Complex new product design required a progressive stamping die to produce low-cost parts.
Vulcan Engineering designed a stamping die to produce a part with multiple features such as trimming, coins and forms in a single progressive stamping die.
The tool produces consistently high-quality parts at the quoted cost.
Vulcan Industries Corporation is a preferred provider of custom metal stamping parts for companies in many major industries. The following case study demonstrates how we designed a cost-effective, alternative manufacturing process to help our customer (Eaton’s Cooper Power Systems) produce high-quality actuator plungers with standard steel.
• Industry: Electrical power management
• Processes: Stampings, machining, riveting the assembled product and zinc-plating
• Company Background: Global leader in power distribution and circuit protection for utility, commercial and industrial applications
• Challenge: Providing a manufacturing solution for an existing product with major material supply concerns. A product redesign was required that would perform as well or better than the existing one.
• Assessment: Engineering calculations indicated that by utilizing a laminated design, magnetic force characteristics like specialty steel were anticipated.
A Due to a supply shortage in the worldwide steel markets, our customer was no longer able to purchase the specialty steel they required to produce actuator plungers. We suggested an alternative process. Defining a lamination retention method that allowed for proper assembly tolerances, adequate product performance forces, the required product life, and overall cost-effectiveness, all required careful consideration and development testing.
Here’s how the experienced team at Vulcan Industries solved the problem:
• The proposed design concept would utilize commercially-available standard steel along with multiple laminations secured with a set of four rivets.
• Stamping dies and assembly tools were designed and prototype tooling was built to provide initial test samples to our customer.
• Manufacturing tolerances using multiple components instead of a machined assembly were evaluated and tested to ensure the new assembly would be capable in a high-volume production environment.
• Favorable test results led to the design-build of production tooling, pre-production sampling, final product validation, and production purchase orders.
• The result was a cost-effective product with performance characteristics that exceeded customer expectations.
Our customer was extremely pleased with the performance of the new standard steel actual plungers and our quick turnaround time. Their supply chain was not interrupted due to the lack of specialty steel. The new design is now being produced in two sizes.
At Vulcan Industries, our customers enjoy innovative solutions and high-quality output that is always delivered on time. Contact us today to find out how we can help improve your electrical power management solutions.
At Vulcan Industries Corporation, we are continually looking to improve the quality of parts for our customers. One customer required a variety of internal components for a water softener valve assembly.
The Vulcan team can produce a variety of customized, internal parts for water valves. Look at this case study to see how we accomplished this for one of our clients.
• Industry: Water treatment.
• Processes: Stamping small parts with sophisticated features.
• Company Background: Our customer is a major OEM of water treatment valves.
• Challenge: In the metal stamping process, the customer needed to produce high-quality, cost-effective parts consistently.
• Assessment: Initial review of the internal components including gears, links, and flapper valves identified challenges with burring, shearing, flatness, and the thickness of the metal. Additional vibe deburring processes were necessary.
Our customer faced several challenges to obtain the consistent, yet most cost-effective, parts for their projects, including:
Our solution was to use harder materials when possible and utilize extremely tight punch-to-die clearances to minimize burring.
Additionally, not all the parts were conducive to using hard materials, such as parts with forms. We developed vibe deburring processes that utilized small quantities of components with particular deburring media to cushion the parts. To combat the sharp edges on parts needing to have a radius on both sides, we used a more aggressive deburring media to soften the edges. This added more production time but achieved the desired result.
The increased strength of the metal and customized vibe deburring process created by the Vulcan team provided the customer with high-quality, cost-effective parts they required. The customer was delighted with not only the quality of the parts but also our on-time delivery.
We are experts at producing metal stampings that exceed customer requirements and providing superior customer service. This is why Vulcan is your best cost manufacturing solution provider.
Using Vulcan Industries’ years of expertise, we can customize assemblies to meet the unique requirements of our customers. One customer required a precision assembly to encase a critical sensor to monitor wheel movement.
The Vulcan team can produce high-volume automotive grade assemblies. Look at this case study to see how we accomplished this for one of our clients.
• Industry: Automotive
• Processes: Stamping and forming a close-tolerance stainless steel bracket, then press-fitting a stainless steel cup to produce a brazed assembly.
• Company Background: Our customer is a prominent OEM of electrical sensors for a variety of applications.
• Challenge: The customer needed a cost-effective stamping and assembly tooling to manufacture a statistically capable assembly.
• Assessment: After reviewing the component’s requirements, it was determined that the design of the stamping included a curved form on one side of the part that could affect the strip location and critical dimensions in our progressive stamping die. To control the material from pulling when the article was stretched, a two-cavity die to control center with opposing forming forces was utilized.
Meetings were conducted with our customer’s Purchasing and Engineering teams to review the application and our plans for producing the assembly. Our review of the component requirements defined several critical-to-quality features for creating the parts and gauging the required SPC dimensions, including:
• The progressive stamping die design needed to consistently locate the part using the same datum points for subsequent operations.
• The assembly fixture designed had to use the same locators to assure consistency throughout the process.
• Parts needed be assembled just before the furnace brazing operation to prevent any disruption due to material handling.
Because of the close assembly tolerances, process dimensions were developed that included SPC monitoring of the stampings, the press-fit cup, the assembly before furnace brazing, and the final assembly to assure compliance. Special packaging was used to transport stampings before construction and for shipment of the final assembly to the customer.
The Final Result – A New Design Achieved Performance Requirements
The newly developed process produced a high-quality product that met the customer’s design requirements and desired completion date.
At Vulcan Industries, we are experts at delivering close-tolerance assemblies and providing superior customer service. That is why Vulcan can be your best cost assembly solution provider.
