The sheet metal fabrication industry is huge and plays a pivotal role in the modern age. Virtually every field uses fabricated sheet metal for things like construction, transportation, deliveries, e-commerce, and many more. With that said, there are still a lot of details regarding sheet metal fabrication that both consumers and businesses don’t know about.
This is noteworthy because the more you know about sheet metal fabrication, the more likely your business can make the most of any transaction involving it. Businesses could then get better deals, increase profits, and avoid wastage.
You also have more options if you are looking for variety in the types of metals that you will use for sheet metal fabrication.
The process of sheet metal fabrication itself can also be a profitable point of interest. It’s not likely for your business to do them all, but knowing about them can lead to much better quality control.
Sheet Metal Fabrication Materials
There are different types of materials used in sheet metal fabrication. Obviously, they will be a type of metal with varying properties and uses. Among the most common are:
Steel – Steel is a broad term used to refer to a list of materials that include galvanized steel or stainless steel. These are often used for a variety of products that include kitchen appliances, gardening tools, construction supplies, and so on.
Aluminium – One of the most common materials used in sheet metal fabrication, aluminium is arguably one of the most versatile types of metal available. They are often used in many of the same fields as stainless steel, but with more flexibility. This applies to its weight, durability, longevity, shape, design, corrosion resistance, and more.
Magnesium – Often used for adding stiffness to other types of metal, magnesium itself is not often used to fabricate sheet metal on its own. Rather, it’s combined with other types of metals.
Brass – Offering high corrosion resistance and incredible tensile strength, brass is a good type of metal to use in sheet metal fabrication for more specific purposes. It’s often used for making components, for example.
Bronze – Used all the way back during ancient times, bronze can be used in sheet metal fabrication if the purpose requires a low melting point. This could then allow manufacturers to turn it into cooking tools or even currency.
Copper – Last but not least, there is copper. Offering incredible conductivity, malleability, and corrosion resistance, this metal is quite popular in fields like electronics and technology.
With the types of metals used in sheet metal fabrication covered, let’s proceed to the actual fabrication process.
How Sheet Metal Fabrication is Done
There are three main categories when it comes to the processes in sheet metal fabrication. These are forming, cutting, and joining. Each category comes with its own set of processes that are used either on their own or in conjunction with each other to achieve certain goals.
Forming
This involves the manipulation of the metal to change its shape, size, density, and dimensions. It includes processes like the following:
- Stamping – this process will press the metal using single or progressive dies to achieve specific forms.
- Bending – uses a punch and v-die instrument to bend materials to desired angles and curves.
- Stretching – stretches materials to achieve targeted thickness, width, length, or shape.
- Roll forming – uses rollers to achieve similar results to bending.
Using these processes, sheet metal can be produced ready for shipping, where it could then undergo additional fabrication.
Cutting
Cutting is the fabrication process that cuts away at or apart materials to produce certain shapes, sizes, or portions. It does this via with-shear or without-shear. For with-shear cutting, the processes used are
- Shearing – uses some equipment like scissors of varying size that cut through metal via lower and upper blades meeting in the middle.
- Cutting – cuts through materials using equipment such as lasers, waterjet cutters, and plasma cutters. Lasers use concentrated energy, waterjet cutters use high-pressure propulsion to propel water and abrasive particles out of nozzles, and plasma cutters use superheated gas.
- Blanking – punches holes in the metal sheet to achieve the desired shape.
More often than not, these processes are used in smaller operations such as the local manufacturer or the actual business to produce finished products. However, they are also mainstays for sheet metal fabrication.
Joining
Last but not least, there is joining, which is the process of actually putting one or more materials together. It does this via processes like:
- Welding – uses equipment to fuses two or more pieces of materials together with a bonding material that is melted to fit the gaps. The most common welding options are MIG, TIG, and stick welding.
- Brazing – fuses two or more materials by melting certain types of metals with low melting points and allowing them to cool and harden.
- Riveting – uses small components that will be embedded between two materials to forcibly join them by punching through them.
- Adhesive – typically accompanies other joining methods to provide extra bonding opportunities using industrial adhesives to fill in smaller gaps.
Following the joining, the end products are often put through another process to make them smoother, shinier, and look more presentable. This means removing rough edges and coating or painting the sheet metal.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. Those are the details involved with sheet metal fabrication that can affect the quality, price, or performance of the sheet metals that you get. These things are worth noting because they could allow your business to manufacture or sell products at much better quality while still maintaining reasonable prices.
You could also get your sheet metals from better sources if you already know what to look for. After all, you don’t want to settle for less if you can get better with a little compromise. So, if you’re looking for reliable sheet metal fabrication in Perth, you now have a good place to start.
