Dies, tooling and tool room
Do you design and build the tooling in house?
Answer
Zhuji, Zhejiang, China Every die built here runs inside one of our stamping services; the commercial overview of that route is on the custom metal stamping services page. In-House Tooling Design & Build Balford designs and builds progressive, transfer and deep-draw stamping dies inside its own plant. From DFM review and tool steel selection through machining, wire EDM, assembly, tryout and PPAP samples, one in-house team owns the die.
Sources
- Stamping Die Design & Build | In-House Tool RoomBalford Tool Room · Zhuji, Zhejiang, China Every die built here runs inside one of our stamping services; the commercial overview of that route is on the custom metal stamping services page. In-House Tooling Design & Build Balford designs and builds progressive, transfer and deep-draw stampin...
- Stamping Die Design & Build | In-House Tool RoomFirst-article inspection, PPAP-aligned documentation and transfer to serial production. About the one outsourced step: slow-wire EDM is used selectively for ultra-fine finish or deep-taper details that fast and medium wire machines are not built for. It is handled by a long-term, audited local partn...
- Stamping Die Design Engineer Service | Custom Dies | BalfordDeep-draw die design & build Single and multi-stage draw tooling for housings, cans, sleeves and sensor shells with controlled thinning. Deep draw stamping In-house tool room Surface grinding, wire EDM, CNC turning/milling, heat treatment and tryout inside the Balford plant. Tool room overview PPAP ...
- Metal Fabrication FAQ | Deep Drawing, Stamping & CNCCan a part be modified after the tooling is built? Usually yes — but it is a tooling change, and the cost depends entirely on what changes. A dimensional tweak that stays inside the existing die (a stop adjustment, a shim, a relief) can often be handled as a die modification during a maintenan...
- Deep Drawing vs Press Forming: How to Choose | BalfordBalford runs both routes in house. It is the wrong supplier when the part needs more than 350 t or a draw above Ø250 mm, when US or EU origin is mandatory, or when an IATF 16949 certificate is required rather than alignment. Inter-stage annealing is outsourced and declared. 7. What Balford ca...
- How To Audit A Stamping Supplier Without VisitingA: A live, unscripted walkthrough covers a lot of the ground a first visit would: whether the tool room is in house, whether the inspection area is in use, and how the team answers an unexpected question. It does not replace the sample part measurement, which is the part of the audit that is hardest...
What an engineer still needs from you
- material and material condition (grade, temper)
- material thickness, plus the key diameter, height and wall thickness
- tolerances, burr direction and the visual acceptance standard
- annual volume - it decides whether tooling is single-hit, progressive or transfer
- surface finish, and any secondary machining, annealing or plating
Need a DFM feasibility assessment for your project?
Send the engineering drawing (STEP or PDF) with the material grade, thickness and annual volume. Balford engineers then check it against the process window - draw ratio, wall thickness, tolerances, blank and tooling route - and come back with what is feasible and what is not. An answer on this page cannot replace that review.
Upload a drawing for DFM reviewHow the DFM review worksRelated questions
- Progressive die vs compound die vs transfer die: which should I specify?
- What is a progressive die and when is it economic?
- Can a progressive die produce a deep drawn part?
- What is in-die tapping and when should it be used?
- How is a stamping die designed, step by step?
- What tool life and maintenance cost should I expect from a progressive die?
This page is an engineering answer, not a quotation and not a dimensional acceptance. It is generated from Balford's published material and held to the verified company fact sheet.