Since 1946, ATACO Steel Products has been the industry leader in deep draw stamping. We provide complex deep drawn metal stampings up to 16” in depth of draw. We specialize in manufacturing complicated products, and will produce your small, medium, or large deep drawn stamping with the highest levels of precision and quality.
ATACO specializes in producing complex, deep drawings and has a staff with many years of experience planning and assisting with part design for manufacturability. In addition to staff expertise, ATACO has invested in large tonnage presses to support extreme drawing requirements up to 1700 tons (an unusual capability in the contract stamping industry), and state-of-the-art press and controls. The controls feature advanced software, sensors, I/O modules and drives that make it possible to vary the speed and pressure applied by a die throughout a forming stroke.
With a range of hydraulic and mechanical presses and an in-house tool room, we can produce even the most complex deep drawn stampings with tight tolerances and perfect repeatability from the first piece to the last.
ATACO uses FASTFORM software to improve die design (and every other aspect of the forming process) as well as the quality of the finished product. This deep drawing simulation software eliminates traditional trial-and-error iterations based a tool and die maker’s best guess. It speeds up the development process by producing first-time perfect dies in 90% of design cases.
We offer pre-design technical support to help you refine your designs for optimum manufacturability and cost-effectiveness. We also provide prototyping services and pre-production samples of deep drawn shells. No matter how complex your design, our “can do” philosophy enables us to produce an impressive array of deep draw stampings that others cannot.
As a custom metal fabrication shop, we can also provide secondary operations such as trimming, piercing, and forming; if volume is too low to justify tooling for these additional operations, we can trim and pierce via 5-axis laser cutting.
This complementary equipment makes it possible to add openings of any shape in any location of a deep drawn part, adding to production flexibility, reducing total capital investment for tooling, and speeding production for short, medium or long runs.
Deep drawing sheet metal is a form of stamping that is generally defined by the ratio of the width to the height of a finished piece, such that the height of the stamping is greater than its width.
In practice, there are many applications that require this approach to metal forming that may fall outside such a strict definition. A more practical definition of deep drawing sheet metal is that it’s a metalworking process which pulls metal material into a specific shape and thickness.
Deep drawing is usually a compound process that includes stamping – radial tension, tangential compression, and stretch-and-bend along the sides of components. The stamping action in deep drawing is always accompanied by other metal forming techniques within the press.
Deep drawing sheet metal can be further categorized into simple shapes and complex shapes. Simple shapes are typically seamless tubular products with straight walls. Complex shapes may have non-symmetrical geometries and additional surface features such as bump-outs, recesses, or holes in various dimensions.
The key benefits of this technology translate to:
Common imperfections such as pitting, surface voids, stain, wrinkles and cracks can be eliminated with proper planning.
There are many examples of deep drawn stampings in both durable and disposable products. Items such as stainless steel kitchen sinks are an example in the consumer durables industry, while beer and soda cans are examples of consumer disposable products.
Motorcycle gas tanks are a popular example of a product manufactured by deep drawing sheet metal. Fuel tanks commonly have completely unusual topologies in any given dimension and often include some beading, flanging and openings for filling and feeding fuel out to the engine.
ATACO manufactures high-precision drawn sheet metal products and components for customers in a wide range of industries, including agriculture, construction, lawn & garden, and commercial food service.
Thanks to consistent investment in equipment and staff, ATACO has developed an industry-leading capability for complex deep drawings. The breadth of materials and shapes that can be produced is one of the most extensive in the industry. From prototypes to large runs, ATACO’s deep draw design and production team delivers quick-turn samples and high-quality finished products on spec, on time, on budget. ATACO Steel Products is ISO 9001:2015 certified.