Most manufacturers have a go-to guy, a Jerry, let’s say, that everyone can come to when they have problems and questions or just can’t figure out the issue du jour on their own. Or at least they used to. The problem is that Jerry is retiring, and he hasn’t had the time to pass on every bit of knowledge he’s acquired throughout his 40 years on the job.
Rick Avery, sales engineer, and Jeremy Edson, stamping product manager, know about this retiring breed of go-to guys well. They’re both part of Wilson Tool International’s Impax Tooling Solutions team, which is dedicated to helping stampers determine what tooling, tool steels and coatings they should be using if they no longer have a tooling expert in-house – or even if they never did.
“Sure, there are younger guys that learned from Jerry,” Avery says, “but they probably didn’t get the full knowledge transfer they might need, and to be frank, they might not be as passionate as Jerry was. Companies need somebody who cares, somebody that actually wants to dig in deep to learn this stuff. But, those people aren’t jumping into the tool and die industry as much they used to, so we’re here to fill in those gaps.”
Myriad of materials
Wilson Tool has been developing tooling for the manufacturing industry since 1966 and has been working with stampers since 1996. Over the years, the team there has worked with stamping houses, tool and die shops, and OEMs that often manufacture everything from start to finish.
No matter the type of customer, the Impax Tooling Solutions team can serve as the new go-to guys when their customers are confronted by the myriad of new materials used in stamping operations today. As more parts are made from advanced high-strength steels, ultra-high-strength steels and a variety of other new exotic metals, stampers must adapt to new types of tooling and the new tool steels that are being used to produce them. When tooling is produced with the right tool steel for the material, it lasts longer and produces higher quality parts.
Fortunately, the Impax Tooling Solutions team is adept at helping customers navigate the ever-changing tool steel landscape. As an international company, Wilson Tool works with steel mills around the globe – from Italy and Germany to South America and beyond – to create the tooling its customers need.
“We are constantly working with the mills to design and develop new tool steels to help the industry,” Edson says. “We buy enough steel that we can work directly with them; that’s actually where Ultima M4 came from, our proprietary tool steel that was developed to overcome early tool wear and breakage. The conversations we have with the mills are dedicated to combatting these types of issues and getting that optimal balance between toughness and wear resistance.”
Tool steels, including high-speed steels like M2 and powder metals such as PM-M4, are composed of iron, carbon, manganese, phosphorus, sulfur and various alloying metals. These alloys are carefully selected and adjusted to achieve specific characteristics, such as wear resistance, hardness and toughness. By manipulating the composition and structure of the steel, manufacturers can tailor its properties to meet the demands of different applications. When a new tool steel emerges, Wilson Tool incorporates it into its in-house testing processes to evaluate its performance and suitability for varying application needs.
“We have great testing methods and can put materials through some pretty extreme applications to see how they hold up,” Edson adds. “And, we, of course, put them to the test with customers’ applications.”
Recently, the Impax Tooling Solutions team tested a new tool steel for a stamping house that was going through punches too quickly. Using an alternative steel, the punch lasted three times as long as what they’d been previously using.
Careful considerations
To deliver the tooling solutions stampers need, the Impax Tooling Solutions team has a lot to consider. The type of tool steel to use depends on the working temperature, surface hardness, strength, shock resistance, toughness and, of course, cost. The more severe the conditions, the higher the alloy content and carbides required. Certain applications may also require the tooling to be coated for lubricity and hardness.
“Overall, there’s a lot to consider, but it all comes down to what the customer is looking for: tool life and longevity,” Avery says. “Customers want their tool to last as long as possible, and we’re here to help make that happen.
“When developing a solution, we have to consider the materials the customer is stamping,” he adds. “If it’s stainless steel or aluminum, we might start them off with a punch made from M2, a high-carbon, high-molybdenum steel alloy. But, if we see any chipping or breaking, we can move to an M4, which features high carbon and vanadium content, making it extremely wear resistant and strong. Either of those options could be applied with a coating for further wear resistance, especially if we see wear on the sides of the punch. Each customer’s application is different, but we’re dedicated to finding the best fit.”
To find that best fit, the type of forming must also be taken into consideration. A deep draw, for example, creates more friction against the punch as it’s moving in and out of the metal, which could cause it to wear down quicker. Stripping pressure, the friction created when the punch exits the operations is, on average, responsible for 30 percent of tool wear. Therefore, to increase tool longevity in deep-draw operations, the Impax Tooling Solutions team might test a punch with a coating, such as the company’s Optima or Slipmax coating.
“We also have to ask the customer questions about their dies and presses,” Avery says, “like, ‘What are your clearances? How’s the alignment? How big is the hole the punch is going in? Is it a tight clearance?’ These conversations help lead us to the best solution for our customers.”
Collaborative process
The conversations that the Impax Tooling Solutions team has with customers are obviously wide ranging, but they all typically start the same way: A customer has a problem and is looking for a solution.
“When we talk to customers, we need to get the full story,” Avery says. “We ask them about the type and thickness of their material, the machine it’s being processed on and the type of operation, but we also need to know how many hits they’re getting with their current tool. If they’re getting 100,000 hits, as an example, we want to take them to 160,000.”
To increase the life of the tool, it’s important to know how and when it fails. Is the head breaking off? Is it fracturing at any point? With this information, recommendations can be made to help the tool survive longer and produce more parts.
“If it’s a situation where the tool’s head is breaking off, we could try a bigger radius under the head,” Edson says. “If it’s a tip issue, maybe the conversation would cover options like going to a straight-line grind to help with stripping or perhaps shearing it to help reduce some tonnage. A lot of the tool designers we work with already have these things in the back of their mind, so working with us can be incredibly reaffirming.
“The process can actually be really collaborative where they’ll come to us and say, ‘hey, this is what we’re thinking – is it the right path?’” he explains. “That’s when our team might come back with, ‘yeah, you’re on the right path, but have you thought about these additional options?’ These conversations help troubleshoot why a tool is breaking and how to resolve it.”
In addition to helping customers replace under-performing tools, the Impax Tooling Solutions team also works with customers to produce “specials” or custom tools. Those conversations typically start with the customer’s design team.
“If it’s a U-shape or a star or anything that isn’t a standard, like square, round or obround, we consider that a ‘special,’” Avery explains. “In these instances, we’ll request a drawing in order to quote the job. From those drawings, we can determine if it needs any modifications or refinements, like if the point length is too long or if it’s too thin and might break. That, too, is a collaborative process.”
With so many new grades of advanced high-strength steels to process, not to mention new galvanized materials and what Avery describes as “not your dad’s aluminum,” the Impax Tooling Solutions team is proud of the depth of experience it can offer to customers.
“It’s not just about helping customers with the new materials available, it’s about servicing their overall needs,” he says. “Not everyone has access to such a wide line of products and tool steels like we do, and not everyone has a direct sales force like ours. We have 11 guys in the United States, another in Mexico and then four more in Canada that are solely focused on stamping. They’re totally dedicated to helping support stampers with the make-or-break tooling that will make their die investments successful.”
