Essentials of Manufacturing

Information, coverage of important developments and expert commentary in manufacturing.

Mechanical Engineers Outlook

Guide for those interested in becoming a mechanical engineer. Includes qualifications, pay, and job duties.

Metal 3D Printing Design Guide

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) 3D printing for parts with reduced cost and little waste.

Selecting the Right 3D Printer

Discover how to choose the right 3D printer for your needs and the key performance attributes to consider.

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Introduction

Blanking is cutting up a large sheet of stock into smaller pieces suitable for the next operation in stamping, such as drawing and forming. Often this is combined with piercing.

Blanking can be as simple as a cookie cutter type die to produce prototype parts, or high speed dies that run at 1000+ strokes per minute, running coil stock which has been slit to a specified width.

For production parts, the final configuration of the drawn or formed shape needs to be established before the blank die can be built-since the blank size and the slit width size needs to be established precisely.

Design Considerations
 • Corners should have a minimum radius of 0.5 x material thickness or 0.4 mm (0.016in) whichever is greater. Sharper corners can be produced but at a greater die maintenance costs and more burrs.
 • Slots or tabs widths should be greater than 1.5 X stock thickness.

The length can be a maximum of 5 times slot/tab width.

These rules can be violated at an increased tooling cost-- width as low as 1 X thickness and length as high as 7 X thickness can be achieved.

 • On cutoffs, avoid full radiuses across the width of stock. A square cut-off is best. If a radius is necessary, then an angle-blended radius is best.

Essentials of Manufacturing

Information, coverage of important developments and expert commentary in manufacturing.

Mechanical Engineers Outlook

Guide for those interested in becoming a mechanical engineer. Includes qualifications, pay, and job duties.

Metal 3D Printing Design Guide

Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) 3D printing for parts with reduced cost and little waste.

Selecting the Right 3D Printer

Discover how to choose the right 3D printer for your needs and the key performance attributes to consider.