Tooling for Hard Tooled Sheet Metal
A part’s tooling costs for stage tooling, progressive die, transfer die, and tandem die depend, among other things, on the number of stages or stations required to produce the part. The required number of stages or stations depends on the following factors:
• GCD proximity: GCDs that lie too close together must be made at different stages or stations.
• GCD direction: GCDs that share the same direction that are not too close can be made at the same stage or station.
• Operation precedence: Operations that cannot be performed at the same time or that need to follow an order of precedence cannot be made at the same stage or station. For example, piloting must occur on the first station and cannot be combined with forming or bending..
Based on the number-of-stations analysis, aPriori determines which features will be manufactured at each stage. Once all features have been associated with a stage, aPriori calculates the tool base and tool shop cost for the entire tool based on the part size and feature set.
For Generic Press, Progressive Die, Std Press, and Tandem Press, the tooling model estimates the number of parts that can be produced with a given tool before it wears to the point that it needs to be replaced. Based on that estimate, the cost model determines the number of tools required to manufacture the production volume specified in the Production Scenario tab of the Cost Guide, and accounts for that number of tools in total hard tooling cost.
Tool-life estimation is based on part material, and adjusted for tool material and tool coating type. See Tool Life for Sheet Metal.For a given costing, either the formula Dependencies or Investment tab displays the number of tools assumed by tooling cost calculations.
Bill of material costs include the following:
• Die Blocks
• Die Shoes
• Punch Holders
• Top/Bottom Parallels
• Top Plate
• Trans Plate
• Punch Pads
• Strippers
• Rubber
• Spring
• Hardware
• Ejectors
• Guide Pins
• Pilots
• Round Risers
• Bumpers
• Rounds
• Bushings
• Punches
• Inserts
• Tapping Units
Labor costs include the following:
• Assembly
• CNC Machining
• CNC Programming
• Debug
• Design
• Drilling
• Grinding
• Lathe
• Milling
• Rework
• Sawing
• Wire EDM
Standard press tooling costs include the cost of all dies required to manufacture the part. The Investment tab for a part shows a breakdown of die costs, which may include dies for blanking, piercing, forming, drawing, and cam actuated overbending. Each die’s cost includes (1) the cost of the die base plus (2) the cost of the tool shop. The cost for all dies is based on:
• Area of the blank (that is, area within the flattened-part outline)
• Part thickness
• Features on the part, including the holes, bends, and forms
Customizing Tooling Costs for Hard Tooled Sheet Metal
Following is a selection of some important, controllable factors that affect tooling costs:
• Number of die stations. For progressive die, the following setup options affect the number of die stations:
You can also specify the number of die stations directly by editing the number of occurrences of the Die Station component-level operation (for progressive die) or the Generic Press process (for stage tooling).
• Blank XY orientation. By default, parts are oriented in the XY plane so as to maximize material utilization. You can sometimes decrease tooling cost by overriding the default and reorienting the part so as to decrease the blank pitch. This might decrease tooling costs by decreasing the overall length of the die stations—though possibly at the expense of increasing material cost (due to less efficient utilization). For progressive die, you can control the part orientation with the setup option Blank XY Orientation within Part Strip. See also Material Utilization and Part Nesting for Hard Tooled Sheet Metal.
• Main surface. The choice of main surface (see Main Surface for Hard Tooled Sheet Metal) affects tooling cost by requiring or eliminating tooling components (such as lifters for down bends). You can modify the default choice of main surface with the main surface tool, , in the Viewer toolbar.
• Number of concurrent parts. In starting point VPEs, one part at a time is stamped at each station, by default. Stamping two parts concurrently can decrease cycle time and material cost, but it can increase tooling cost. For progressive die, you can control concurrency with the setup option Number of Parts Stamped Concurrently.
• Hole piercing before or after forming. The setup option Pierce Before or After Forms controls whether hole-piercing precedes or follows forming operations, which can affect both number of stations and the number of cams.
Tooling Details for Hard Tooled Sheet Metal
The Sheet Metal Process tooling model provides an itemized tooling cost estimate, including a detailed tooling BOM. Individual estimates for tooling cost per stage or station including material and labor for each stage or station are provided.
An itemized estimate for the following output variables may be found in the Investments tab:
• Die Properties
o Blank Length
o Blank Width
o Die Width
o Number of Dies or Stages
o Number of Parts per Hit
• Labor Cost
o Bottom Parallels
o Die Blocks
o Die Shoes
o Forming Punches
o Misc. Die Components ($)
o Perforators
o Piercing Punches
o Punch Holders
o Punch Pads
o Strippers
o Top Parallels
o Top Plate
o Trans Plates
• Machining Labor
o Base Tool Hours
o CNC Machining Hours
o CNC Programming Hours
o Drilling Hours
o EDM Hours
o Grinding Hours
o Lathe Hours
o Milling Hours
o Sawing Hours
• Material Cost
o Bottom Parallels
o Die Blocks
o Die Shoes
o Forming Punches
o Misc Die Components ($)
o Perforators
o Piercing Punches
o Punch Holders
o Punch Pads
o Strippers
o Top Parallels
o Top Plate
o Trans Plate
• Tooling Cost per Stage - Material & Labor
• Total Tool
o Material Cost
o Adjustment
o Assembly Cost
o Design Cost
o Labor Cost
o Markup
o Rework Cost
o Tryout/Debug Cost
Tool Life for Sheet Metal
For Transfer Die and Offline Blanking, the tooling model estimates the number of parts that can be produced with a given tool before it wears to the point that it needs to be replaced. Based on that estimate, the cost model determines the number of tools required to manufacture the production volume specified in the Production Scenario tab of the Cost Guide, and accounts for that number of tools in total hard tooling cost.
Tool-life estimation is based on part material, and adjusted for tool material and tool coating type, as follows:
4 To determine an unadjusted value for the number of parts that can be produced by a single tool, the cost model looks up this number by part material in the lookup table tblToolLife.
5 The result is then adjusted for mold material by multiplying it by the tool shop property Tool Life Factor for the current mold material (see Base Tool Material).
6 That result is then adjusted for mold coating by multiplying it by the Tool Life Improvement Factor looked up lookup in the table tblToolCoating by coating type (see Plating of Die Components).
For a given costing, either the formula Dependencies or Investment tab displays the number of tools assumed by tooling cost calculations.