Tool and Die Design

Our process begins with a part or blueprint delivered to us by the customer that needs to be created. From there, we reverse engineer the part’s design using our state-of-the-art modeling capabilities and Solidworks software. We create blueprints for simple or complex tool and die fixtures, which can be made up of hundreds of components and can perform multiple operations in a single press cycle. Once the tooling designs are created, we begin production on the components leveraging our years of experience.

When considering the components that make up the tooling, we must consider the tool steel properties. Various steel and steel alloys will provide different benefits depending on production needs. Dimensional stability, abrasion resistance, wear resistance, impact toughness and bend strength are all qualities to be considered when selecting a material. These include:

D2 Tool Steel – great for blanking dies, punches, and forms
A2 Tool Steel – highly versatile and ideal for holders, punches, and dies
M2 Tool Steel – excellent wear resistance and great for punches and dies

Choosing Verdugo Tool & Engineering to custom engineer your components offers a range of benefits, with the most apparent being a more efficient manufacturing process. Some other benefits include:

Preproduction Troubleshooting
Once we have an outline for the tool, we can simulate the strip on the CAD software. This will tell us what will be most efficient and where there could potentially be trouble spots in the tool and die design. Until the tool is verified as fully operational in the simulated production run, there will be no labor or material expenses incurred in the tool room. This ensures that once we build the tool it is immediately ready for production, streamlining the customer manufacturing process.

Tight Tolerances and Consistency
The hallmark of a good tool is the ability to produce consistent parts run after run regardless of the operator and the machine it is mounted in. We have extensive knowledge and experience of how to get this done. From the positioning and shape of the punches to the clearances of the dies we are able to precisely position all your parts features so that they fall within specifications time and time again.

Improved Manufacturability
We can help engineer more efficient solutions for your troublesome parts. Whether you have increased demand and are looking for a more efficient manufacturing process or have old-fashioned dies that are either broken or hard to work with, we have extensive experience working with clients existing tooling. With over five decades of experience, we can advise whether you need new tooling or if we can help improve upon your existing tooling with additional fixtures, jigging, or new or repaired components—getting you back into production faster than ever before.

We can engineer anything your company needs to be used in a wide range of applications. A few examples of types of tooling we are experienced with include but are not limited to:

• Multi-out progressive dies
• Short-run tools
• Secondary tools
• Precision gauges and fixtures
• CNC and drill fixtures
• PEM and press brake tools
• Machine automation tools
• Quality control tooling

Creating customer-specified parts requires tooling. Manufacturing precision parts to maximize profit for our clients requires a carefully thought-out sequence of punching, cutting, and forming to reduce labor and scrap. This requires a well-mapped out tool design that not only consistently makes precision parts, but also considers ease of use and safety for our operators. It is the experience we have in collaboration with our highly skilled operators that sets us apart from other stamping houses.

Die Making

At Verdugo Tool we employ only the highest skilled die makers with more than 30 years of experience. Our die makers are extremely skilled with manual lathes, grinders, and mills as well as trained on cutting-edge CNC and EDM machines. This allows us to quickly repair tools, troubleshoot new and existing tooling, as well as make prototype tooling extremely quickly with little to no need for engineering input—saving our clients time and money.

Tool and die design plays a critical role in the structure and quality of end products—it is at the heart of any new build. As a result, manufacturers must exercise great care when making design considerations. We at Verdugo Tool & Engineering utilize both AutoCAD and SolidWorks to design custom solutions for our clients. We prepare dies to our client’s specifications while eliminating any performance concerns that may later cause malfunctions.

The design process offers a chance to create complete drawings and analyze the different operations to identify any issues that might negatively impact the rate of production. It ensures that the tool is machine-ready, saving on future repair costs and downtime. The tool and die design stage involves analyzing the arrangement of every hole, bend, and punch in a strip. CAD software helps engineers design the blank strip and determine key characteristics like feed direction, tolerances, and scrap minimization.

Tool production, which includes detailing all components, ordering tool materials, and machining die blocks, can start as soon as the customer approves the design. This is where working with a tool and die designer like Verdugo Tool & Engineering is useful. Our tool makers and engineers help prevent delays and quality issues while adding value that supports long and robust part life. Also, we offer prototyping services to ensure high-performance designs with the expected functionality.

In depth tool and die design and analysis allow you to optimize your manufacturing operations to enable:

• Fast and easy setup. It takes less time to set up tooling when clamping and clamping and fixturing is considered. We incorporate single-minute rapid die changeovers and inserts with quick sharpening capabilities into each die’s design for cost-effective production. Our proprietary system for swapping out tooling plates to quickly align dies is critical for reducing downtime and saving on labor.
• Higher versatility for part geometries. Manufacturers can easily create families of parts with similar but different geometries using sheet metal stamping processes. With a custom-designed die with proprietary inserts we can produce multiple parts using the same base tooling saving you time and money.
• Increased production speed. Our tools are designed to produce more parts in a shorter period of time, with low cycle times per part in high-volume production runs. We also design our punch and die tooling for easy maintenance to reduce downtime, with die protection sensors included to monitor tonnage, misfeeding, buckling, end-of-stock, and part ejection allowing us to run unattended for hours at a time.
• Reduced waste. Using our 3D CAD programs we are able to manipulate and rotate parts to minimize the scrap. This allows us to reduce the amount of material we purchase as well as reduce the amount of scrap we generate, passing the savings onto our clients.
• Superior repeatability. Carefully designed tools will take advantage of the location of holes and bends to minimize the movement of material during production. Limiting the flow of material reduces stress on the part and will result in less breakage and higher repeatability. This means that you can be sure that all of the parts we run will be precise and consistent as well as need less maintenance.

Progressive die is a blanket term for a class of stamping tools that produces parts progressively through a sequence of cutting, piercing, and forming operations. The strip of material feeds through a series of stations that each perform a specific operation to produce a completed part. Because there are many operations being performed in one tool, progressive dies are often highly complex and require many years of expertise to design, manufacture, and maintain.

Since progressive dies are so complex and their production demands are so great, they are generally manufactured to extremely tight tolerances. This ensures that material runs efficiently through the tool and that all parts are identical to within .001 of an inch. Because of their accuracy and repeatability, progressive dies are used to manufacture parts in a variety of industries including aerospace, defense, electronics, automotive, and more.

Progressive dies can be used to manufacture all kinds of parts ranging from large to small or simple to complex. With intricate cam and spring systems parts can be manipulated to be folded well past 90 degree angles and they can be punched and threaded from almost any direction. Using removable inserts and different cutout punches, progressive dies can be manufactured to produce multiple parts in the same tool. Along the same lines, they can be engineered to produce multiples of the same part in just one press cycle.

These tools often run in a press at rates of over 1000 cycles per hour. Because of this, progressive dies are often used for projects where there will be a large volume of parts. Additionally they can be engineered with the use of electronic sensors to run without operator oversight enhancing their profitability. These tools are highly engineered and robust allowing our clients to save time and money in the long run via reduced piece prices and increased production rates.

Progressive die stamping is a versatile and cost-effective manufacturing process that offers several advantages over other sheet metal stamping methods. The most significant benefit of progressive die stamping is the ability to efficiently produce large quantities of complex parts with tight tolerances. Additionally progressive die stamping has other advantages as well:

• High run rates for large production projects
• High precision and repeatability
• Fast and easy setup
• Minimal material scrap
• Reduced price-per-unit labor costs
• Can produce multiple parts on the same tool

Also known as short-run stamping, short-run tooling is a manufacturing process used to produce small runs (usually less than 5,000 pieces) of uniform sheet metal parts. It usually consists of one operation per tool and requires an operator to manually load the parts or material into each station. This makes short-run tooling ideal for prototyping or highly irregular and complex forms. It is also the preferred method for deep draws and embosses.

Often called “quick and dirty” tooling, short-run tooling can be made quickly and cheaply with only a couple of hardened blocks or it can be made more robust to hold tight tolerances. At Verdugo Tool & Engineering we implement special proprietary lineup fixtures that help us set up each operation. Because of this we are able to pass on initial start up savings to the customer.

When we first evaluate a customer’s new project it is important to determine how exactly to manufacture their parts so that they are satisfied with the startup costs, the piece price, and most importantly the lead times. In order to do this, it is important to understand the differences between short-run tooling and progressive tooling.

Generally speaking because of its increased complexity, progressive tooling has a higher initial cost than short-run tooling. Short-run tooling strives to be as quick and fast to startup as possible while progressive tooling takes more time to carefully engineer and build. For prototyping or small enough projects, we even offer the option to forgo purchasing tooling and incurring a small non-recurring engineering charge (NRE) instead.

Conversely, once finished progressive tooling is very efficient and fast to run (1000 pieces/hour or more) whereas short-run tooling can be a little more labor intensive (200-300 pieces/hour) leading to slightly higher piece prices. Because of these nuances, it is important we collaborate with our customers on the exact requirements and part forecasts for each project before we get started.

Even though the lead times are shorter than those of progressive dies, short-run tooling should not be considered a “quick and dirty” manufacturing method sufficient for all of a client’s manufacturing needs. Short-run tooling is still very precise, accurate, and repeatable over thousands of parts. Ultimately the project’s budget and part forecasts are the driving factors that determine which route to go.

Short-run tooling excels when the parts have very complicated forms or need to be rotated or turned around for various operations. These manipulations are very hard to do in a progressive die, but in a short-run tool, the operator can do all of these things manually making it much easier to get the desired result.