3d Printed Sheet Metal Dies

We ve seen several people create custom dies for their brakes and the results have shown the concept has merit for.

3d printed sheet metal dies.

Creating the die molds is a critical part to the process and traditionally takes days or weeks to be cnc milled to specifications. Sheet metal fabrication xometry offers punching laser cutting waterjet cutting stamping and bending sheet metal services. The tool wasn t used to cut the metal. 3d printing with the projet 3500 and visijet materials allows for robust die molds to be created within hours and are usable within the same day of being created with no additional post processing required.

This makes dies more ergonomic than traditional tooling resulting in improved safety for tool handlers and machine operators. Follow the design guidelines below to take full advantage of fdm for sheet metal tooling. The blanks were precut with a laser before. March 10 2020 using 3d printed forms to bend sheet metal isn t exactly new.

Hydroforming up to 10 000 psi 69mpa rubber pad press 1 000 ton press up to 3. It is therefore possible to bend sheets with a thickness of up to 1 2 mm. The punch and die set were strong enough to form 14 gauge sheet steel in a press brake which is pretty impressive. The maximum load applicable to 3d printed punches and dies is about 10 20 tons per meter depending on the shape of the tools and the material used.

See the 3d printed punch and die in use in the first operation shown in the video below the remaining work is performed using conventional metal tooling. While traditional methods of manufacturing remove material from a piece of stock metal metal 3d printing builds parts from the ground up allowing for the production of parts with very complex geometries. 3dexperience marketplace make is an online on demand manufacturing platform operated by dassault systèmes. Centerline hasn t yet put this tooling to the test in terms of longevity but vickery is confident that 3d printed press brake tooling can support several hundred or perhaps several.