About Ridgway Powdered Metals

Ridgway Powdered Metals Capabilities

Powdered Metal
Information

Powder Metal Information

Benefits of
Powdered Metal

Design Considerations for Powdered Metal

Tolerances for Powdered Metal

Powder Metal Links

Contact Ridgway Powdered Metals

Home

Design Considerations for Powder Metal Parts -
Ridgway Powdered Metals

Powder metal parts are able to be produced with great geometrical complexities. There are features, however, that may be easily applied to parts produced by machining or casting that are either very difficult or impossible with powder metallurgy. Some of these features and other undesirable conditions are identified below.

1. “Green” compacts must be ejected (pushed out) from tools using vertical upward motion. Any feature on a compact that would resist this action cannot be pressed onto a part. Such features as: reverse tapers, holes at some angle other than in the direction of pressing, threads, undercuts, diamond knurls among others must – and can – be added as a secondary machining operation.
2. Thin walls, narrow splines, very fine-pitched gears and sharp corners should be avoided. All of these features are possible but at additional cost and hazard to the expensive tooling. These are among the features that need to be discussed with RPM’s engineers.
3. Consider the design of compacting tools when designing parts for P/M production. Tools will experience very high pressing forces. They need to be as strong as possible in order to avoid costly tool breakage and replacement.
4. Vertical lengths to outside shapes should not exceed 4 to 1 ratios on heavy-walled parts and but 2 to 1 on thin-walled items. These ratios can be increased but at greater piece part costs.
5. As the number of levels increases (different outside shapes stacked one upon the others) the complexity of the tooling increases and the presses capable of making them decreases. To produce a multi-level part correctly the press needs at least the same number of independently controllable platens or motions as the part has levels.
6. Features on parts that require “knife edges” on tooling to produce must be avoided.
7. Small projections on top faces of parts need to be large enough: to allow for tool safety, for ease of ejection and be located inboard from outside edges of parts.

Avoid Features As Illustrated on Drawing Below

“We get the job done!”