Metal Stampings/
There are a wide range of medical components that medical stamping is used to manufacture, including: IV catheters, nebulizers, prosthetics, aerosol appliances, dental sharpening/grinding disks, studs for electrocardiogram (EKG) applications, a variety of surgical instrumentation and more. Different types of metal stamping methods work best for different medical stampings: for instance, deep drawn stamping works best for IV catheters and nebulizers, while eyelet stamping works best for dental sharpening/grinding disks.
Although many of the methods used to form medical stampings are familiar and commonly used in many industrial manufacturing applications as well, eyelet stamping stands out as a less-heard-about method of metal stamping. Eyelet stamping occurs through the use of a machine aptly called an eyelet press. An eyelet press is a type of high-precision transfer press, which combines the best features of compression molding with all the advantages of injection molding. Typically a type of hydraulic press, transfer presses are able to be programmed to perform a precise task repeatedly, with the same accuracy every time, which makes them perfect for medical component applications. Another metal stamping process, and perhaps the most common type of medical stamping methods, is progressive die stamping. In the progressive die stamping process, several dies are used together on the same piece of sheet metal, thus allowing for the multiple dies to stamp the sheet metal at the same time. Additional finishing services performed on medical stampings include tumbling, deburring, annealing, heat treating, coating and plating.
