Progressive Stamping of a Stainless Steel Clip for the Material Handling Industry

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A manufacturer of material handling equipment was in need of a special clip used in a packaging application. It was designed to hold crates together, provide protection for the contents and allow for easy disassembly.

The customers supplied drawings called out dimensions of 4.595″ in length, and 1.975″ in width, utilizing a 301 ½ hardness stainless steel. A material of this hardness posed several manufacturing challenges, developing a process that would allow for the high volume and precision required would take trial and error. A proper tool steel for optimal blanking and forming had to be selected as well as lubrication coating considerations. Stainless steel has the tendency to gall-up or become sticky on the forms, which can slow down or halt production and damage the dies, this makes coating selection critical. The only way to achieve the over 1 million parts per year of production is to select the proper combination of both.

The clip was manufactured on our 400 ton straight side minster press, and met tolerances of ±0.005″, and angular tolerances of ±1°. The finished part featured a polished finish, and included various quality control measures performed by the customer.

To learn more about this project, or the process used to manufacture it, see the table below or contact us directly.