Sheet Metal & Fabrication Design

Designed as sheet metal from the start

Sheet metal parts have to be modelled using proper sheet metal features, not drawn as solids and called sheet metal afterwards. Only a real sheet metal model can produce a reliable flat pattern, and the flat pattern is what the laser or punch actually needs.

Bend allowance is not a detail

Material stretches when it bends, and how much depends on thickness, radius and the material itself. Using the wrong bend allowance produces parts that are consistently the wrong size after folding — a maddening error to chase, because every individual dimension on the drawing looks correct. Allowances were set to match the customer's own tooling.

Fabrication and weld detail

For welded assemblies, weld types and sizes were specified rather than left to the welder, and where distortion was a risk, machining allowance was left for post-weld operations. Assembly order was considered too, since a joint that cannot be reached with a torch is not a joint that can be welded.

What was delivered

Sheet metal models with verified flat patterns, DXF exports for cutting, folding drawings with bend sequences, weld detail drawings and a fabrication bill of materials.