standard sheet impression dies?

[tgwms]

Hi,

i'm designing a very low quantity and low cost device from thin sheet metal, and i need to give the flat sides some rigidity. i've seen in stamped parts a designer can bend/press ribs, small folds, or other small impressions to give the metal some third dimension for rigidity... but if im planning to only use laser, punch, or press techniques as my quantities are so low what can i use to alter a flat piece of sheet metal? do standard impression dies exist for turret punches? ... for instance in standard rectangles or circles?

thanks all!!!

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"Imagination is more important than knowledge" -Albert Einstein

http://www.TGWMS.com

contract engineering and brainstorming

 

[MikeHalloran]

I'm not aware that standard tools exist, but you can make a nice round dimple by grinding the point off a standard punch and mating it with a die a couple of sizes bigger.

If you're lucky, you'll have a worn- out die with a nice edge radius lying near the press, and no shortage of mangled punches that you can recycle for the job.

If you want non- round dimples, you can hydroform them, and shear the blank outline in one cycle, if you can find a hydroforming press.

Absent that, I think you can make dimples of arbitrary shape with a similar process using steel plate punches and urethane backup pads in a press brake.








Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA