Female dies and method of manufacture
AssigneeW-F Industries, Inc.
InventorsRichard P. McDermott, Ernest J. Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A segmented female die for use in a closed die set comprising a pair of similar center segments and a pair of similar "half moon" shaped outside segments. The four segments also define the ejector pin opening. The die segments are prevented from relative motion between themselves by interlocks comprising closely mating protrusions and guideways which, in cooperation with other means, produce a rigid female die. The interlocks permit the use of relatively simple manufacturing techniques such as grinding as opposed to more sophisticated techniques such as electrical discharge machining.
Claims24
A segmented female die forming part of a closed die set, said closed die set being shaped to operate upon a billet of predetermined size and volume so that the part produced from said billet substantially entirely fills the mold space within said die set, said die set consisting of said segmented female die having an outer edge defined by the periphery of said segmented female die and a mating punch, means to interlock said female die segments together in the assembled condition of said female die to prevent substantially all relative motion among said segments during use of said closed die set, said interlock means being formed entirely integrally in said female die segments, said interlock means being free of any interfitting pin and mating aperture arrangements, said integral interlock means permitting interchange of some worn one or more of said die segments for new such segment or segments after use of the assembled female die;
- said interlock means comprising at least a pair of protrusions and a corresponding number of mating guideways, each of said protrusions being of essentially rectilinear cross-sectional shape when viewed in a plane parallel to the direction of punch motion;
- said interlock means being located in the facing surfaces between at least two of said female die segments, said facing surfaces being positioned generally parallel to said direction of punch motion with respect to said female die, all of said protrusions and said guideways being so positioned on their respective die segments that they snugly fit together in the assembled together condition of said female die, each said protrusion extending to an outer edge of its respective die segment, all of said segments defining a shape which when viewed in a plane perpendicular to said direction of punch motion is generally a conical section, and said conical section shape being divided into said segments by lines which are generally chordal to said conical section shape.
A segmented female die forming part of a closed die set, said female die being adapted to cooperate with a punch, at least some of the segments of said female die defining a through opening for receiving an ejector pin, said die being adapted to form a part having at least one face formed by an end of said ejector pin, whereby said ejector pin end defines a portion of the mold cavity when said ejector pin is in its fully retracted position into said female die, said closed die set being shaped to operate upon a billet of predetermined size and volume so that the part produced from said billet substantially entirely fills the mold space within said die set, said die set consisting of said segmented female die having an outer edge defined by the periphery of said segmented female die and a mating punch, means to interlock said female die segments together in the assembled condition of said female die to prevent substantially all relative motion among said segments during use of said closed die set, said interlock means being formed entirely integrally in said female die segments, said interlock means being free of any interfitting pin and mating aperture arrangements, said integral interlock means permitting interchange of some worn one or more of said die segments for new such segment or segments after use of the assembled female die;
- said interlock means comprising at least a pair of protrusions and a corresponding number of mating guideways, each of said protrusions being of essentially rectilinear cross-sectional shape when viewed in a plane parallel to the direction of punch motion;
- said interlock means being located in the facing surfaces between at least two of said female die segments, said facing surfaces being positioned generally parallel to said direction of punch motion with respect to said female die, all of said protrusions and said guideways being so positioned on their respective die segments that they snugly fit together in the assembled together condition of said female die, each said protrusion extending to an outer edge of its respective die segment, all of said segments defining a shape which when viewed in a plane perpendicular to said direction of punch motion is generally a conical section, and said conical section shape being divided into said segments by lines which are generally chordal to said conical section shape.
A method of making a circular pre-assembled segmented female die for use in a closed die set, said closed die set being shaped to operate upon a billet of predetermined size and volume so that the part produced from said billet substantially entirely fills the mold space within said die set, said die set consisting of said segmented female die having an outer edge defined by the periphery of said segmented female die and a mating punch, the method comprising the steps of preparing a disc of die material substantially equal to the size of the completed segmented female die, cutting said disc in half, removing material from the cut face of each half, preparing center segments having a size substantially equal to the material removed from said disc, whereby all of said segments when assembled together will have a size substantially equal to the size of said disc and will be defined by lines which are generally chordal to said disc, providing interlock means between said halves and said segments, said interlock means in said halves being formed integrally therein during the aforementioned removing material step, making said interlock means free of any interfitting pin and mating aperature arrangements, said integral interlock means permitting interchange of some worn or more of said die segments for new such segment or segments after use of the assembled female die, forming said interlock means of at least a pair of protrusions and a corresponding number of mating guideways with each of said protrusions being of essentially rectilinear cross-sectional shape when viewed in a plane parallel to the direction of punch motion, locating said interlock means in the facing surfaces between at least two of said female die segments, positioning said facing surfaces generally parallel to the punch motion with respect to said female die, positioning all of said protrusions and said guideways on their respective die segments so that they snugly fit together in the assembled together condition of said female die, extending each of said protrusion to an outer edge of its respective die segment, assembling and interlocking said segments together, and mounting the assembled interlocked segments into a retainer ring adapted to fit into a press in which said assembled die is to be used.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.