Design
The first step in the manufacturing of dies or tooling begins with the design. Here at K&S we have a diverse palette of design software to expedite the process. We engineer our dies using SolidWorks with 3d QuickPress for progressive die designs. We also utilize Pro/Engineer, Rhino, AutoCad, and ExpertCad for designing and translations.
K&S can perform metalforming simulations in house utilizing eta/DYNAFORM sheet metal software. This software allows K&S to assess stamping tooling and part designs before the tooling is ever built. The software predicts the formability of sheet metal products taking into account the possibility of cracking, wrinkling, thinning, skid mark and spring back effects that occur during the process. This type of feedback allows for a better functioning tool to be built, so when placed in the press a good part is produced much sooner than when using traditional methods.
K&S is able to aid its Customers with the design of their products assessing the feasibility of various components prior to release.
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In the Press
K & S Streamlines Die Development with Simulation
K & S Tool, Die and Manufacturing, Inc., Ixonia, WI, recently invested innew computer systems optimized to specifically handle high-end CAD programs and new die-simulation software.
Tighter tolerances, complex designs and tooling up to stamp high-strength steels present challenges in the engineering of dies to produce parts for automotive, residential lawn care and other end-use markets. Since 2002, K & S has met these challenges by using Dynaform simulation software, from ETA, Troy, MI. The software predicts the formability of sheetmetal products and assists in everything from the quoting of a project through the critical die-development phase and tryout. Continuous upgrades to the latest versions of the software give K & S a competitive edge for building dies. Not only does the software streamline the different phases of die development, it also gets the results desired with betterfunctioning tools, which results in the quicker production of parts.
For a quote, many K & S customers supply 3D part geometry instead of blueprints and PDF files. In just minutes the Dynaform Blank Size Engineering (BSE) module can determine blank size, generate blank nesting and automatically analyze potential forming issues with the part geometry. An estimator can input production volume, material cost, scrap value and consumables' cost to ensure an accurate quote.
"In the past, we had to err on the side of caution when providing quotes for customers," says K & S' Dale Grosenick. "With the improved BSE module, we can generate reports on blank nesting and generate a more accurate per-part cost for our quotes."
Engineers at K & S can prevent problems down the road by visualizing forming problems such as cracking, wrinkling and thinning by running the incremental simulation within Dynaform, for a true digital tryout.
"We used to have to prototype or rely on prior experience before determining if there was a problem with the die design," says Grosenick. "If we had done something similar before and were successful or if we had a problem with something before, often that determined how we would proceed. By using simulation, this is a much more part-specific approach and saves us a significant amount of time."
"Tooling Upate: K & S Streamlines Die Development with Simulation"
Metalforming Magazine, April 2007: 45-46.