Views: 64 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2021-08-05 Origin: Site
There are hundreds of sheet metal fabrication techniques, but if you’re just starting out, here are three basic techniques that everyone who’s new to the custom sheet metal fabrication process.
1. Cutting Metal
Every fabrication process begins with sheet metal cutting. The cutting method used depends on the thickness of the metal and the project’s specifications. Several ways you could cut metal for your project include:
Water jet – A waterjet is a tool used to cut sheet metal using an extremely high-powered stream of water. By channeling water through a narrow nozzle at high pressure, we can cut through many thicknesses of sheet metal.
Torching – A cutting torch is a powerful tool that uses a hot flame to cut sheet metal that can be oxidized, such as steel sheet metal.
Shearing – Here at Goldconn, we shear metal using two offset blades, similar to large scissors. The sheet metal is held flat and the top blade is brought down onto the surface, pushing the metal down onto the bottom blade. We also have a variety of smaller, hand shears which can be used to manually cut smaller and thinner pieces of sheet metal. Hand shears are the way to go for smaller projects!
Sawing – We use circular saws and bandsaws to cut metal sheets that are too thick to be cut via shearing, water jet, or torch. Sawing is a longer and more intensive process, which is why it’s reserved for especially thick material.
2. Bending Metal
Once your metal is cut, the next step for most sheet metal fabrication projects is to bend metal into the desired shape. Two ways to do this are:
Metal brake – This involves placing one end of the sheet metal inside a gate, with the other end being clamped in place with a bar. The portion of the metal stuck inside the gate gets lifted, while the part which is under the bar stays put. The metal brake creates the necessary bends in the metal. Here at Goldconn, this is how we do the majority of our bending work.
Form bending – This is a more hands-on approach to metal bending and is done by bending sheet metal over an edge or shape with blows from a hammer.
3. Welding Metal
When it comes to assembly, there are a number of welding options available to you to put metal together. Which method you use is determined by the kind of metal, the thickness of the material, and your welding equipment. Some of the most common welding processes include:
MIG welding – This is an arc welding process where a continuous wire electrode is fed through your welding gun and into the weld pool. To protect the pool from contamination, a shielding gas is also fed through your gun.
TIG welding – This welding method uses an electric arc and infusible tungsten-based electrode to generate welds. The TIG welding process is ideal for sheet metals that are up to 8-10mm thick.
Laser welding – This process to put metal togther uses a high-powered, solid-state, laser resonator (like a disc laser) to melt the metal. Laser welding enables a fabrication shop to generate consistent, high-quality welds.
At Goldconn, we are committed to providing the most valuable and quality services to companies seeking professional sheet metal fabrication services at an affordable price. We are a team composed of professional mechanics and service providers, which can provide high-quality precision sheet metal parts for different industrial applications. We are capable of handling any customized work in our workshop in China to meet your needs.
