Design and manufacture of a die/jig
Design and manufacture of a die/jig
(OP)
hello,
I am wondering how long it would typically take one person (with experience) to design and manufacture a jig and then a die from scratch? Also, what materials would be needed? The tools would be used in the manufacturing of, say, a heavy duty wheelbarrow (Die for pressing the body into shape and Jig for making the tubular frames).
I am wondering how long it would typically take one person (with experience) to design and manufacture a jig and then a die from scratch? Also, what materials would be needed? The tools would be used in the manufacturing of, say, a heavy duty wheelbarrow (Die for pressing the body into shape and Jig for making the tubular frames).





RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
"200 hours John... thats ridiculous... you're fired"
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
There is no pat answer to your question. Here are only some of the questions that need to be answered before even a ballpark estimate could be given:
1. How big is the wheelbarrow tub.
2. What is the material and gauge.
3. How deep is the draw and do the sidewalls have adequate draft.
4. Does the trimmed edge need beading/curling after drawing.
5. How many parts will need to be made over the life of the die, what is the daily throughput.
6. What is precisely meant as "jig" for the tubular frame. Is it a bending jig, welding jig, or . . .
7. Once the above questions are taken into consideration, that leads to additional details that must be answered.
8. Will it be designed with CAD software or pen and paper.
9. Do you have large, high-horsepower CNC machinery at your disposal, or is there some as-of-yet-unknown constraint in the manufacturing of the tooling.
We make multi-plane sheetmetal forming tools frequently. Low volume stuff is made from 1018 and case hardened, higher volume stuff gets made from 4140 and the contact surfaces flame hardened. These first 2 dies will make use of pre-cut blanks, often laser-cut instead of stamped. Class A dies require tool steel, no shortcuts. This one aspect of die material can mean a difference of double the time spent building a tool, because D2 machines a lot slower than 1018. So you can see that there is no pat answer to your question, as asked. Like they say, a question asked well is a question half answered.
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
Thank you for breaking this down for me. Under a lot of pressure and can't even pass the first hurdle! It's basically a team-working exercise but the guy can't even tell us left from right! I've stressed profusely that designing and manufacturing 1 jig and 1 Die from scratch is completely wasteful and unjustified but that's apparently what we have to do...
Anyway, the questions you have displayed (thank you for taking the time
1. How big is the wheelbarrow tub.
8. Will it be designed with CAD software or pen and paper.
Because it is an exercise, none of this is 'real world' stuff. All theoretical (however illogical the whole conundrum is). What I need at the end of the day is a rough and ready guesstimate of each one that I can actually justify, instead of plucking something out of thin air!
Thank you very much in advance ornerynorsk!
As for capnhook, your sarcasm enchants me. As a wise little Rabbit once said, 'If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.'
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
A car fender die (which will run tens of thousands of fenders) needs to finish each bent edge much, much tighter.
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
Figure $500k ready to make the first part, not including the actual press, and not including the trim die and the edge curling tools.
A bending jig can probably be done for $50k, unless you want to work with prefinished steel tube; that will cost more.
Painting will cost a fortune either way; modern finishing lines have to meet all sorts of environmental standards, and you need a big place to store all the paperwork.
Total, maybe you can get by with $1e6 up front to start making wheelbarrows, not including the building.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig
Damn dumb internet, don’t know nothin. How can you ever pretend to be doing engineering or anything technical if the internet and CAD don’t do it for you. You say.... “ I don't want to go round, phoning companies and waste their time.” So, you come to E-Tips to waste our time. Why not ask your Prof. or TA, your tuition is paying their salaries, and they should know that you might not be learning much, because you just got it off the internet, instead of thinking the problem through. If you think a little bit and read btwn. the lines a bit, you have already been given some darn good advice, ideas, and food for thought in some of the above posts. If you can’t come up with, and answer, a whole bunch of questions like Ornerynorsk has started to list, you have no idea how to even begin to approach your problem.
RE: Design and manufacture of a die/jig