A press for forming a workpiece with a tooling set includes an actuator assembly
carrying a movable half or punch of the tooling set and having a two phase operation.
In the first phase the actuator provides relatively low force in moving the punch
to an intermediate position in close proximity to the workpiece. A sensor detects
the position of the punch, and when the punch reaches the intermediate position
provides a continue signal. The second phase of actuator operation is conditioned
on occurrence of the continue signal, and uses normal high force to press the movable
tooling half against the workpiece to complete the operation. The low force first
phase allows obstructions of any kind to stop movement of the punch during the
first phase before high force applied to the actuator may cause damage or injury
to the obstruction. In a preferred embodiment the actuator assembly has hydraulic operation.
