Press and Die (Squareness)

By design a Metal Stamping Press is designed to provide (3) important functions.

1^st A completely square environment for the tool to function in. (See Theory of the Box)

2^nd The rated tonnage of the machine.

3^rd Finally, a repeatable die space with the proper rated tonnage and a perfectly square environment.

There are very simple methods of maintaining the square condition of the machine.  As long as there is no distortion we can inspect and adjust the level of the press bed. Once the press bed is level, place the slide at the bottom dead center position, check and adjust the level of the slide left to right and front to back.  Always check the parallelism on the centerline of the press left to right and front to rear as well as the four corners of the slide.  The die seats on the center lines of the press, thus you can have one corner of the slide that may be out of square with the bed, but if the tool is inboard of the damaged area you can operate in a somewhat trouble free condition.  Remember that the most important condition is squareness!

Jeff Fedline