How to make stainless blanks

[Tuba Dave]

My New Year's Resolution for a side hustle involves punching blanks from .02 stainless steel. Think Exacto blades. I want to make a specific shape that is not available and I will market it to techs like myself. I have basic machine shop tools, no water jet or laser cutter or EDM.

I have no experience with punching blanks, other than using a jeweler's punch and a mallet on annealed brass. I assume stainless will need more effort than a hammer blow.

Can I use a pancake die for this gauge of stainless? or do I need to make a punch and die for an arbor press.

Please chime in on any advice you think of that I have not foreseen
Thanks

 

[mmcmdl]

I guess that would depend on the size and shape of the parts . I made up small split dies that stamped Starrett feeler gage stock in a prototype shop . They worked well with a 3 ton AP . Years ago I made up a die to trim straight razor blades . Made a fixture up and ground them on a surface grinder for broadheads for the hunters in the shop . That was quite a hit with them .

 

[Tuba Dave]

These parts will be no bigger than 1.5" in any dimension. It is basically to make a hobby knife blade in a shape that is not available but would be very useful for my trade.

 

[mmcmdl]

These parts will be no bigger than 1.5" in any dimension.

Rectangular ? If these were just straight blades with no contours you could do this on a regular mill . ( no cnc work needed ) I think I have parts left from a die I made up in he past . My company went thru hundreds of these every night on the fillers . Barry Wehmiller was charging us $17 a pop for these little parts . I made up a split die and punched them out of feeler stock for basically nothing . I remember getting a $100 reward for cost reduction . I'll see if I can locate these parts .

 

[whitmore]

My New Year's Resolution for a side hustle involves punching blanks from .02 stainless steel. Think Exacto blades.

As I understand it, this is a blanking die application (you want to keep the punch-out flat, and waste the surrounding
metal); that implies that the die has to cut simultaneously the whole of the periphery at once, so the
shear strength of that circumference in 0.020 stainless is the necessary force. That means probably
a hydraulic (or maybe a flywheel/cam) press, not just a cranked arbor press.

If you can use a first pass that turns sheet into narrow strips, that might give you top/bottom edges
in a first operation, and two subsequent die operations could snip the front and back ends of the blade.
Those aren't blanking operations (you're removing waste from the workpiece, not removing the
workpiece from the sheet). Arbor press can do that.

As I understand it, slitting is done with dedicated tooling, and for a side hustle... maybe you don't have
to start with big sheets, a metal supplier can make that cut for you.

 

[aliva]

why not look into Send Cut Send they maybe able to do the cutting for you, may save a lot of time and trouble.

Online Laser Cutting and Waterjet Cutting Service

SendCutSend is an online CNC and laser cutting service, specializing in aluminum, steel, brass, plastics, titanium, and more. Fast turnaround and free shipping!

sendcutsend.com

 

[benmychree]

What alloy of stainless steel are we talking about?

 

[Parlo]

Try just making a punch and then blanking out on a urethane block. No burrs, no die and the part stays flat.
Here are a few demonstrations to show how simple the process can be.

 

[Tuba Dave]

That is very cool, though learning the distinction between "blanking" (as in removing a piece from a full sheet) or just shearing the edges one at a time, is more useful to me. I tried my Micro Mark multi tool and it can shear hacksaw blades, so I think a process of forming these parts can be done in successive operations, not all at once. It will save waste, plus avoid the need to make or pay for a die. Thanks for all your input!

 

[Parlo]

The bowl shaped discs in the first video were formed & blanked in one operation which may save an operation.