Metal stamping has been around for over 100 years. Today, metal stamping is widely used for high volume production of uniform products in multiple industries because it is a highly effective way to achieve complex, intricate and precision shapes that are not possible in other metalworking processes.

Metal stamping products are found in such applications as plumbing, household appliances, and automotive parts. Industries in which metal stamping is highly popular are the automotive manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare, military/defense, and electronics industries. Manufacturers find these characteristics in metal stamping: high quality, durability, low cost, and fast turnaround production.

Metal Stamping Uses a Wide Variety of Metals

A variety of materials are used in the production of metal stamping products including:

• Steel, including carbon steel, electrical steel, and stainless steel
• Zinc
• Nickel
• Brass
• Aluminum
• Copper and beryllium copper
• Titanium

Metal Products Categories

Because of its remarkable ability to turn sheet metal into various shapes, the following metal stamping products are made possible:

• Deep draw stampings, for such items as pots and pans.
• Clips, including clip fasteners, metal spring clips, and u-clips.
• Contacts, including battery contacts and electrical contacts.
• Flat springs, including custom flat springs, flat leaf springs, and small leaf springs.
• Wire springs, including compression springs and unique formations of coils and wires.
• Varying shapes and applications, including exterior and interior building panels, metal brackets, eyelets, lasers, gauges, radio system components, helicopter parts, vehicle engine parts, weapons parts, navigation systems, and landing gears. The applications are virtually endless.

Metal Stamping Production Categories

Metal stamping products are made possible through the following categories of processes:

• Single hit stamping for use with simple blanks and more simple parts.
• Progressive die stamping uses a number of stations, each with a unique function, in order to produce more complex parts. A single die progressively creates the custom part as the metal strip passing through the die. This is the most often used category and offers faster turnaround, lower labor cost, shorter run length, and higher repeatability.
• Transfer press stamping is a useful option for the production of smaller and lower-weight parts. Transfer presses are highly versatile and can incorporate such production features as pierced holes, chamfering, cut-outs, ribs, knurls and threading into the press operations.
• Deep draw stamping involves pulling sheet metal blanks into the die via a punch, thereby forming into a shape. This process is ideal for creating components that need several series of diameters. Common applications include automotive components, aircraft parts, and electronic relays.
• Wire EDM uses electrical discharge machining to shape metal materials using an electrically charged strand of brass wire. It can cut highly intricate shapes, including very small angles and shaped contours.

Benefits of Metal Stamping Processes

These processes provide the following benefits for metal stamping products:

• Cost-effective production of material-intensive parts, compared to other traditional methods.
• Products are produced with high precision and tight tolerances
• Metal stamping provides quality, long wear life, and great appearance. Metal stamping allows parts to be made of tougher and harder materials than other processes allow.
• Fewer secondary processes are involved so labor cost is reduced, and production time is accelerated.
• Versatility is a hallmark of metal stamping processes.
• Metal stamping is environmentally friendly because there is a smaller amount of material required per piece with a smaller amount of scrap, making disposal easier.

Seek Proven Expertise for Your Quality Metal Stamping Needs

Contact Velocity Metalworks, serving the Greater St. Louis area and the Midwest. We have been recognized as a valuable partner in the metal stamping industry for our strong tool design and build competency. With our metal stamping capacity, precision machining services and EDM capabilities, we provide the superior experience, precision, and quality you can depend on.