Triton Metal Products Utilizes MAAM for Some Big Metal Stamping Parts

Triton Metal Products is a company that specializes in metal fabrication. For over 40 years, this family-owned business has been working to go above and beyond to serve their customers. Like us here at CI, they are focused on continuous improvement. That’s why they were willing to look into additive manufacturing for a solution to one of their most recent challenges.To get more news about Metal stamping parts, you can visit tenral.com official website.

We recently had the pleasure of working with Triton Metal Products on a project to 3D print two large metal forming tools on our brand new MAAM (Medium Area Additive Manufacturing) machine. The upper and lower tools were each about 8”x5”x20”. These tools are used in a cold forming press operation in 0.040” dead soft aluminum to form the metal component shown below - a brace that is used in postoperative rehabilitation. The upper and lower tools are aligned in the press brake, and form the aluminum with 45 tons of pressure. So far, Triton Metal Products has used these 3D printed tools for about 30 hits, and they have not seen any signs of wear or deterioration on the tools.

But why 3D print these tools instead of utilizing traditional manufacturing methods? The answer is a significant material cost savings. The way these tools would traditionally be made is by machining out of tool steel. The table below compares the two manufacturing methods:

We printed both the upper and the lower with a 0.6mm nozzle and a 0.3mm layer height to give them a smooth surface. This fine resolution allowed these parts to be used right off the printer, without a need for any secondary coating or machining. Because we used such a fine layer resolution on these tools, the print time for each was about two days. By adjusting the layer height and using a larger nozzle, we could have achieved a higher throughput and a faster print. Going the traditional route, the machining time on each would have likely been similar, so there is not a time advantage one way or the other.

The one obvious advantage that tool steel has over PLA plastic is that it is much stronger and durable. In this operation, steel would virtually never wear down. Plastic is going to wear down. At this point it is difficult to predict how many hits the PLA tools will be able to withstand, but based on our experience with the material, it will likely be at least a few thousand. Which is why 3D printing is perfect for short production runs and prototyping - not long term production. Use steel for the jobs that will require hundreds of thousands of hits - but when it comes to the shorter run projects, 3D printing is often the way to go. By exploring new options instead of sticking with the old way of doing things, Triton Metal Products was able to take advantage of the low costs of additive manufacturing, and will likely do the same for many projects to come.