Massive Progressive
Die Repair

When a major HVAC systems maker needed to repair and refurbish a massive part in a 600-ton Minster Press, they called UTRS Advanced Manufacturing. The press is used to stamp out sheet metal components for furnaces and the progressive die set within the press had become worn and ineffective.

A progressive die set is a specialized tool used to perform multiple operations on a metal strip in a single press, such as bending, punching, coining, and other modifications of the raw metal. Sheet metal is fed into the die, and stamping is done in four phases. After the fourth phase, each stamping motion produces a finished part. Each of the die plates in this set is 4-ft wide by 8-ft long by 2-inches thick and weighs about 3,000 pounds. The bottom plate sits on the bed of the press, and the top plate is guided up and down by large pins at each corner.

UTRS Advanced Manufacturing repaired the guide pin holes and guide bushing holes to a 0.003″ shrink fit. Our shrink fitting process for new pins and bushings, which involved putting the pins in dry ice overnight, allowed them to fit in a smaller hole. As they warmed up, the pins expanded to be set permanently in place. We then installed ball cages (ball bearing spacers/housings) and assembled the die to confirm alignment.

The HVAC company has been a customer of UTRS Advanced Manufacturing and its predecessor, Gaum Inc., for more than 40 years because we are one of the few operations on the East Coast with the capacity to handle parts of this size.