This Is How Cold Forging Metal Flowers Works
If you have been keen on the interior design field, you must have seen the nice-looking metal flowers. These are flowers made from metals and are designed to look natural. In fact, when painted, you can’t distinguish them from natural flowers. You will be surprised to learn that these parts are cold-forged.
But how does cold forging metal flowers work? Well, we have something for you on this. We have put together the main steps that are followed to produce cold-forged metal flowers. Check out the following:
Selecting Metal
The first thing in making metal flowers is selecting the metals. These parts are simply for beauty, and thus you have a range of metals to select from. Depending on where you want to place these flowers, you have so many metals from the hardest or the softest to select from. However, aluminum is the most widely used material.
Making Molds
The choice of the flower you want to cold forge will determine the kind of mold to design. Because of their aesthetic features, there so many designs of cold forging metal flower molds. There are special machines that work on the design and making of the molds or dies. The design is done on the computer, and the making is done by machining equipment.
Place Metal On Dies
With the metal and the molds ready, the next thing is placing the metal on the mold. Make sure that it’s properly places and properly oiled. The oiling or lubricating at this stage is very crucial because it makes the forging easier. Upon punching, the material will produce a lot of heat, and oil helps to keep it cool.
Forging
The forging stage is where the material will be punched against the mold. A hydraulic press machine is used in this stage. The hydraulic system produces the hydraulic pressure that’s direct on the hammer or the punch. The pressure causes the metal to develop plastic deformation hence taking shape and size of the molds.
Finishing
The last step is finishing or shaping the cold-forged metal flowers. The forged part is removed for the dies with the excess material removed. The exterior of the parts is finished using a special machine. It gives a smooth texture, and the expected product is achieved. This is crucial in the cold forging of cold forging metal flowers as it plays to the aesthetics features as well.