The Mind-Blowing Machines that Stamp Millions of Metal Parts

[00:02] It's a hard manufacturing process to describe. I've tried to describe it to people in five minutes or less and you, Hey, it's me, Destin and welcome back to Smarter Every Day.

[00:16] I love seeing the Made in America stamp on there. Now, this engine is made in Auburn Alabama, But the components for that engine are made all over.

[00:32] which I happen to have one right here, this is a Briggs & Stratton engine. It's got shrouds on it, stuff like that. of those trees at a really cool manufacturing facility.

[00:48] It's a process called sheet metal stamping, and it is fascinating. There's so many little holes and bends at certain angles. Almost everything I interact with, like a machine or something like a lawn mower,

[01:07] And we're about to learn how these parts are made. manufacturing, and I am so excited about this. The specific type of stamping is called progressive metal stamping.

[01:25] and a very special tool bangs out parts and advances the parts along without anyone touching it, and you have finished parts falling out the other side. In this series, we're going to look at all kinds of amazing processes.

[01:41] everyday email list, now would be a good time to do that, smarter every day dot com these videos come out because this is about to be amazing. My generation was taught go get a STEM degree.

[01:56] I think there's two things that are super important now. We need to learn more about rhetoric and how to talk to each other. Local manufacturing is about to be a giant thing.

[02:11] You should consider learning part of a manufacturing process because these skills are about to be incredibly important. smarter every day.

[02:25] So to learn more about how these parts are made, we're. They are wizards when it comes to sheet And I want to show you.

[02:40] Good to see you again. You doin all right? Okay, so this is Weston and I'm Destin and we're, Heard the name. I don't either.

[02:54] But you have a really cool sheet metal About it because I love it. Is it called a plant? We've got 100,000 square feet here. In Athens.

[03:08] So we do some what we call sub assemblies as well. And that's what sets us apart is a lot of

[03:21] So that's uh, we do all of that here. So we'll start in the tool shop, we'll get to look at some dyes up close and you get Then we'll go out into the factory and you can see them in action.

[03:34] We have about 15 full-time tool and die machinists and operators here, so. [W] Yep. So you'll see all of the standard machine tool kinda stuff in here.

[03:50] We have one CNC machine here. [D] So people can kinda, cause I think people maybe don't know what's going on here.

[04:03] [W] So this is a metal stamping. [D] It's called a stamping? [W] A metal stamping. So it's anything that can be stamped out of a coil of sheet metal.

[04:15] So this particular part is a heat shield for a V-twin motor. This is a heat shield that goes on that. So what you're looking at here is actually called a stamping die.

[04:31] And this is the top half of the stamping die. [W] And we receive raw material in, in coil form, and it's our job to take raw material

[04:45] in coiled steel form, run it through a stamping die [D] So this. So if I understand correctly, just flat [W] Correct.

[04:59] [D] And you make this here? [W] We make everything you see here, with the exception of something like pins and bushings. But all of the die steels, everything you see here started as raw steel.

[05:13] We machine it into what you see here. [D] Alright, so this is one tool. [W] So this is the top half of the die here.

[05:28] So in operation, you have the top half that mates with the bottom half. This goes into a press and the press moves up and down and the die...

[05:40] [W] [laughing] Yeah, whatever sound effect you want to use. [D] [laughing] it's attached to the strip the entire time. during the process, and you have a finished part that falls off the end.

[05:56] [W] Correct. So what this is, the application of this is, [D] Oh, so it can't cut the wire? guards against any kind of wire that would cut the insulation or anything like that.

[06:12] So I see a guide here and here. [W] Yes. [D] So that feels like the metal will come straight in here. [W] Yes, the material comes from this end and moves and the material is one piece

[06:29] That's what's called a progressive stamping die because it progressively If the part were to ever be detached from the strip

[06:42] and then continually formed then it would be called a transfer die. [W] A transfer die, because you're transferring a loose part from one station to another. [D] So progressive keeps it attached [W] Yes. [D] Transfer moves a cut piece.

[06:55] We just strictly do progressive dies. [D] Okay So it may be better to look at the top half of it. [D] Okay, this is getting serious. [W] So imagine... Yeah.

[07:11] Imagine this is upside down right now, but this would be the last station of the die. cut off from the strip, falls in a basket, and you have a finished part.

[07:23] [D] So that right there, so this is the top half of the die. [W] Correct. [D] Which means there's a mate over here. Yep. So everything...

[07:37] [D] Can you grab that part? [W] Yep. [W] So everything has to line up perfectly.

[07:49] [D] And so you have to design this whole thing in stages. Like you start with flat and you [W] Correct So you basically start with a flat blank and you have to figure out how to get these

[08:02] features into the part and basically have the finished part fall off at the end. I got it. This is why I wanted to come here. piece of raw steel and has to be machined into what you see here.

[08:18] So the tooling engineer will generate drawings and then it's up to the tool makers to figure out how to machine this stuff out of just raw steel. [D] This is raw brute force brain power and manufacturing, isn't it?

[08:31] This is the exact same manufacturing process. This is the bottom half of the die. But here we actually have a strip. [D] Oh, wow.

[08:47] [W] This is the actual finished part. [W] Yeah, this is an automotive bracket. Mark is going to explain this die to us, right?

[09:00] [D] How does it work? [M] We feed the raw material in from this end and like you see, it'd be solid without any interruptions. These two holes are pierced here for the pilots to engage.

[09:18] [D] So a pilot is a way to index the parts. [M] Correct. [M] And that maintains our progression, our feed for each part in each position. You can see we've got the die loaded pretty well with pilots.

[09:33] [M] Yes. [M] Right. It'd be cut right there. Then after you cut the tab, then what?

[09:48] [M] Progresses one more distance from the pilots. Then as it carries it through, we bring it down to the form.

[10:01] [D] Uh huh [M] Bring it on down a little further, and then it forms them down again. [D] So in some places you have radiuses, in some places you have sharps.

[10:14] [M] Yes, that's where it forms and that's all hardened. And the opposing side would be hardened also.

[10:26] Okay, forgive me, Mark, I don't know where the cuts are taking place here. [M] Yes, these are actuated with, drive blocks here that they come in and they trim the bottom side of the sheet.

[10:45] [D] All right, so this looks sharp. [M] And that's the final cut off where the final part would. [M] Yeah.

[11:02] It feeds. In this direction. [M] Yeah, the the stamps in the top side and it just...

[11:14] [M] Well, that's where it's worn from hitting it. [D] And you can change that. [W] Automotive customer's required date codes and numbers to be shown in the part.

[11:32] Okay, so stamped letters comes along, cuts the tabs here. [D] That's a punch. [M] Yes, this is the pilot holes. And this is the opening for that blank.

[11:47] [D] So this is the bottom. [M] Yes. [M] As we get to this area, that's where that kicks this down on a 45.

[11:59] [M] It progresses down two more stations and it kicks that leg up. So where this was 45 is now up at 90 degrees to the bend.

[12:11] why do you do a 45 instead of just doing the whole bend at one time? engineers, they feel differently about having it. But once you have this form right here, you'll never have to touch it again.

[12:25] You're just bringing this angle up to 90. So this is already at 90 to that when it leaves this area. So we're just actually just kicking this one angle on up to 90.

[12:41] You said these are side actions. [M] Yes. [D] It's not going to move? [D] So if you push, how do you get...

[12:55] [M] This is the, pad that actually strikes the backside of that block and does the pushing. [D] But how do you take a vertical motion here and turn it into a left and right motion?

[13:10] [M] There's a 45 degree angle on this slide right here 45 degree angle on this driver. [D] Has a spring return. [M] Yes.

[13:22] This is ridiculous. Weston, this is crazy. Then how many of these can you make in a day? This has got 54,000 parts on it.

[13:40] one area, and so we're going to sharpen the cut off. [M] To bring that back up to a good surface. [M] Yeah. [D] That's amazing.

[13:53] You can see this is inserted. So. pull that insert out, put it on the grinder, and resurface it.

[14:05] [W] So we talked a little bit about if you were to buy this tool overseas, we'll call it just bargain tooling. if you were to buy this in China, right?

[14:19] [W] A lot of this would be... This block of steel, for example, is likely to be one piece of steel. We make it modular so dye steels can be taken at inserts.

[14:35] Because if this were one die steel, this were one piece of steel, maintenance would be virtually impossible. [D] So basically, some of the stuff you get, like, if you were to buy a sheet metal

[14:52] Is that what you're saying? [W] For the most part [D] Okay. [M] You'd have so many grinds that you could make on that, and then you'd have to throw it away and replace the whole area.

[15:07] Now, this die here is probably it was built in the '70s. [M] Yeah, late '70s, I'd say. And all of the areas that are sharpened a lot are inserted just like this would be

[15:21] so that you can keep the tool running for years. [W] So this die will get 500... 600,000 hits a year. [W] On a heavy years, usually closer to 500,000 hits a year.

[15:36] So if you do the math, this die has been in operation since the 70s. It's AnyDesk, and this is an amazing product. AnyDesk is remote desktop software that works with any of your devices.

[15:50] If you have a problem like I do, I have a computer that I edit smarter every day on. I need to do things from this specific computer, and that's what AnyDesk does in an amazing way.

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[16:15] It's an incredible piece of software and it just nails it. In fact, it solved a problem on my recent video. I just came up to South Dakota to visit my buddy Matt.

[16:29] I discovered an error. video is on my computer back home in Alabama, and all my files are there. I'm actually running my computer back home and I can edit from it, too.

[16:44] audio edits, which if you listen, the spring down. Could accelerate the hammer towards the primer. The fact that I'm doing this is awesome

[16:58] and I was checking it on my phone in the airport. So I am sold on this product. You need to use AnyDesk.

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[17:37] You can make it exactly what you need. Go to anydesk.com/Smarter. Austin specifically for sponsoring this video because it's awesome software. smart, and we headed deeper into the plant.

[17:52] All the toolmakers have their own toolbox and they work on dyes as they come in. Do a lot of people do this in America?

[18:04] When these guys came up in the trade in the 60s and 70s, it was a really popular career choice, but not so much anymore. You think of a factory dirty, dingy, and there's all these stereotypes.

[18:19] But the reality is you can be creative. They're a lot cleaner than they used to be. So hopefully people are considering it as a viable career option.

[18:33] But there's this gap between the 60s and 70s and now. workforce that's getting closer to retirement. [D] If you are a young person looking for a

[18:47] job, you should seriously consider what's called the skilled trades. We're about to meet a bunch of people that make this plant go, and they are all part One of these trades that requires the most skill is called a tool and dye maker.

[19:02] So pretend I'm an idiot, which isn't hard, right? Tell me, when I hear tool and die, can you point to something that shows me. [R] All of this is tooling. [D] Explain it to me.

[19:16] That's a die steel. [D] Okay. This is tooling. [D] Now, what's die? [D] Show me a die. [R] This is this is an assembly.

[19:30] So the tooling goes inside the die? [R] Right. tradesman or a skilled trade woman, whatever they say these days.

[19:43] So do you basically that is the knowledge [R] Okay. It's injection mold, plastic. [D] Plastic injection,

[19:57] [R] You got plastic, you've got die cast, which could be aluminum, it could be magnesium. It's completely different skill sets for each one of them.

[20:11] Understand my ignorance when I ask that question. Is it patience? [R] It's about the fit.

[20:25] Drilling a hole is drill a hole, but when you put it together, everything's got to Tool has been around for a long time. [D] This, this round?

[20:39] [R] It's out of place called being out of alignment. It could have been a die crash, it could have been a bunch of things. out how to get that back where it's supposed to be.

[20:53] Sometimes it's a complete remount. [D] So you're more like watchmakers. Like, a, Ah

[21:08] You can either be a sledgehammer or a surgeon. Sometimes, like I say, you might hit it like a hammer.

[21:21] A lot of times you might change the squareness a few tenths just to affect. [D] Two tenths, meaning a tenth of a thousandth of an inch. I think that punches out square about a thousandth for some reason.

[21:38] War, tear, whatever. Anything can get. [D] Will a good engineer spend time in the shop? [D] I don't know what the heck is going on, but I'm talking more country around Rodger.

[21:54] [R] It may be in the air. You don't just become a tool and die maker overnight. like a wizard teaches a younger wizard apprentice how to do things.

[22:08] Remember, we learned that a tool goes in a die assembly. So this apprentice is making a tool for a die. [D] How's it going, man?

[22:21] [D] You're running a surface grinder? [B] Yeah. [W] Brandon was a press operator for a couple of years, and now he's an apprentice here [D] So you're learning how to do all this? [B] Yes, sir.

[22:36] [D] Is it awesome? [B] It is. I've already ground the thickness. Parallel now to be.

[22:50] our holes, tapped holes, counterbore holes, whatever needs to be put in it. Then it'll be ready for either the wire machine or the CNC machine.

[23:06] Just learn. [Destin Laughing] [D] Did you go to apprentice, journeyman, and then in skilled trade? you'll be a journeyman? [B] Yes.

[23:18] I think that's worth more than... A lot of times that's worth more than the, [D] That's awesome. So Brandon was making tooling for a die using a process called machining.

[23:32] Specifically, he was using grinding as a form of subtractive machining. parts, they think of 3D printers, which is additive manufacturing. You're adding material to the part in the way you want to make a certain shape.

[23:46] called subtractive manufacturing or machining. cutters to cut away material from a part so that you can get a certain shape. cutter that spins, and you have a vise that holds the part in position, and you

[24:03] can move things using knobs and stuff like that in X, Y, and Z. It's a machine, which is why this is called machining. Like every machinist since World War II, knows what a bridgeport is.

[24:19] And when you see this, you should feel a little bit tingly on the inside. [D] Does all these run? If we just need to crank out a die steel

[24:34] piece of steel on there and machine it out. A CNC machine is just like one of the It's called computer numerical control.

[24:49] can make incredible parts, but it's complicated. [W] Cody, our CNC programmer, stays pretty busy, too.

[25:01] [C] Nice to meet you. [D] What are you working on now? You run Master Cam? [C] Yeah, Master Cam. [C] I've killed three in, three years. I don't do it often.

[25:16] They let me take my time and do it pretty thorough, so I'm. Did you go to school for it? I self taught a lot of it, so I actually bought Master Cam for my home use.

[25:29] [D] Really? [C] And taught myself how to do it. And I went to school for machining and taught myself how to program. [D] Northwest Shoals? That's awesome, dude.

[25:43] And you went and bought it at home to invest in yourself. I was the night shift supervisor and they didn't want me to change roles.

[25:56] So I just invested in myself and got it for my home use and learned it and found somebody to hire me to do it. [D] Dude, that's awesome.

[26:11] [C] Oh, for sure. Yeah, [W] He's writing a program for essentially everything that he puts into that CNC. This is not a production CNC where he just pushes a button.

[26:25] [D] Got it. [D] I'm trying to learn CNC right now. [C] By ear, listening. [D] Really?

[26:37] [Destin Laughing] Hey, a quick shout out again for AnyDesk. If I was Cody, I would want AnyDesk on

[26:51] that computer so that if I go fishing early one afternoon, I could log back into Don't mean to give you ideas, Cody and T&C stamping, but that's an option.

[27:03] thanks again, AnyDesk. because you got a round cutter and you can cut parts. You can't get this mill in there to cut it.

[27:18] And you can imagine if you had to machine that, there's very few ways you can actually do that in a, [D] So you're talking about a tapered grinding wheel or some kind of end mill that has that

[27:37] profile on it and has to be that specific profile. So what a wire EDM machine does is Boyce would actually... He's just making them one little section here.

[27:53] [D] It's hard to see what's going on here, so let's take a closer look. EDM, which is electrical discharge machining.

[28:05] through this intricate machine and it's electrified. It turns into an electrode and it is run up next to a part. And then there's an electric discharge to the piece that's being machined.

[28:18] That electric discharge eats away the metal where the wire touches the parts, Now, it's all done under deionized water so that the temperature can remain But this is a very fascinating machining

[28:34] [W] With that brass wire is electrically So Boyce would program the wire EDM machine to

[28:46] [B] Running that path right there. [B] On me? [D] On you. [D] If you're good. I'll just stick it right there.

[28:58] [B] Inserts. Fix to run this profile inside that insert right there. It's cutting. [D] Is this carbide or tool steel?

[29:13] How long will it take to run that on the EDM? [B] 45 minutes. [D] What's your background, Boyce? I've been in tool and die for 45 years. [D] Tool and die?

[29:29] [B] Nope. Too late on that. Yeah, I took over the man that was in here for... I started out in 1983 working in EDM and

[29:45] went to machinist and doing tool and die work. He retired a year or so ago and I volunteered to come back in here. [W] What we're moving into now, the blender blade area.

[29:59] maybe from here to the window or so is about as close as we want to get to those. [D] Okay, sure. [W] Yeah. So these guys have figured out the blender blade production system.

[30:17] Manufacturer, and, we stamp every blender blade that goes in See in this. Particular brand of blender is made.

[30:30] [D] Athens, Alabama, the blender blade capital of this company that we're not going to talk about. [W] So last year, we stamped between 35 and 40 million blender blades.

[30:43] But they're... [W] They're stamped right here in this cell. They're washed then their packaged and they

[30:58] go straight to the the assembly center in Mexico from this cell right here. [D] Is it okay to see? What we can. I'm Destin. [T] I'm Tabitha.

[31:13] So she makes it happen, huh? So this is the actual part we're looking at here. So you run all these presses? [T] Yes, sir.

[31:28] [T] These are ready to be put in the wash. That's what you're doing. Over there. I'm. Rinsing.

[31:43] You're doing it all right here. [D] So that gets the oil off of it? [T] Yes, sir. and then it comes up down and I package.

[31:57] [D] How do you know many are in here? The counter on the machine. [D] Got it. [T] Each basket. Is 2,000.

[32:09] [D] Thank you so much. This green press, this is a 160 ton press here.

[32:22] [D] This one right here? [W] This was the first press that ran stampings for T&C. [D] This one right here? [W] Yup.

[32:34] Usually you can see the tonnage. So this one is 160 tons. No, stamping equipment hasn't really evolved a lot over the past half century

[32:51] Servo presses, which we'll see in the other building, that's really the biggest But for the most part, stamping presses have been the same for the last 50 years. [D] It still works. [W] It was a good investment.

[33:06] That was probably a $10,000, $15,000 press back in the 80s. [W] This is the older part of the plant. When we talked about coiled steel, this is how we receive material.

[33:20] [D] So that's not a die right there that we... [W] No. So just to take you through the process, so this is a de-realer. It's loaded onto the de-realer, then it's fed through a straightener.

[33:39] Coiled steel has a bow in it, naturally, because it comes in coil form. So it goes through a straightener and basically you have rollers on the top and the bottom that apply pressure and straighten the part.

[33:59] So the green part there is the feeder. [D] It's oiling it. material into the press and through the die. And then you have the press itself.

[34:22] First glance, it's a pretty simple part, but you actually have a hem on this side of the part that's completely folded over It's been done in a progressive stamping job, so pretty impressive.

[34:41] [W] This is all scrap. This is melted down, turned back into coiled steel, and a lot of it is probably sent right back here.

[34:55] Hey, Donny. What's going on? [D] You can see it happening.

[35:40] How do you keep from hurting yourself on that? they have these yellow bars on the sides of the press. You have a laser that reflects off of a mirror and goes into a reception point.

[35:57] [D] So if you go inside that, it'll cut off. [W] That's right. So I'll use the rag, for example. [D] So from there, where's it at?

[36:12] [W] And then back to the corner. So that's how we keep from hands and arms and things like that getting cut off. injuries, missing limbs and things like that.

[36:27] [D] That's awesome. So we got a de-realer, a straightener.

[36:42] [W] Every bit of scrap you see today is recycled. The factory is full of these huge presses just relentlessly stamping out parts.

[36:55] I can hear it punching. [D] You hear the break. press that was making multiple parts with every hit.

[37:11] parts with one stroke, so we call it a three out. I'm Destin. [C] Chris [D] You're calling a ferrule you said? [W] A ferrule.

[37:27] It goes on a shaft that rotates in an appliance application. Oh, it's not running.

[37:40] [D] What's the loud one that sounds like a dragon stompin? That's our 200 ton press in the middle of this particular building. It's actually an aluminum bracket,

[37:53] [D] That thing is loud. [W] It's loud. [D] How are you doing? [T] It'll do about 24,000 on it a day.

[38:11] Why is it so loud compared to the other ones? Getting some age on it. [T] Yeah, it works great. It's just kinda old.

[38:26] [D] Does it always run the same thing or do you run different parts? Another aluminum part, the 107 and 108. I've got to put.

[38:39] [D] You said you like it? [D] Yeah, good people? [T] Absolutely. That's great. to meet you, Tim

[38:53] [D] if I understood him correctly, he'll run that press and then he'll come get another [W] Correct. [D] However many parts. going to run every day, we'll have a press that's dedicated for that part.

[39:09] But for the most part, the presses here run several different dies. So the heat shield that we looked at in This heat shield goes on the other side of a V-twin engine.

[39:25] And these go to the Briggs & Straton factory down in Auburn. they call it a mid block V-twin and every mid block V-twin and they make in Auburn. [D] That does not translate to audio on the video.

[39:40] There is something happening when that bangs. It's not the same part, but it's similar. It's a heat shield for one side of the cylinder.

[39:56] So you think of a V-twin, you've got a heat shield on this side and a heat, shield on this side. [D] Oh, so I see how it's all happening now. Man, that's fast.

[40:10] Good how are you? [D] Doing well. A lot of times you'll have a piece of scrap, we call it a slug, it'll get hung up in the die and it won't leave the die.

[40:24] There's no slug marks, nothing that looks a miss. So we don't run a few thousand parts and miss anything. [D] How big, is this a 275 tons press?

[40:37] [D] Wow.

[41:54] So this is it goes on the same V-twin engine. So this is heat shield that goes around the flywheel at the base of the engine. [D] So this is also a 275 tons press? [W] 275 tons.

[42:08] So what that means is he pushes the palm buttons and the press cycles one time. So you'll see the material progressing through the die.

[42:20] All right, so we're starting with blank steel. Let's punch that hole in it, Chris. Now, let's punch another set of holes in it.

[42:34] Now it's going to start forming it or more holes? [C] Form the outside. [D] Form the outside, okay.

[42:48] All right, ready?

[43:10] [W] Leroy's mom was one of the first employees, Dude, that was the moment where you could It's a hard manufacturing process to describe.

[43:26] I've tried to describe it to people in five minutes or less than you just can. Is it a flywheel? We can see the flywheel.

[43:39] So there's an electric motor that turns a giant gas iron flywheel. Every press we've seen so far, that's what creates the energy. [D] So you take electric energy and make mechanical momentum?

[43:54] [D] Is that the flywheel? [W] There is a clutch, yes. [W] Correct. [D] Even the big one does that?

[44:08] press, really for the past 50 years has operated just like this. But what we'll see on the other side of the parking lot is called a servo press. This is the press that uses electric motors to actually drive the press.

[44:22] that this press cannot do, and it's pretty impressive. This is raw material warehouse. material in coil form like we talked about.

[44:37] [W] That's galvanized steel. [W] It's quite a bit. So 5,000 tons, I think that comes out too.

[44:55] There's people out there with 1,000 to 2,000 3,000 tons presses, but we're a midsize stamper. But yeah, we process mostly just cold rolled steel, galvanized,

[45:09] a little bit of stainless, a little bit of aluminum, a little bit of red metal, too. So we do copper, bronze, phosphorus, bronze. So this particular part, it's a heat

[45:24] shield like we've seen, but it'll have nuts that get inserted into the part. [D] You'll stake them and stuff? [W] Yeah. So they're threaded nuts that get inserted into the part.

[45:38] So these are still work in process parts. [D] Are we about to go through that door? [W] Yeah. Our raw material warehouse is not climate controlled.

[45:55] During the summer and contain that warm air during the winter. and down, we have our quick door and it helps keep this area climate controlled.

[46:10] What she's doing is inserting the nuts. How are you doing? [D] Sharon, nice to meet you.

[46:25] How many of these do you do a day, Sharon? That's amazing.

[46:38] To see how they're doing. I have to take it and make sure. That you're doing it. I'm going to not bother you so you don't get hurt.

[46:51] So she's doing quality control as. Yeah, nice to meet you as well. These are the newest, latest and greatest stamping presses you can buy.

[47:09] So these actually have electric motors That's amazing. Yeah. [D] Yeah.

[47:23] So you have the two studs that are actually inserted in the dye. [D] As it's going. [W] As it's going.

[47:36] die, and then we have a head unit in there that inserts these and actually stakes The strip. So you'll take two parts and put them together inside the progressive dye.

[47:50] And it's a big cost savings too, because this would typically have to be done in a So this way you have a finished part that falls off the press.

[48:03] [D] That's awesome. Why are there cages around that tool? So you have loose parts that are being attached to a fixed part. tons of force coming down, [D] it could shoot out.

[48:20] This is one of the few parts we have that there are loose objects being attached to a fixed object, and it's just a safety precaution where you got it.

[48:33] One of the features of a servo press is that on a traditional mechanical press, the stroke speed is the same throughout the entire press stroke. us, the stroke speed remains constant through the entire press stroke.

[48:48] But what you can do with a servo press is you can bring the press down to bottom. Let's say the material requires a draw. So you slow the stroke down. Draw the. material, and then you can speed the press

[49:06] stroke back up to clear for the material as it moves forward. I've hung with you this whole time, and Okay, so what? Say it again.

[49:19] So you can slow the press. So let's say you have to draw the... Oh, I see. If you do it quickly, you can tear the material.

[49:35] you draw the material, you can speed the stroke. If you pull it too fast, you exceed the tensile stress.

[49:47] And you can stretch it. So you can see how it comes down and slows down and then speeds back up. And one of the features you have with a

[50:02] servo press is what we call pendulum motion. So let's say this is a flywheel and let's just pretend this was a mechanical press.

[50:16] rotation before you were able to come down to the bottom center. Got it. But because on a mechanical press, you would have to change the rotation of the flywheel.

[50:29] other, and the rate at which you do that can determine what motion you get. flywheel, all of this would be wasted energy.

[50:45] side to side and we're only using 180 degrees. talking about when he says pendulum motion, because I think it's pretty neat. But if you think about a normal flywheel type setup.

[51:01] At the bottom, it's hitting every time, right? So we can go boom. It's really hard to control, but you get what I'm saying, right?

[51:16] You can see a conventional press has the flywheel going round and round and round. And this servo press, you can see it goes back and forth, back and forth. You can see one's going around and around and one of them is going back and forth.

[51:30] I like the hollow sound when it punches. The metal. That's the big deal with the servo presses. Stroke speed.

[51:47] I'm sorry, the studs are. Being set up. [D] So the studs are coming in those pipes and they're being fed in directly.

[51:59] If you look little close, you can see where it's going in.

[52:32] same time. Or those, those?

[52:46] [W] Yes. Studs. [D] This part is extremely thick, which is crazy that they can punch that.

[53:02] material into the machine itself is impressive. So that laser, it's a proximity sensor. And if that distance isn't right, it'll stop the press.

[53:19] Got it. A lot of people are surprised to know that it's here in Athens. [W] And we do it right here in Athens. [D] That's amazing.

[53:34] [W] So this is proprietary. [D] So we can't show, [W] You can show it from a distance. I'll get the part and we. Yeah. So this is an electric motor mount.

[53:48] So you have the U shape mount. That's a stamping. That stamping is actually stamped in that small green press behind you.

[54:02] [D] So you're making a part that incorporates a bearing and you're doing it all here. [W] So this part is manufactured in one process.

[54:14] [W] When it was all said and done, we had a few years worth of work into it. [D] So that's why I can't show any of this. [W] Yeah. There'd be some people that were upset with me that spent several years

[54:29] developing this if I'd put it on or if Destin puts it on YouTube. you've established yourself as an indispensable part of the supply chain.

[54:41] So our mission is to provide value to the customer. And if we can do that by taking a manual operation and automating it, and that's another way to keep jobs here in the United States, too.

[54:53] good chance that those three parts would be assembled by hand. So if we can automate it here, that's a great way to keep jobs in the state. That's great. Wow.

[55:08] [D] Dude, this is like an army of presses. [W] Yeah. So this is T&C used to be full of presses this size, and they're small. A lot of them are fingernail size, electrical contacts, and things like that.

[55:23] And a lot of that has gone overseas because you can fit 10,000 parts in a box. when you can get it done overseas at half the price and freight is dirt cheap. So we're moving in the direction of larger

[55:39] stampings that make sense to have a local regional supplier. It is. [D] So you guys make the tooling? So the majority of the tooling you see on this rack we build.

[55:52] Of them 60 years old. quality department that tells you how old some of these parts are. [D] Do people call you and say, Hey, I need 10,000 of this widget?

[56:06] [W] Yeah. This is an electrical contact here. The way our business model works is our customer sends in an order.

[56:18] press, we'll run the 10,000 pieces, put them in a box and ship them. Do you own the die or does the customer own the die?

[56:31] So it's an asset that they pay for up front. right to come in here and get it and take it anywhere they want to. But if we build the tool, we're familiar with

[56:45] [W] It is a relationship. They used a big device called an optical They also had a very interesting

[56:58] I'd never seen one like this. It was really cool. This is the room where T&C stamping makes sure that all the parts are made to spec. I'll leave that over on the second channel.

[57:12] On the way out the door, we walked by that first progressive dye I saw when I walked in the shop and I realized I had no idea what this was. I didn't even know what stamping was and now I can see what this thing does.

[57:28] But now I can see the punches, I can see And this represents a really cool movement for me, a movement from ignorance

[57:40] to knowledge to understanding, which is like my favorite thing to do. And yeah, I love this series. We're going to learn about manufacturing in America.

[57:52] link down below to an email list and I'll email you when I make a new video. Smarter Every Day that support this content.

[58:05] Let's let Weston tell us how, if you have a sheet metal part you want to do at Incredible volumes, how to get a sheet metal progressive die made. To work with you. Guys, what.

[58:19] You can find our contact information on their email. We have a contact us email you'll find on the website.

[58:31] Send us any engineering prints you have, material specifications, volumes, and And if you're interested in having stuff made here in America... And it's. TandCstamping.Com, spell out the word and.

[58:45] Call, get your stuff made here in America. That'd be awesome. I hope you enjoyed this, the first video I'm very excited to share some other stuff

[58:58] If not, no big deal. That's it. Have a good one. Bye.