Pressing
Pressing, forming, and riveting all join or shape a part by applying force, and the right method is decided by the joint you need and the record you have to keep: a press seats a bearing, orbital forming rolls a rivet over without shocking the part, and both can log the force behind every cycle when the part gets audited.
WHERE IT GOES WRONG
The cost shows up later
A press sized on tonnage alone seats the part fine and then can't prove it did, so the first medical or aerospace audit turns a working line into a documentation problem. A manual press bought to save money becomes the bottleneck when volume doubles. A rivet set with too much force cracks the housing you were trying to hold together.
Pressing and forming are cheap to buy and expensive to get wrong, because the cost lands months later in scrap, rework, or a traceability gap. The decision below turns on the joint and the record the machine has to leave behind.
HOW TO CHOOSE
Match the technology to the job
There's no single right joining method; it falls out of the joint, the volume, and the record you have to keep:
- Straight-line assembly force: seating, staking, swaging, press-fitting, broaching → a press. Manual for low volume, where the mechanism is the choice: rack-and-pinion gives constant force through the whole stroke, a toggle gives peak force at the bottom where a stubborn press-fit needs it. Pneumatic or hydro-pneumatic when you need more force in the same footprint, electric or servo when you need to program the stroke and monitor the force. (Schmidt Technology.)
- Joining without shocking the part: rolling a rivet, tab, or boss over → orbital or radial forming. The tool orbits under continuous pressure instead of hammering, so a fragile housing, an electronic assembly, or a soft metal holds its shape. (Orbitform.)
- Permanent mechanical joints at volume: rivets, eyelets, pierce nuts → a riveting machine matched to the fastener and the throughput, from a bench unit to an inline forming station.
- The joint has to be documented: medical, aerospace, safety-critical → a monitored or servo press that plots a force-vs-stroke curve for every cycle and judges it against tolerance windows, OK or NOK, per part number. The value here is the pass/fail record on every part, ready for an MES audit trail.
- You don't know the force yet → this is a development question before it is a purchase. Orbitform's Solutions Lab develops the rivet length, form, and tooling on your actual part; Schmidt sizes the press to the seating force. Bring the part instead of a tonnage guess.
The first fork is press vs orbital form: press when you're driving straight-line force, orbital-form when you can't shock the part. We carry both lines, so the recommendation isn't shaped by which one we happen to carry. If a manual press covers your volume we say so instead of selling you a servo you don't need; if the part can't take press force, orbital forming is the answer and we point you there.
WHY M6
One source, sized to the application
Schmidt and Orbitform each own one half of joining, and neither will tell you when the other one fits your part better. We carry both, so you get the method that suits the joint, sized to your real volume, with the force monitoring the audit will ask for, supported across the Northwest after the sale.
You leave knowing whether your part gets pressed, formed, or riveted, sized to your real volume, with the force record the audit will ask for, before anyone quotes you.
WHAT WE CARRY
The lines we rep for this application
- Schmidt Technology: one press family across the whole job: hand-lever presses from a few ounces of force up to servo presses at 25 tons, all sharing the same PressControl force/stroke-monitoring platform. Manual rack-and-pinion is the proven workhorse; the monitored and servo presses add the per-part pass/fail record. Plus press calibration and service.
- Orbitform: joining by forming: orbital and radial riveting, roller forming, impact and hydraulic riveters from bench to inline, peen tooling and dies, and the Solutions Lab that develops the form on your part before you buy the machine.
Medical device, aerospace & defense, automotive, electronics assembly
THE EQUIPMENT
What this looks like on the floor
THE COST OF WAITING
An automation project gets approved with two numbers
One is the equipment quote. The other is what doing this by hand costs you every month, and only you can add it up:
Labor on the task. Hours per shift, at your fully loaded rate.
The rate ceiling. What the manual step caps your throughput at.
Scrap and rework. What manual variation costs you per thousand parts.
Changeover. Time lost every time the part changes.
The hiring problem. Turnover, training, and the weeks the job sits open.
Exposure. Repetitive lift, pinch points, and what one recordable costs you.
We will get you the equipment number and a budget range early, so your request goes up with both.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Common questions
What areas do you support presses and forming machines in?
M6 Revolutions is the rep for both lines in the Northwest (Schmidt in WA/OR/ID; Orbitform in WA/OR/ID and Canada). One team sizes the press or the forming machine and supports it after.
Press or orbital forming for my part?
Press when you're driving straight-line force: seating, staking, press-fitting. Orbital forming when the part can't take that hit: it rolls the rivet or boss over under continuous pressure, using up to 80% less force, so fragile and soft parts keep their shape. We carry both, so the method follows the joint.
Do I need a servo press, or will a manual rack-and-pinion press do?
Manual presses are the most frequent machine in our sales history, and at bench volume with no documentation requirement they're the right call. Servo earns its cost when the process needs programmable stroke, force monitoring, or one machine running a part family on recipes.
How do I add force monitoring and traceability for a medical or aerospace audit?
A monitored press plots force-vs-stroke on every cycle, judges it OK or NOK, and stores the record per part; the same discipline applies on forming with load-cell verification. If your audit asks for proof per joint, the machine can produce it, and that requirement changes the machine more than tonnage does.
Can you develop the rivet or form on my actual part before I buy?
Yes. Orbitform's Solutions Lab develops the rivet length, form, and tooling on your parts first, and Schmidt sizes the press to your real seating force. Bring the part rather than a tonnage guess.