Die & Mould Making - CNC - Computer Numerical Control

FROM QUOTATION TO A FINISHED PRESS TOOL
Finding good solutions
with little material
First of all the die and
mouldmaker has to do
a quotation on the
job, which can be hard
many times since the
blueprints from the
customer often is
pretty rough outlined due to their own
ongoing development of the product.
Often the tool maker receive CAD drawings
of the finished component, which looks
far from the different tools that has to be
manufactured to produce the component.
This phenomenon has much to do with
the integration of computers within the
manufacturing and the companies ever
shortened lead times on products.
There are often complicated shapes and
geometries with deep cavities and radii,
which has to be pressed to close tolerances.
To be able to create these shapes several
different press tools has to be manufactured.
If one company can come up with a
smart solution that has fewer steps in the
pressing process they have a clear advantage.
If the component to be machined is very
large, a model of foamed plastic (styrofoam)
is made with the shape of the component.
The model of foamed plastic is then packed
in sand and chill cast. When the melted
metal is poured into the casting mould the
foamed plastic evaporates and you will get
a blank with an optimised shape to have as
little material to remove as possible to the
finished shape of the component. About
10 mm and sometimes even less stock is
left to the final shape of the die, which saves
a lot of time as much rough machining is
eliminated.
A model of foamed plastic, which is close to the shape of the component to save time in rough machining
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