Carbon Steel Stamping, Deep Drawing & Fabrication

What We Manufacture

Overview

Carbon steel is the workhorse material for structural and plated components at Balford: deep-drawn solenoid housings, slotted ferrules, brackets and precision plates in mild and spring steel grades.

Manufacturing Capabilities

• Metal Stamping
• Progressive Die Metal Stamping
• Deep Draw Metal Stamping

Applications

• Solenoid Valve Housing
• Washer
• Spring Cup

Industries Served

• Automotive
• Industrial Equipment

Carbon steel grades for stamping and deep drawing

Grade selection decides whether a part forms in one hit or needs redraws and an anneal. What we see in production:

• DC01 (commercial quality): bends and lightly forms – adequate for brackets, covers and shallow stampings.
• DC03 / DC04 (drawing quality): higher r-value, so the material resists thinning at the die radius. DC04 is our default for cups, housings and anything deeper than half its diameter.
• DC05 / DC06 (deep drawing quality): for the deepest draws and for ironing, where the wall is deliberately thinned.
• SPCC / SPHC (JIS): common from Asian coil suppliers. SPCC behaves like commercial quality; SPHC is hot-rolled, thicker, and used for heavier brackets and structural parts.
• DD11–DD14 and S235–S355: structural forming grades, when strength matters more than drawability.

Two coils can look identical on the drawing and behave completely differently in the press: the r-value and the thickness tolerance decide the number of draws, and both come from the mill certificate, not from the grade name alone. How draw ratio and draw stages are calculated →

What changes drawability, and what it costs

• r-value and n-value: the higher the r-value, the deeper the part can be drawn before the wall thins or tears.
• Thickness tolerance: a coil that runs under nominal forces a tighter die clearance and a higher blank holder force than one at nominal – the extra tonnage shows up in the press rate.
• Yield strength: higher yield means more springback, so more compensation in the tool.
• Rolling direction: carbon steel is anisotropic, and drawing across the rolling direction is what produces earing on the top edge.
• Surface: a matt finish is normal; if the outside of the part is functional, budget a finishing operation.

Where carbon steel goes wrong in the press

The failure modes are predictable and almost always tooling-side: wrinkling when the blank holder force is too low, tearing when the draw ratio or the die radius is wrong, and earing when the blank layout ignores the rolling direction. That is why the same material can run clean in one tool and scrap in another. The four calculations that prevent it → Estimate the press tonnage first with the stamping force calculator or the deep draw calculator.

Carbon steel, stainless and aluminium for formed parts

Carbon steel is the cheapest of the three and the most predictable to draw in volume. Stainless steel adds corrosion resistance at the cost of faster work hardening and an earlier anneal. Aluminium cuts weight, but its lower modulus and higher springback usually mean more stages for the same geometry. See stainless steel, aluminium and the deep drawing guide.

Engineering & Quality Considerations

• Mild steel (SPCC/DC01 class) and spring steel (65Mn) are processed with predictable forming behaviour.
• Plating-ready surfaces are maintained for zinc, nickel or chrome finishing.
• Forming parameters are set for consistent wall thickness and flatness in deep drawing and blanking.

Selected Case Studies

Real projects from Balford's production history:

• Carbon Steel Slotted Ferrules
• Mild Steel Solenoid Valve Deep Drawn Housing
• 65Mn Spring Steel Shim Blanking
• Stamped Metal Brackets For Date Printer Gun

FAQ