Tips of Sheet Metal Fabrication
According to the difference of sheet metal structure, the fabrication process is different. But the total processes are below ways: The ways of blanking are a lot and the main ways are as below.
- Shear: Using shear to cut simple raw material. It is mainly giving preparation for mold blanking. The cost is low and precision is under 0.2, but it can only manufacture strip material or square material without hole and corner cut.
- Punch: Using punch to cut the flat piece which is unfolded on the sheet metal into different sizes of material with one or more steps. The advantage is time short, high efficiency, high precision, low cost, and be suitable for mass production, but need mold design.
- NC blanking. When NC blanking, first, it needs to write the NC process program. Using programming software, writing the drawing into the program that the NC process machine tool can recognize, and making the tool cut different flat pieces in all kinds of sizes on sheet metal by one step and one blade according to this program. But its structure is limited to the blade structure with low cost and the precision is under 0.15.
- Laser blanking. It is used the way of laser cutting. It can cut the sheet metal structure on the large sheet metal and the same as NC blanking, it needs to write a laser program. It can cut all kinds of flat pieces with a complex structure with a high cost and the precision is under 0.1.
- Sawing machine: mainly using aluminum, square tube, figure tube, round bar stock, and so on. Cost and precision are low.
- bench:sink hole,tapping,enlarge hole,drilling
The main process for Sheet Metal Fabrication Machining.
Usually, the angle of the sinkhole is 120 degrees. It is used for rivets. And 90 degree is for 
countersunk head screw and tapping the bottom hole in the English system.
- Flanging: always named extrude or burring. It extrudes a bigger hole on a smaller basic hole, then taps. It is mainly used for thin sheet metal, increasing its hardness and thread laps to avoid sliding teeth. The shallow flanging around the hole is normal and the thickness is no change,.When the thickness becoming 30%-40% thin, it can get the height of 40-60% higher than the normal flanging height. When squeezing 50% thinner, it can get the largest flanging height. When the sheet metal is very thick, such as above 2.0,2.5, it can tap directly.
- Press: It is a process of mold forming. Usually, the press processes are piercing, cutting corners,blanking, bump, tearing, extruding, forming, and so on. These processes need a relevant mold to operate, such as piercing blanking die, bump die, tearing die, extruding die, forming die, etc, It mainly needs to pay attention to position and direction during operation.
- Self-clinching: It is mainly self-clinching nut, screw, spring screw, etc. It completes operation through a hydraulic self-clinching machine or punches to join on the sheet metal. Also, there is way of flate-in, and pay attention to the position.
- Bending: It is bending 2D flat sheet metal to the 3D products. Its operation needs a bending bed and relevant mold. It has a bending sequence and the principle is bending first which doesn’t affect the next blade and then bending which will affect the next blade.
- The bending number is 6 times sheet thickness under T=3.0 mm to calculate slot width,for example: T=1.0,V=6.0,F=1.8,T=1.2、V=8、F=2.2、T=1.5、V=10、F=2.7、T=2.0、V=12、F=4.0
- Bending bed die includes straight blade, bent blade(80 degrees,30 degrees)
- When bending aluminum with crack, it can increase the width of the upper mold cavity and low mold R(annealing can avoid cracking)
Attentions when bending for Sheet Metal Fabrication
- drawing, required sheet metal thickness.
- quantity, bending direction.
- bending angel.
- bending dimension.
- appearance, chromium plating without crease.
- Relationship between bending and self-clinching process: Usually self-clinching first and then bending, but some material will be interference after self-clinching, so it should bend first and then press. And some process needs bending – self-clinching-bending again.
1. Welding: definition of welding: Welding is a process for joining similar sheet metals. Welding joins sheet metals by melting and fusing firstly, the base metals being joined and secondly, the filler metal applied.
Classification:
- fusion welding: argon arc welding, CO2 welding, gas welding, manual welding.
- Pressure welding: spot welding, butt welding, bump welding.
- brazing: chromium electric welding, copper wire.
2. Welding method:
- CO2 gas shielding.
- argon arc welding.
- spot welding etc.
The welding method is according to actual requirements and material. Usually, CO2 gas shielding is used for welding sheet metal; argon arc welding is for stainless steel, aluminum plate, etc, Robot welding can save working hours, improve work efficiency and welding quality, and reduce working intensity.
3. Arrow lines and joint
4. Welding missing and preventive measures
Spot welding: If the hardness is not enough, it can hit bumps and increase the welding area.
CO2 welding: high producing efficiency, less energy consumption, low cost and strong ability to resist rust
Argon arc welding: penetration shallow, low welding speed, high production cost, tungsten inclusion defects, but with strong points of better welding quality, welding non-ferrous metal, such as aluminum, copper, magnesium and so on.
5. Reasons of welding deformation:
increasing jig while preparation is not enough before welding Improving process while welding jig is not good Welding sequence not good.
6. Welding deformation correction method:
- Flame correction method
- Vibration method
- Hammering method
Creatingway is concentrated on CNC machining manufacturing, prototype machining, low-volume manufacturing, metal fabrication, and parts finishing services, provide you the best support and services. ask us one inquire now.
Any questions or RFQ for metal& plastic technology and custom machining, welcome to contact us below
Call +86-0(755)-89492523 or send an inquiry to us
Welcome visit us, any metal and plastic design and machining questions, we are here to support you. Our services email address:
It’s interesting how the relationship between the bending and self-clinching process works for steel fabrication. I didn’t know that there are certain materials that require to be bent first before self-clinching. That’s really good to know for people who work on metals that require this process instead of self-clinching before bending.
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
This is great information to have on sheet metal cutting. You’ve been very thorough in covering all aspects of metal cutting and I appreciate how you’ve broken each topic down in a systematic way. Thanks for the helpful sheet metal post.
Hi I just wanted to drop you a quick note here instead of calling you. I discovered your Tips of Sheet Metal Fabrication from Creatingway page and noticed you could have a lot more visitors. I have found that the key to running a popular website is making sure the visitors you are getting are interested in your website topic. There is a company that you can get keyword targeted traffic from and they let you try their service for free for 7 days. I managed to get over 300 targeted visitors to day to my website. Visit them here: http://cross901.lolipop.jp/0/io
Hi Bella,
No problem, you can email me, then we can discuss. Thank you.
Regards,
Ricky
I’ve always been curious about the different processes that happen with metal fabrication. I didn’t realize that there were so many different methods! I think the most interesting to me is the bending. You really have to plan out the 2D object in order to be able to fold it up into the proper 3D piece. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Braden,
No problem, you can email me, then we can discuss. Thank you.
Regards,
Ricky
Hi I just wanted to send you a quick note here instead of calling you. I discovered your Tips of Sheet Metal Fabrication from Creatingway page and noticed you could have a lot more traffic. I have found that the key to running a popular website is making sure the visitors you are getting are interested in your subject matter. There is a company that you can get keyword targeted visitors from and they let you try the service for free for 7 days. I managed to get over 300 targeted visitors to day to my site. Check it out here: http://pixz.nu/lywL
Hi Mindy,
No problem, you can email me, then we can discuss. Thank you.
Regards,
Ricky
I find it amazing the technology that has advanced metal fabrication. It is amazing that laser blanking can be as precise as under .1. I think it is worth the money to have that kind of accuracy on your work.
Hi Kenneth,
Thank you for your information,
If any, you can email me on your project, my email: rfu@creatingway.com.
Regards,
Ricky
I was trying to learn more about metal fabrication, and this article did a great job explaining things. I didn’t realize that there were so many different things that could be done to metal! Do metal types bend and hold a bend differently? Thanks for the information!
Hi April,
Thank you,
and if you will need more information, you can email us, so we can help.
Regards,
Ricky
Thank you for your information,
If any, you can email me on your project, my email: rfu@creatingway.com.
Regards,
Ricky
I was just looking at your Tips of Sheet Metal Fabrication from Creatingway site and see that your site has the potential to get a lot of visitors. I just want to tell you, In case you don’t already know… There is a website service which already has more than 16 million users, and the majority of the users are interested in websites like yours. By getting your website on this service you have a chance to get your site more visitors than you can imagine. It is free to sign up and you can find out more about it here: http://bbqr.me/4g5j – Now, let me ask you… Do you need your site to be successful to maintain your way of life? Do you need targeted traffic who are interested in the services and products you offer? Are looking for exposure, to increase sales, and to quickly develop awareness for your website? If your answer is YES, you can achieve these things only if you get your website on the service I am describing. This traffic network advertises you to thousands, while also giving you a chance to test the network before paying anything at all. All the popular blogs are using this network to boost their readership and ad revenue! Why aren’t you? And what is better than traffic? It’s recurring traffic! That’s how running a successful website works… Here’s to your success! Read more here: http://cross901.lolipop.jp/0/io
Hi Mindy,
Thank you for your information,
If any, you can email me on your project, my email: rfu@creatingway.com.
Regards,
Ricky
I’ve always been fascinated by metal; how it works, how it is fabricated…I just think it’s so cool. This post talked a little bit about laser blanking. I didn’t know that lasers could be used to cut metal. I would love to see something like that. Does it take a long time, or is it a pretty quick process?
Yes, of course, laser cutting can cut metal sheet, it is very quickly process.
We will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
I had no idea that bending sheet metal required so much. It makes sense that to get an accurate bend, you will need additional tools. It would be helpful to have someone with you if you bend the metal to make sure it doesn’t crack.
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
I didn’t know you could use a laser to cut metal! I’ve seen a few different methods of fabrication, like stamping, but never laser. I wonder if there’s anywhere I could watch that being done!
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
I really appreciate these tips for sheet metal fabrication. I didn’t realize that there are so many different ways of cutting the metal and shaping it. It makes sense that the measurements would need to be very exact since you are usually manufacturing products for others.
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
Hey, great share……
I really loved your post.
I have recently become fascinated with metal work and how it is all done. There are so many aspects to it that just amaze me and I love seeing what people can do with it. This helped me see the difference between metal stamping, which is bending the metal, and metal fabrication, which is shaping the metal to do something. I can’t wait to keep learning about these processes and see if I can get into it.
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
That’s really cool to know that welding combines similar sheet metals. I thought they could be two totally different kinds of metals, but it looks like I was wrong. I’ll have to keep this in mind as I’m looking at metals for upcoming projects. Thanks for the tips!
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
Thanks for sharing some information about sheet metal fabrication. I didn’t realize that there are so many different ways to form metal into different shapes. You make a good point about how you should pay attention to ensure that you are following the correct measurements and guidelines. I imagine that this helps ensure the highest quality pieces of metal.
Thank you for your comments,we will share more these information, and if you have any inquire or your friends have, please kindly send out our sales email address.
I decided to leave a message here on your Tips of Sheet Metal Fabrication from Creatingway page instead of calling you. Do you need more likes for your Facebook Fan Page? The more people that LIKE your website and fanpage on Facebook, the more credibility you will have with new visitors. It works the same for Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. When people visit your page and see that you have a lot of followers, they now want to follow you too. They too want to know what all the hype is and why all those people are following you. Get some free likes, followers, and views just for trying this service I found: http://nt4.pl/u/72
OK, you can email us for your inquire, so we can reply you in 12 hours.