What’s a Press Slide?

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A press slide is a tool used to stamp designs onto metal objects for industrial branding. Originally powered by hand, it is now motorized and can also mold sheet and bar metal shapes. Outsourcing to trained professionals allows for specialization and efficient production.

A press slide is a tool used to stamp a wire or other metallic design onto an object you are working on. These tools are used to stamp decals and other logos on metal objects for industrial branding. Press slides have been used since the Industrial Revolution for this purpose.
This sled is used by a worker who feeds wire or metal into the machine. Various moving parts and tools on a press slide are then manipulated by the operator to form the image he desires. When the image is created, a tool on the press slide trims off excess print material and presses the image onto the object that should be printed.

Originally, this mechanism was powered entirely by hand. The current version of a press slide is powered by motors that make workers’ tasks easier. They also have additional tools built into the device itself for ease of use. Many of the parts are removable or movable to accommodate the unique needs of the various objects being printed.

A press slide can also be used to mold sheet metal and bar metal shapes into smaller usable objects. It does this by combining cutting materials with strong presses that can force metals into a mold or casting. The use of electric or gasoline motors on newer press rails increases the ability of the presses to perform these functions as some required more force than a typical worker was able to exert for long periods at a time.

While a print guide may be one of many large machines in a factory or industrial job site, there is a market for outsourcing the use of print guides to trained professionals. These professionals might have a warehouse with nothing but pressing slides in them. Warehouses like these create small metal items and decals for many companies at once.

This process, like most forms of outsourcing, allows workers to specialize and become proficient in the many possible functions of the press slide. This is sometimes preferable to repeatedly creating the same or similar items on a single machine in a factory that performs many different manufacturing functions. Whether used by a company dedicated to stringent metal stamping, or as a component in a multitasking factory, print guides continue to be essential components in manufacturing. The large number of decals and the importance that companies attach to branding guarantee this.




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