Page 28 - MetalForming November 2010

Tooling Technology ToolingUpdate
For Carefree Slug Pulling
Designed to combat troubles related to slug/part retention, Shed-It Co., New- buryport, MA, introduces the Shed-It ejector system—perfect for stamping soft materials such as aluminum, copper and Tbrass alloys. Traditionally, slug and part retention resulted in tight tol- erances between punch and matrix of 5 percent per side or less, with a slight neg- ative opening on the matrix. With the Shed-It, stampers can increase tolerances to as much as 10 percent per side. The result is less tool wear and more parts per sharpening. According to company offi- cials, users have reported a 27 percent increase in throughput, a 46 percent decrease in the number of setups and a
6.2 percent reduction in tool-maintenance time.
Dick Greenleaf, the inventor of the Shed-It, has been using the Shed-It ejector system in his own factory—high-
speed stamping company Crystal Engi- neering (also in Newburyport)—for more than 2 yr. During that time, he says, the system has surpassed 50 million press strokes without a failure.
Headed Shed-It units are used inside a punch, while the set-screw model is used in a knockout and with other sim- ilar applications. Simply remove the old pin and replace it with the patented Shed-It. The ejector also can replace the spring in a traditional spring and pin ejec- tor—remove the old spring, cut to length and replace it with the Shed-It.
The ejector system comes in four dif- ferent diameters, from 0.050 to 0.125 in. For larger punch applications, as many as three of the units can be incorporated into
26 METALFORMING / NOVEMBER 2010
www.metalformingmagazine.com