MetalArtistCandy
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2017
Every auction I go to, I see punch presses selling for scrap. Curious as why they are no longer in demand.
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If your a job shop.... you'll (die) of buying or making non-standard punches because nobody designs for using them anymore. Designers now only know that a laser can cut whatever the hell they dream up.
It ain't just about the press. Nor even the dies.
It's really about the products and their volume.
Punch presses are like old DNA sequencers (ask me how I know) in that they only run as part of a system of staff and support equipment which costs way more than the machine itself. So once obsolete, there aren't really places to reuse them. Contrast that with smaller manual mills and lathes that can go on to careers as support machines or in home shops. May the hobbyists inherit the means of production!
The positive value of Laser and Waterjets is being understated here too. 2D CNC cutting and CNC presswork is such an efficient way to make things in small to medium volumes and it is such an easy thing to outsource to large shops that in a city like mine, a handful of big lasers can keep a whole pile of small companies supplied. And for anything reasonably standard like electronic enclosures, which I have been told is quite a large fraction of sheet metal work these days, is indeed done with modern CNC punch presses but the result is the same. I'd also agree that as has been noted above, the sort of fancier pressed parts like kitchen devices or more elaborate door lock surrounds have been replaced with other types manufacturing that gives nicer results, like die casting or injection moulding. Our shop for a long time had a ten part progressive die strip from our old tool makers old job at Weiser lock. It was an amazing example of progressive die work but last five hits or so just turned it into a rather kitchy ornamental part. I'm sure that stuff still gets done offshore now but even there the parts are simpler! All this means that I am sure that even if offshoring had never happened, there would still be less press work than there used to be.
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