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The deep drawing process combines many benefits of metal spinning and stamping with several other advantages.
Spinning and drawing both result in the production of seamless parts. Depending on quantities, either process is
cost effective.
One similarity that deep drawing shares with spinning metal is the ability to manufacture circular cases.
Additionally, deep drawing enables the production of parts such as rectangles, squares, and cylinders.
And like metal spinning, deep drawing produces parts from blanks. Utilizing single piece blanks, common in the deep
drawn process, enables the drawing process to create parts with deeper shapes.
Typically, the deep drawing press pushes material from a reel, or single blanks, through multiple positions.
At each position the shape is changed by pressing or "drawing" the material further down into a progressively
changing set of geometric dies until the final shape is acquired.
Whether the process requires a single draw operation, or multiple drawn operations to create the desired resulting
form, largely depends on the metal being used and the requirements of the finished product.
The part configuration is limited by the required force to produce the shape, which is dependant on the size of
the drawing press, the material's malleable characteristics and it’s ability to be drawn.
In another similar process, single blanks are held in place and pressed into the cavity of the custom shaped die
to produce the item.
Deep drawing is different from stamping. Stamping often requires that the material used be transported along on a
strip called a carrier, through completion until the last operation is performed on the piece. It does not leave
the machine until the process is complete. Deep drawing utilizes single piece blanks to permit deeper drawn
shape parts. Deep drawing does utilize strip feed material when draw depths are limited to the part diameter.
The blank is simultaneously cut from the strip while the draw plug forms the part profile.
There are many metals suitable for deep drawing including stainless steel, aluminum, brass, copper and cold rolled
steel. The only real requirement is that the metals must be malleable, allowing the part to be forced into a shape
without suffering from excessive stress damage; resulting in cracks during the deep drawn process.
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