During the normal process, the machine will punch the area that it can reach first, as shown below.

After this, a reposition is performed during which time the clamps temporarily release the work piece, move horizontally, or in the ‘X’ axis and then re-clamp the work piece before continuing to punch.

In this way, the machine can progressively punch and reposition as many times as necessary in order to completely process the part.

The problem here, as shown in the following illustration, is that movement can only occur in the ‘X’ axis, thus leaving the area along the top of the part unpunched. 

Click HERE to see how a solution was provided that fully utilized the undersized machine while saving hours of programming time.