Fine Blanking was developed in Switzerland for the manufacture of watch components. It has progressed over the years so that now many everyday components can be manufactured in a high precision and cost effective manner. This method of production is used in many industries – especially the automotive industry – where defined edges are required without the tearing as caused by conventional blanking.

There are three main features, which enable a fine blanked component to be produced:

Type of Press.

The press needs to be triple action allowing the actual cutting stroke to be slowed and controlled.

Tool Clearance.

The clearance between punch and die in conventional blanking will typically be 10% of the material thickness. However, the clearance on a fine blank tool could be as little as 0.01mm even for a raw material thickness of 5mm.

Material Clamping.

The raw material is clamped between the stripper plate and the die during blanking by a ‘V’ ring around the profile of the component.

The versatility of fine blanking allows it to be used to produce components never previously considered for presswork.

Fine blanking also offers many other advantages over conventional presswork.

	High Dimensional accuracy
	Minimal rollover
	High Angular accuracy on edges
	Cleanly sheared, smooth edges
	Component quality maintained over large batch sizes

Fine blanking eliminates many labour intensive processes, such as:

	Reaming
	Grinding
	Shearing
	Gear hobing