Many products contain a punched part. Some examples are filters for test equipment, rubber seals and membranes to separate liquids. The material of these punched parts can be very diverse; think of PTFE, paper, rubber, plastic etc.
Punching out these products can be a difficult job, in which product quality plays a role on the one hand and pollution due to the punching process on the other. GDO Precision Technology has built up many years of experience with these applications and has innovative solutions for the most common problems with punching tools.
Die-cut products often require a high level of accuracy, making it worthwhile to invest in a proper die-cutting tool. We from GDO have everything what it takes to develop and produce a customer specific punching tool, due to the many years of experience and the high tech, in house tooling shop. (turning, milling, EDM, wire sparking, grinding) We only process high-end materials that we ultimately deliver with an appropriate hardness and surface/heat treatment. The quality of your product is determined by the accuracy of your punching tools. Be advised by an experienced tool maker before you order a punching tool in a blink of an eye.
Pollution is one of the themes, which are very common when we are talking about die-cutting products. We put a lot of attention on the cleaning of the cutting die. This can be done by active cleaning as well as by building so-called self-cleaning cutting dies. Some materials may have the property that very small particles adhere to the cutting die. These particles can eventually negatively affect the operation of the cutting die and even cause a product to get stuck completely. Therefore, when choosing for the right type of die, make sure that you do sufficient testing on a prototype before building the production tool. With the prototype we can see how much pollution actually occurs and whether it is necessary to develop a die with zero tolerance, just like we do with the PTFE membranes.
After die-cutting, the parts often have to be mounted in the product. It is a big loss if the products subsequently lose their position and have to be repositioned for assembly. That is why GDO has developed a method to remove and assemble the products directly from the punching tool. Think of placing, welding, anchoring or US welding of the parts. Nothing is as accurate as the punching tool, so we have chosen to immediately secure the part and place it on the product via a self-aligning gripper. Want to find out more? Please contact us.
An example: Die-cutting and mounting of PTFE filtration membrane (e.g. Poreflon)
What have we done?
- A sheet of filter paper with the size of A5 is stretched in a frame
- A camera checks for defects in the filter sheet and automatically determines where can or cannot be punched (optional)
- The servo gantry moves the punch into position
- The membrane is punched
- The gripper immediately secures the product and removes it from the punching tool
- The gripper has a contour that immediately brings the punched membrane into a predefined shape, in this case a convex shape
- The membrane is placed on the product and immediately anchored with a heated stamp.
- Finally, the product can be optically tested (optional)
Interested after reading this article? Please contact our sales staff or write an email to info@gdo-bv.com
Materials we have worked with in the past:
- PTFE filtration membrane (e.g. Poreflon)
- Rubber mats
- Paper
- Plastic