quick 60-minute flight.

    Already looking to the future, larger hospitals are beginning to investigate the possibility of using drones to transport blood, organs, and critical supplies between hospitals as need requires.

    Aerospace

    drones used for aerospace applicationsThe Ohio/Indiana Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Center is paving the way for drone use in non-military aerial and aerospace applications.

    With funding from and partnerships with the federal government, colleges, and private industry, the UAS Center is researching and developing a number of uses for drones. Notably, they’re using drones and the sophisticated suites of sensory equipment they can carry to evaluate and assess agricultural practices — they’ve been able to closely study crop emergency, soil compaction, runoff patterns, and more.

    Even NASA is looking into drones — they are investigating helicopter drone, entomopter, and even balloon drone options for possible including in their 2020 launch of the next Mars Rover.

    Learn More

    ESI has produced machined parts for helicopter fixtures and military applications, from tail landing gear to blade clamps. We also have nearly 30 years of experience working with the military, medical and aerospace industries to manufacture helicopter, automotive, and other vehicle parts.

    To learn more about the parts we’ve manufactured, visit our Sample Gallery or contact us today.

    View Our Sample Gallery

     

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