Sheet metal fabrication is when flat metal sheets are manipulated into various different shapes and products. This blog post will explore five sheet metal fabrication techniques, how they work and what industries they are used in.
Metal Stamping
Metal stamping creates complex shapes from sheet metal. To stamp the metal, it needs to be placed into a stamping press where a tool and die surface applies pressure to form the shape you need. Stamping can produce both shallow and deep three-dimensional shapes which makes it ideal for creating things like car body panels, appliance casings and electronic components.
Metal Cutting
Metal cutting uses shearing, laser cutting and water jet cutting to cut metal. Shearing uses blades to make straight cuts across a metal sheet, while laser cutting uses a high-powered laser beam to cut intricate patterns. Water jet cutting uses a high-pressure stream of water mixed with abrasive particles which can be used for thicker metals.
Metal Welding
Metal welding can join separate metal pieces. Common welding techniques include spot welding, seam welding and MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding. Spot welding is used in vehicle manufacturing to join overlapping metal sheets, seam welding creates continuous, leak-proof joints which are ideal for containers and tanks, and MIG welding is used to join various metal types and thicknesses.
Technology is constantly evolving and techniques are now being developed to weld metal to glass.
Metal Bending
Metal bending creates angles, curves and forms in sheet metal. Press brake bending, roll bending and air bending are all methods that can create cylindrical shapes and v shapes. Euromac bending machines can be used to bend thick or short pieces of metal. If you need Euromac bending machines for your industry, there are a number of firms that can help.
Metal Punching
Metal punching can create holes, shapes for cut-outs in sheet metal. This process uses a punch and die set, where the punch forces the metal through the die to create the desired opening. Modern CNC punching machines can create a wide variety of shapes and patterns quickly and accurately.