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Single Tool Punches Sheet Metal Hinges
 by
Ron Palick
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Wilson Tool International,
Inc.
Advancements in machine tooling have paved the way to increasing
the types of parts that can be made on turret punch presses
and expanded the types of forming operations that can be
done. Louvers, electrical knockouts, embosses, extrusions
and card-guides are just a few of the more common types of
forming tools. Other forming tools have an even more dramatic
effect on how a precision metal fabricator produces parts.
One example of this is the hinge forming tool.
Wilson Tool provides two innovative tooling
options for the production of hinges. The first entails the
use of a combination of two tools allowing a turret punch
press to fabricate completed hinge knuckles directly on the
component part that will use the hinge. Traditionally hinges
have been fastened to fabricated parts through various mechanical
means, or they have been formed in separate operations on
press brakes. Forming the hinges directly on the turret punch
press ensures that they will be in the correct position,
and eliminates time consuming secondary operations.
A breakthrough in the production of off-set hinges from
sheet metal material using a single tool rather than three
on a CNC punch press.
 Wilson Tool has pioneered another breakthrough
in the manufacture of off-set hinges out of sheet metal
material requiring only a single tool instead of the usual
three on a CNC punch press. Additionally the Wilson Tool
hinge design allows for production with plastic coated
material, enables a full 270° of
hinge movement against traditional hinge movements of 90°,
allows fabricators to reduce tool setting times by at least
70 percent and also reduces production times via the single
hit process.
The Wilson Tool offset hinge tool is able
to operate at higher speeds because it must only travel half
the distance of a conventional tooling method when bending
the material. It can produce hinges in up to 2 mm thick material
with a 6 mm diameter hinge pin size and in single-hit lengths
of 65 mm. For piano style hinges, successive multiple hits
can be repeated using the same tool down the length of the
material.
 Both the Wilson hinge tool and traditional
hinge production require an initial blanking tool to produce
the castleation shape. However, normal hinge production
then requires two successive hits to form the material
to a 90° bend. A
second tool then creates a half-offset and wipes up the material
ready for the third tool to complete the roll-over knuckle
form that captivates the hinge pin. With the Wilson method,
after castleation, the single hit tool immediately forms
up three knuckles and forms down two knuckles and completes
the stroke with a half-roll to finalize the hinge form. With
this method, programming and setting of the tools is much
faster and trial and error problems are eliminated when setting
conventional hinge tools to obtain the right height for the
roll-over.
The Wilson Tool design also overcomes jamming caused by
plastic coatings in the hammer of a conventional tool and
eliminates any snagging of coatings in the final curled knuckle
form.
For more information, please contact:
Wilson
Tool International®,
Inc.
12912 Farnham Avenue
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
Tel: 800-328-9646
Fax: 800-222-0002
turret@wilsontool.com
www.wilsontool.com
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710
Remington Road 
Volume
13 Issue 2 -
December 2003