Body Panel Sheet Metal Tooling Information

Posted on: May 15, 2020 in Tech Tips

A Word About Sheet Metal Tooling
The act of stamping flat sheets of steel into the complex shapes that make up fenders, doors, hoods, bumpers and other parts generates tremendous pressure, heat and friction. The stress and strain of repeatedly stamping various shapes and distortions inevitably causes rapid wear to tooling surfaces. As the tooling wears out, the shapes it forms out of sheets of steel must also change. Thus, tool-life is a very big factor in the quality of parts you receive for your vintage car or truck. Keeping in mind, it just makes sense the brand new precision tooling can sometimes produce higher quality parts than old tooling, which has been used for many years to stamp tens of thousands of parts. When the metal masters encounter old tooling, they must weigh the practicality of restoring and resurrecting old dies and tools, versus the cost and time necessary to start over from scratch. But more importantly they must decide which method will result in better quality new products at affordable prices.

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