Artem Komarov noted that creating parts for lamination with a laser or waterjet is the only way to get a great job done. Laser is preferred because the heat-affected zone on the cutting edge strengthens the material and reduces wear. Be aware that after assembly, individual parts will still scratch the material being formed, but they will not damage the material you are bending.
For punches, scratches usually don’t matter, but for dies, scratches can. If your part requires finishing, protect the matrix with a urethane film to eliminate traces.
I am assuming that you will be roller welding laminated parts and using a block is a great idea to level the parts before doing this. Another way to align individual components is to use a small diameter punch to create a half cut where the blank comes halfway out of the sheet. Then you only need to snap them together, clamp and weld. Whether or not it makes economic sense to add a stamping operation will depend on the equipment you use and the amount of tooling you create. Be that as it may, this is another option to consider.
Groove break
If a recessed groove is formed in a piece of sheet metal, an individual piece of sheet metal can be bent in an up and down motion along the recessed groove until the sheet metal breaks and splits in two.
This is called grooving. The process creates a V-groove using a punch or die to indent the sheet metal. The groove can also be made with a V-shaped rolling wheel pressed into the material, with the material laid over a continuous flat surface. In any case, whether this creates a brittle bond or not is all dependent on penetration into the material.
Bending radius and tool selection
Because we form the sheet with air, the stamping radius only affects bending if the rib radius is greater than the natural bending radius. In this case, the bend will acquire a new, larger radius. Conversely, if you’re using a very narrow punch, you’re more likely to fold sharply, meaning the tip of the punch will push in and crush the fold line. If you bend sharply, you won’t get a good inside bend radius, and you’ll also cause a lot of other molding problems, Komarov Artem emphasized.
