What is sheet metal fabrication?

The basics: Sheet metal is a comprehensive cold working process for sheet metal (usually below 6mm), including shearing, punching/cutting/compounding, folding, welding, riveting, splicing, forming, etc. Its remarkable feature is that the thickness of the same part is the same.

Equipments: The basic equipment used for sheet metal generally includes Shear Machine, CNC Punching Machine, Laser, Plasma, Waterjet Cutting Machines, Combination Machine, Bending Machine, and various auxiliary equipment such as uncoiler, leveling machine, deburring machine, spot welding machine, etc.

Two ways for sheet metal processing:

1. Non-mold processing: The process method of processing sheet metal through digital punching, laser cutting, shearing machine, folding machine, riveting machine, and other equipment is generally used for sample production or small batch production, and the cost is high. The processing cycle is short and the response is fast.

2. Mold processing: The sheet metal is processed through a fixed mold. Generally, there are blanking molds and forming molds, which are mainly used for mass production and have low costs. The processing cycle is long and the mold cost is high.

Common process of sheet metal fabrication:

1. Blanking

Laser cutting is one of the most common blanking methods in sheet metal processing. First, according to the size specifications of the finished sheet metal processing, the metal stainless steel and other plates are laser cut into the required size for standby. This process is collectively referred to as blanking.

2. Bending

Bending is to perform CNC bending of the finished material according to the size specifications of the sheet metal parts.

3. Welding

Welding is divided into manual welding and robot automatic welding, which is a process of welding the cut material according to the finished sheet metal parts processed. Compared with manual welding, the robot arm is more efficient and more precise.

4. Surface treatment

There are also many surface treatment processes, such as hot-dip galvanizing, cold-dip galvanizing, galvanizing coloring, powder coating, sandblasting, anodizing coloring, blackening, polishing, and brushing. At the same time, surface treatment is also an important part of precision stamping sheet metal processing, which directly affects the appearance smoothness, precision, tolerance, and other effects of finished sheet metal parts.