Support these projects on patreon: patreon.com/stuffmadehere
Check out the subreddit: tinyurl.com/smhere
In this video I show more techniques for 3D printed sheet metal press forming tools. I improve over my previous designs by making a tool with a moving action as well as fixing a major design flaw. I also demonstrate a more complicated forming operation with many features made in one pressing.
These videos usually take a ton of work and a lot of money in tools and materials. I've made a patreon if you're interested in supporting the creation of these projects: www.patreon.com/stuffmadehere
If you missed it, you can find part one here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuY2-...
Here's some of the tools that I use in this video + recurring favorites:
Hypertherm powermax 45xp with machine torch: amzn.to/2zfoyAv
Hypertherm fine cut consumables (great for sheet metal) amzn.to/34SjMom
Vise brake (highly recommend): amzn.to/3akCkhZ
Wera allen keys 1000x better than el cheapos: amzn.to/2KlCb36
Wera allen keys (english): amzn.to/2RQUxNG
The best marker ever. Always in my pocket: amzn.to/3ewHGtL
Formlabs Form 3: formlabs.com/3d-printers/form-3/
Check out the subreddit: tinyurl.com/smhere
In this video I show more techniques for 3D printed sheet metal press forming tools. I improve over my previous designs by making a tool with a moving action as well as fixing a major design flaw. I also demonstrate a more complicated forming operation with many features made in one pressing.
These videos usually take a ton of work and a lot of money in tools and materials. I've made a patreon if you're interested in supporting the creation of these projects: www.patreon.com/stuffmadehere
If you missed it, you can find part one here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuY2-...
Here's some of the tools that I use in this video + recurring favorites:
Hypertherm powermax 45xp with machine torch: amzn.to/2zfoyAv
Hypertherm fine cut consumables (great for sheet metal) amzn.to/34SjMom
Vise brake (highly recommend): amzn.to/3akCkhZ
Wera allen keys 1000x better than el cheapos: amzn.to/2KlCb36
Wera allen keys (english): amzn.to/2RQUxNG
The best marker ever. Always in my pocket: amzn.to/3ewHGtL
Formlabs Form 3: formlabs.com/3d-printers/form-3/
BRO! I print a ton of tooling for sheet metal and castings but your little dual-barrel hinge thing is sooooo clean!! I'm totally stealing it. thanks man. I owe you one. Thanks for teaching me.
@Baka zero You're all too frickin sensitive, he didn't mean anything buy it.
in the steel industry they are called ready benders and they have springs in the the jump back into position to stamp the next part in a stamping die
@Patrick Wallis yeah someone mentioned that already
@AmplifyAmbition lmfao I'm desperate to know, do you remember what he said? Cause he deleted his comment
Ah yes, another episode of this young Tony.
Whats that mean
Ur wrong but right for that.
They should collab
_This Young Tony is filmed in front of a live studio audience_
😆
For highly complex parts, you should consider creating (I forget the technical name) holes in the bottom of the dye that can be used to push the part off the dye, like whats used in plastic injection molds. Youd have to add another part to the dye to plug the holes for the release pegs, but I think it would save alot of time removing parts from the dye. Really cool work!
"Holes for Ejector pins" I think is what you mean. Another option would be to split the "sticky" die into two parts so the second part can push the workpiece off. A third option is even more draft (taper) to help the parts not get stuck. I don't think that last one will work though; Metal "bites" into plastic and doesn't want to come off. I read the intro chapters of a die design book last night and was blown away. There is a huge amount of tech that goes into production dies that I would never have considered. Yeah! More things to learn!
The ejector pins on a plastic injection mold are called just that: ejector or ejection pins. Source: Machining plastic injection molds for several years.
In the forging industry it's called a Kick pin.
@David freeing flutes?
@Mrcaffinebean Ejection port would be more fitting with this idea
I've worked for almost 7 years in sheet metal manufacturing. I find it impressive how close to actual tools and methods you are getting with what I assume is no or limited prior knowledge of sheet metal. Your rotary benders are extremely close to commercially available ones.
When you're cutting them out, start the plasma arc in the middle of the waste material and then move to the cut line. That should give you a cleaner cut.
These are called lead ins/lead outs. I design, program and operate a CNC laser at work. Also transfer my bend information to a cnc brake.
@Izlarik you can see him staggering cuts near the end of the video
@mick0maticNL It's also recommended that the cuts be staggered on large cut to blank ratios like this because of the heat-warping. It can help reduce the warping by displacing the heat more evenly. Which may make it sit in the tooling better, resulting in a better finished product.
@movax20h Yes thats true, i only mentioned it so it can atleast be a bit better than what it was before, still its not perfect. Gotta use the tools you have to make the best out of the situation right :P
@mick0maticNL yes you are right, one should start from inside of the waste material, far from final edge. But you can see that the main issue is power level and speed, because even whole edges and holes that had constant feed, had these issues, not just the starting point.
This is honestly incredibly valuable for the 3D printing / machining community. Thank you for doing all of this work for us!
Massive THANK YOU!!! you have opened my eyes to completely new world of options and ideas. You have five very clear explanation and clear knowhow transfer . Again, MASSIVE THANK YOU.
That's genius for you. Someone who not only understands what he's doing but also has the communicative skills and empathy to understand how to convey and explain these things to another person. A lot of smart people lack the social skills to understand how to explain their ideas at a level others can follow. And end up rambling about specifics without having properly conveyed core principles. Understanding an audience you're talking to. To be able to give them a why, how that actually captures them, which they can follow. He would be a great teacher. But we need this guy in other fields. He can make educational video's, do projects for himselglf and business and probably achieve more than teaching in academics. Being part of a college research lab wouldn't be bad though maybe.
I used to build stamping dies for a small shop. Those rotary bits are what we call ready benders. Very handy features
I found part 1 and 2 of this series fascinating! I have a 3D printer and have really enjoyed learning how to design things in CAD and then print out stuff that's useful I can use around the house or in my car. Once again, excellent content; you earned a new subscriber.
These videos are some of the highest quality, most in-depth, and most watchable engineering videos on ITmores. You cannot change my mind. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THESE YEARS? Keep em coming!
I have a 3D printer of my own and this sparks some ideas. Id love to see more of these 3D printed mold videos!
When I used to work in a factory while going to college, forms were often two steps. However the way they got around that was to have two parts pressed at a time. The result is that you’re getting one part per press. The complex dies often had a mechanism that “ejected” the part by pushing the part up from the bottom, which helped when transferring part one to part two in the die set. Even complicated dies involve multiple steps. If you’re mass producing, at a minimum you want one part per press. Good video!
This is really impressive! Also, you always have band aids or band aid adhesive on your hands so I trust you are a true sheet metal worker!
Awesome video! I love the focus on iterative design, and you did a great job of explaining the pros / cons of additive vs. machining!
normally for bent parts you want to anneal them in an oven afterwards, to remove residual stresses when entering the plasticity zone. The annealing process (temperature, timing, and cooling ramping) would depends on the material you have bent. If you don't anneal them, depending how they are loaded in service, they can fail early in fatigue.
This is great stuff, and great video that's super informative. Really clever ideas, thanks for sharing Did you ever think of drilling a couple holes into your mold. You could reinforce them with metal tubing. At the end of the tubing on the outside, you could attach an air quick-connect. When the part is fresh off the press you could attach an air hose and run some air through it. They use that process to produce all kinds of products right now. It just might work for your stuff. Hey, just a thought, and thanks again.
I like what you are doing. I'm a die designer and my work never let me try experimenting with plastic printed parts. On the second die you need a stripper around the punches that are forming the flanges. A stripper holds the part firmly in place before forming is done and holds the part down while the punches are being withdrawn from the part. Keep up the good work!
This is absolutely amazing! Wish I had seen this while I still had access to a school waterjet and 3d printers. :(
daniel mcdonald I miss my schools laser cutter so much. I have a 3D printer, but the laser cutter is better in so many ways.
I like that videos like this pull all the industry professionals out of the woodwork. They always give good tips. Super cool video!
Dad comes in: So, Stuff Made Here, you got that part to fix my $20 tool yet? Stuff Made Here: Sure, here's a few hundred of them.
@Scott Wilkins Negative $5000 when you factor in the ITmores revenue.
I'd bet that it's now closer to a $200 part after all that prototyping. Would love to know the actual total cost.
Surely his dad calls him Stuff Made Here and there is nothing anyone can say to change my mind
I think it's totally awesome. And that this young man is so very brilliant. I am so jealous of his talent. Yea you may not go to this much trouble and cost to make a 2 dollar part for a 40 dollar tool. But....there are always those unobtainable parts at any price.so being able to produce one yourself is priceless..
Really like your videos Glad I subscribed. If you were trying to make a lot of those parts the only thing I would try is maybe some spring-loaded push pins in the bottom of your form tool to evenly push the part off of the form tool when you released the pressure of the hydraulic. But that would be a lot of work to make that for only a few parts
I replayed the clip at 5:55 half a dozen times, each time at a slower playback speed. Super satisfying to watch the fruits of deliberated research and development.
this is amazing. thank you for sharing your experiments and looking forward to seeing more!!
it's amazing you use a hydraulic press, which usually presses or flattens things to give your items a more 3D shape
I'm not a fabricator but these videos are awesome man! I love ingenuity.
Great second part of this exciting series. I can't wait to see some more inputs from you :)
That's some pretty thick steel, nice work! You can also press form speaker grills or perforated mesh shapes. 3D printing is great.
In the same way as the difference between static and dynamic friction, is there a difference in resistant to bending force when beginning to bend versus continuing to bend?
My professor told me spring membranes are formed like this in production. Nice to see some video similar to it. I had initial doubts about the soft plastic forming the much harder steel
I love your work. You are so very talented. Thanks for sharing.
Best way to learn from mistakes. Really like the way you go about stuff. Good work
3d printed progressive tool and die very awesome! This channel never ceases to amaze me.
You could add some through holes to the die for ejection pins to pop the part off instead of trying to pry it off. You would need to make the overall size of the die larger than the part so you had something to rest the die on when pressing it out. You could get really fancy and make them spring loaded so the part ejected after releasing pressure form the press. Edit: I noticed after posting this that several other had the same idea. lol
When you showed how the part was it's own spring I said "oh that's so cool!" out loud, and now my wife thinks I'm even more boring.
worth it.
Impressive and interesting as well . A younger version of this old Tony. I like your presentations. Subscribed
This young Tony
Nice stuff! Time lapses of the printing process would add some nice b-roll. For alignment, possibly oversize the blank and add registration features.
+1 for the B-roll.
Nice project. The benders are called ready benders. I wonder if you could have a small step between the filet and the knife to relieve the pressure so that extraction is possible.
Dude u have done great work here love to see more such helpful videos in feature
Great work, the reason the first too broke up is due to the same springback as you saw on the first part, the flanges formed will spring back. By reducing the form tool height, there is nothing for the material to grab. Keep up the good work.
Awesome, excellent Research & Development!!! I love the people making things just to see what happens and design a thinking path, i really do believe with these actions we get out of the cave after long time
For your alignment issue, you can put borders on the lower part that wraps around the upper part so it also aligne the metal part
That's awesome! I'm amazed by the quality of the parts. Thanks!
Very informative video, earned my sub. looking foward to more great content like this!
New subscriber!!!! Awesome content. My mind is currently exploding with inspiration!! I have a 3D printer(X1) and have printed Nylon composite 6 blended with 66. Question: Would nylon be strong enough to press sheet steel the same gauge as this upload?
This is so awesome you don't even know how happy this makes me to discover this as a forming option!!!
Im a deep draw and metal stamping engineer who started as a tool and die maker. Your killing it buddy message me if you need any help your very close my friend!
Great video....Keep it up. Looking forward to more content like this.
Glad you figured out the clearances... I watched the previous vid and was questioning whether there was adequate clearance for the thickness of the sheet metal.
Nice! Never crossed my mind to use 3d parts in press mold
I am currently working on a design for forming microchip legs to a 90degree angle. I was having trouble with the elasticity of the metal legs and am quite happy having found this.
A little tardy to the party (I've been binge watching these cause your channel is amazing) but if you put some strong springs on the bottom (kinda like in pt.1) but on the bottom, it'll push the part out so you don't have pry it off
¡Wow! This is the first video of yours that I have seen and have subscribed because you're doing some great work in this one!
thank you for this video @stuffmadehere, very clear usefull. Now my suggestion for Part 3 video: - Could you please add some screenshot of the drawing to see the radius and springback consequences? - You can increase the dimension of the metal sheet and cut later the leftover length. - You could add bars in the mold, as you tried in the first attempt. - As in previous comments, add some holes in the middle of the 3d printed mold, and they can be used as pins to take the bended part out. Also said, about dividing the mold. Then your Part 3 video probably will beat your already successfully Part 2 video, with even more views. It would be a case Study, 3D Printing Success Storie You won my thumbup and subscription.
As someone who works as a Tool and Die Maker this is very inpresive when it comes to how fast you picked up and corrected your mistakes ! Good Job! And maybe see if you can get some Ejectors of some sort :)
Really liked the video. You could consider adding 'rejection pins' just like a injection molding machine has. I mean to add holes in tho bottom mold, so you could put pins trough and eject the part. Geep up the good work!
This is ever so clever! All I might add is to remember to cook the parts in an oven so as to remove the constraints that were applied to the metal during the bending process, in order to strengthen the bonds. They would look mint after a surface treatment such as a cataphoresis coating or Delta protekt 🤘
I have never been so interested in videos like this before. I have watched all your videos now 😊 thank you stuff made here!
Prying it out: you could leave a square cut(s) on the 'floor' of the die, running to the edge, then put a block(s) of the size of the cut(s), plus some extra as a 'handle(s)' sticking out of the die. Then just press down on the 'handle(s)' to lever the part out of the die.
I am a mechanical engineer and I am seriously impressed by your design, good job. Would you say FDM or Resin is the better option for the tools ? Also to release your part easier from the tool you can increase the draft angle and create holes in the tool to push the part out from behind, like in injection molding machiunes.
Great video, I was thinking about using this processes for a class design project. One question I have is would you have a recommended gauge of stock material that would work well with PLA filament molds and a simpler car-jack press? Later versions I can get machined metal but I want to prototype the form first with a lighter gauge metal so I can use cheaper molds/ don't have to buy a harbor freight press.
Nice vid, love the rotary tool/form to get the 90 degree bends, clever!
I like how you mix technologies. A lot of people try to use just 3d printing for a project and then get upset because it isn't perfect. 3d printers are just another tool like a mill or plasma cutter.
Curious how much improvement you've made on this concept in the past half year. I'd like to see updates, especially on complexity of bends and forms, and complexity of finished parts.
He's been to busy making melee guns
Thanks for another excellent of demonstration of using 3d printed parts to form dies. Lots of great ideas to take away.
I suggest you leave a slot on two opposing corners to use as "ejection slots", where a tool arm can eject or pry out the formed piece. You could also do this using a through hole in flat sections of your die press and then print the corresponding ejection pins to avoid marring your formed piece.
Sweet! What if you first press a metal surface for your tools to reduce wear and maybe ease release?
Hi there, this channel was a suggestion and am I glad it was, you have a new subscriber added to your list after seeing a practical solution for making printed parts to make forms for a press, bravo on the use and I look forward to seeing some more of your videos.......Phil 👍
Very good! What printer are you using to make your tools? Thanks!
Leave some through holes in the mold so you can use another mold as the release mold. Similar to how hot plastic is pushed out of water cooled molds at a high speed.
I watched the first video and now this one. I really like what I see and I have learned a few things about my 3D printer! Subbed and rang the bell!
These two pressing videos are he first two vides i watch from your channel. Very interesting and entertaining. I work as a design engineer and designs productions machines towards the med-tech industry so designing and produce parts is my day job. The funny thing with your iterations it that they follow my mind exactly, When you do each test and get the result, my mind goes, hmm, maybe i should have tried to do this instead, and the next step is you doing exactly that, the same idea that i had. One idea that would be fun to see you try is to shape the edge at the samt time. So you get fillets all round the edges and an more rigid/stable part. By doing so you can make a recess that you fit the plate in to align it, then when you press it goes down into the form, forms the metals with rounded edges and it should be no problems to remove it. You might also be able to combine it with the rolling molds to make sharp 90° edges all around at once, That would be really impressive. Keep up with vids, I love them, The deeper and nerdier, the better :)
That rotating die idea is brilliant! 👍
Very innovative approach, I love it. I have a PlasmaCam and a 3D printer and was tempted to try this. Looks like you are using a resin bed 3D printing process which produces much more solid/homogeneous/stronger plastic parts than a filament type printer. Unfortunately nearly all of us own the filament type printers and I am guessing that if I duplicated your process with my 3D printer the die will explode immediately due to the weakness between the layers. I struggle with this on some designs that are in tension (like the die in some directions) . What are your thoughts about this?
Love the videos and you've earned my subscription, but when I've seen parts being made in the way that you've shown they normally have extra material that gets removed by a last process to clean up the edge's and stamp them to the final outer dimensions just a thought that might be of use in any future things that you might want to make in the future & it might help you out with the way that the edge's came out in the flat sides look forward to seeing what you come up with next time 👍👌
Right, I've seen more complex parts go through series of dies that more progressively reach final form, often with metal heated first, rather than all at once cold stamped. Though I'm not industry at all so i could be entirely wrong
I was wondering about this last week. Is such a thing viable!? Today your video popped up in rotation. Awesome! Subscribed.
Never thought a 3d print would be this durable
Instead of a two piece mold you might want to try Hydroform by using thick rubber as the top it should work faster less die work
Super cool that 3D printed tools can handle the pressure, and very innovative molds! May I ask what press you are using? Is that a press that a hobbyist can get?
Damn why did it take so long for me to find this channel!?!?!? Such good content
You could use mold keys to help the dyes align perfectly. And waste a little extra material as buffer on the borders of some parts as necessary to keep edges flat. Can always be trimmed after