Press Tools & Dies
Blanking, forming and draw dies in hardened tool steel, spotted in the press before delivery.
Press tooling built and then spotted in the press, because a die that has never been closed under its own press will find its own clearance on your production floor. Guide pillars and bushes are ground to fit.
How we make it: Custom CNC parts service →
6–10 weeks
1 piece
ISO 9001:2015
Technical Specifications
| Parameter | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Clearance | 5–8% of thickness | per side |
| Tool life | 100,000–1,000,000 | strokes |
| Cutting edge hardness | 58–62 | HRC |
| Guide pillar fit | H6/h5 | - |
| Press spotting | Before delivery | - |
| Sheet range | 0.3–3.0 | mm |
Available Materials
- Tool steel D2 (cutting)
- Tool steel A2
- Tool steel O1
- Cast iron GG25 (die shoes)
- Bronze (guide bushes)
Typical Applications
- Blanking and piercing
- Forming and bending
- Drawing
- Coining
- Progressive dies
Surface Finishes
- Hardened 58–62 HRC
- Ground cutting edges
- Nitrided
- Titanium nitride (outsourced)
- Polished draw surfaces
Industries Served
- Automotive & EV
- Appliance Manufacturing
- Industrial Equipment
- Aerospace
- Consumer Electronics
What drives the price of this part
Derived from the callouts on this page. Where a driver is not on the drawing, it is not on this list.
- Material
- The first material listed, Tool Steel A2 (air hardening), rates 5/10 on our machinability scale at 58–60 HRC hardened · ~217 HB annealed. On this shop's scale a harder alloy means slower passes and more tool changes, and that is cycle time the quote has to carry.
- Order size
- Minimum order is 1 piece, so on a first order setup and programming are spread over very few parts and they are most of the price. Repeat orders at the same quantity are cheaper without anything on the drawing changing.
- Certification and paperwork
- ISO 9001:2015. On a certified family the inspection and documentation work is part of the price: first article inspection, material traceability and the dimensional report are produced per order, not per sample.
See how cycle time is calculated in the machining time calculator and what else moves a price in the cost driver reference.
How these parts are inspected
Matched to the callouts above and the instruments actually on the floor.
- Coordinate measuring machine (Zeiss CONTURA G2, two machines, GR&R 8.4% on the critical feature)
- Dimensional report against the drawing, with a 100% check on critical features rather than a sample
- Certificate of conformance and the mill certificate with every shipment
- Rockwell hardness tester on the part, not only against the mill certificate
The full equipment list, with counts, is on the capability page; the inspection sequence is on quality and inspection.
Questions buyers ask
- Why spot the die in the press at the maker?
- To bed the guide pillars and check the shut height under real load. Left to the customer, that discovery happens during a production run with the press tied up.
- What clearance do you cut for?
- Five to eight percent of the material thickness per side for mild steel, more for stainless and aluminium. Get it wrong and you either burr the part or load the press.
Related part families
Machine Tooling & Inserts
Form tools, bushings and production inserts, hardened and ground to hold size across a long run.
Checking Gauges
Attribute gauges for shop-floor checking, built to 10% of the part tolerance and certified.
EDM Cut Components
Wire and sinker EDM for hardened tool steel, sharp internal corners and features a cutter cannot reach.