raj_pm
We're in the market for a servo press and I've narrowed it down but want to make sure I'm asking the right questions. Here are the 5 things I think matter most.
**Question 1: What Is Your Tightest Tolerance?
**
This determines whether you need direct drive or gear reducer.
- Tighter than 0.02mm: direct drive only
- 0.02-0.1mm: either works, gear reducer saves cost
- Looser than 0.1mm: gear reducer is fine
**Question 2: What Is Your Production Volume?
**
This determines whether the servo premium pays off.
- Above 1M parts/year: servo ROI is typically under 2 years
- 500K-1M parts/year: servo ROI is 2-4 years, usually justified
- Below 500K parts/year: evaluate carefully, mechanical press may be better value
**Question 3: What Materials Will You Form?
**
- Mild steel, aluminum: any servo press works
- HSS 590-780MPa: servo recommended for springback control
- UHSS 980MPa+: servo required
- Titanium, Inconel: servo required, plus specialized tooling
**Question 4: What Is Your Maintenance Capability?**
Servo presses require technicians who can work with servo drives (Siemens, Yaskawa, Fanuc, Mitsubishi). If your maintenance team has no drive experience, factor in training cost or service contract.
**Question 5: What Is Your Lead Time?
**
New servo presses: 6-18 months depending on manufacturer and size.
If you need a press in 3 months: used servo press or mechanical press are your options.
If you have 12+ months: order new, specify exactly what you need.
mchen_servo
I'd add one more question: what is your die change frequency? If you change dies more than twice per shift, the press HMI setup time matters a lot. Some brands have much faster job recall than others — worth asking for a demo of the die change workflow before buying.
toolndye_dave
Point 3 about after-sales support is the one I'd weight most heavily for a first-time buyer. We evaluated three vendors on a 400-ton press purchase and the technical depth of their application engineers varied enormously. One vendor's rep couldn't answer basic questions about their motion controller's cam profile editor — that's a red flag.
Practical test: ask each vendor to walk you through how they'd set up a two-stage forming profile with dwell at BDC. The answer tells you a lot. Also ask for references from customers running similar materials — a vendor strong in automotive stampings may not have experience with the spring-back behavior you'll see in stainless or high-strength steel.