Patent ID: 7726166

Claim:
A multi-step press system comprising: a press including a press frame, a table provided on the press frame, the table having a standby station into which workpieces are loaded one by one and a plurality of press-forming stations in which the workpieces are sequentially press-formed, the standby station and the press-forming stations being serially arranged in an X-axis direction, and a ram provided above the table and movable along a Z-axis direction; a press die set including a lower die attached to the table and an upper die attached to the ram, the lower die and the upper die being adapted to simultaneously press-form the workpieces placed in the press-forming stations; a destacker provided on one side of the press for periodically loading the workpieces into the standby station one by one; and a transfer feeder provided between the table and the ram for simultaneously picking up the workpieces placed in the standby station and the press-forming stations and transferring the workpieces in a downstream direction, wherein the lower die of the press die set comprises: a base attached to the table of the press; plural pairs of guide rails fixedly secured to a top surface of the base and arranged at intervals in a Y-axis direction, each pair of guide rails having mutually opposing grooves; a plurality of die segments configured to contact with the workpieces to press-form the workpieces into desired shapes, each of the die segments having a slider plate inserted into the grooves of each pair of guide rails; and a plurality of clamping units each having clamps arranged on opposite lateral sides of each pair of guide rails, the clamps being adapted to releasably clamp the slider plate of each of the die segments.