Got an idea? Discuss your bespoke project
01489 577 786
Blog Header

Laser cutting sheet metal November 2013

Thursday, December 5th, 2013

Laser cutting bright annealed 304 stainless steel sheet metal with a Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser machine.

We are so pleased with the progress we have made so far in getting to grips with our new laser cutter. In a short space of time we have managed to laser cut mild steel, stainless steels, aluminium, copper and brass. We have learnt how to micro tag components into a sheet at the machine, use off cuts of material where possible, makes adjusts for the laser beam width and laser cut holes into steel tubes. We have learnt how to common line cut with our Radan software, tool complete nests and convert parts that had been CNC punched in the past to laser cut parts.

Our next challenge is to cut materials thicker than those that we are normally used to on our CNC punch presses so 6mm and upwards. We can already see in just a few weeks what a powerfully productive and versatile service this machine is allowing us to offer to our customers. Keep following us for more updates on the new uses we find to put our Trumpf laser to and the sheet metal work we produce with it.


Fast Tube by Casper

For more information on our new laser cutter please take a look at our laser cutting web page.

Tags: , ,

Laser cutting work examples

Tuesday, November 26th, 2013

Typical examples of sheet metal and plate cut with a Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser cutter

Whether it’s cutting 0.7mm thick mild steel with compressed air, 2mm stainless steel with nitrogen (clean cut), 5mm aluminum or 6mm brass the Trumpf 3030 fiber is the machine. Here are just a few examples of laser cut work to show off the accuracy and edge quality that can be achieved.

We are still exploring the range of materials that we can cut but after just 3 weeks we are amazed at the products we are already producing. We will be adding a gallery section to our website detailing more products that we have laser cut including mild steel, aluminium, stainless steel, zintec, galvanised steel and brass. It’s not just the advantages of being able to cut any shape without tooling and in thicknesses much thicker that that which can be CNC punched but the increased yield from the sheet metal, speed of CNC programming and the reduction or in some cases complete removal of any edge deburring that we know will be an advantage for our customers.

Please keep checking to see how we get on.

Tags: ,

Sheet metal projects November 2013

Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

Just 3 examples of the hundreds of sheet metal projects we have been manufacturing this month in Fareham, Hampshire.

CNC punched pre-anodised aluminium reflector material

Lighting reflector CNC punched blanks

We have CNC punched out a range of small lighting reflectors from 0.4mm thick pre-anodised alanod reflector aluminium. The material comes with a peelable plastic film which we keep on the material throughout the manufacturing process to maintain a clean and scratch free surface on the presentation side of the material. With all reflector materials whether they are highly polished such as Miro4 or satin as this material they can show finger marks so easily so they have to be handled very carefully. The reflectors were CNC punched on our slower punch press, the Trumpf 200. This is perfect for this process as the material is so thin and delicate that the slower gentle punching suits the sheet metal nest once it has become fragile towards the end of the program. You can see that the material yield is good on the sheet whilst still maintaining a practical program in production.

Aluminium assemblies MiG welded together

Aluminium MiG welded chassis assemblies

Here we have manufactured a batch of aluminium chassis assemblies from 3mm 1050a aluminium alloy. The manufacturing techniques have included CNC punching, edge deburring, bush insertion, sheet rolling, CNC bending, aluminium MiG welding and cleaning up. These welded fabrications are then powder coated and used within the assembly of a scientific instrument.

Zintec chassis parts laser cut and CNC bent

Zintec folded sheet metal end plates

These Zintec (zinc coated mild steel) end plates have been manufactured using laser cutting and CNC bending techniques. These parts are among the first sheet metal components that we have manufactured on our new Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser machine. The parts were laser cut with compressed air as the assist gas which removed the need to deburr the cut edges that would have been done under CNC punching. The final finished parts were powder coated and then used in a pump assembly for the brewery industry.

Go an idea that you may want to have manufactured in sheet metal or need a bit of advice?

Give us a call or send an email and our engineering team will take a look for for you.

Tags: , , ,

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Monday, November 18th, 2013

Laser cutting 2mm thick mild steel

We are really pleased to be able to show off our new Trumpf 3030 fiber laser cutter. This small part was cut using oxygen to produce a perfect edge cut around the internal holes and the outer profile. The parts were then folded, countersunk and barrel deburred before being zinc plated and colour passivated. The speed and edge quality we are getting is better than the CNC punching method we were using before and any laser cutting oxide surface is removed in the acid of the zinc plating process.


Fast Tube by Casper

If you have a laser cutting sheet metal project and want us to take a look at it for you please just ask, call us on 01489 577786 or email sales@vandf.co.uk

For more information on laser cutting with a Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser please follow the link to our plant web page.

Tags: , ,

Manufacturing sheet metal bent components

Thursday, November 14th, 2013

Aluminium lighting gear tray chassis

Aluminium lighting gear tray chassis

A batch of aluminium sheet metal gear trays used to enclosure electronic equipment on a LED light fitting. The blue colour is the protective peelable plastic film which is easily removed but left on during production to keep them as clean and scratch free as possible. The components are quite complex with a series of operations needed to manufacture them. Each component has been CNC punched and then had any sharpe edges de-burred off (using vertical de-burr belts) before starting any bending operations. The bending operations were carried out in stages on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes with the hank bushes being inserted and then more bends to finish off the components. We manufacture components like this all the time in batches of just a few off right up to many thousands off. We can provide prototypes for new designs and are always happy to suggest design changes to help you save money in manufacturing. If you have a sheet metal component that you wish us to look at and provide you with a quotation please just call us on 01489 577786 or send us a drawing (PDF, DXF, SAT and STEP formats) by e-mail and our engineering team will take a look for you.

Mild steel chassis plates

Mild steel chassis plates

When producing a component like this bent mild steel chassis plate we have a series of decisions to make. Which CNC tooling are we going to us to CNC punch out the flat sheet metal blank in the first place. Take for instance the large circular hole, do we have a tool the right diameter to punch it in a single hit, do we have a banana tool with the right radius to punch it out or do we have to nibble it out. If we have to nibble it out do we send the blank down the chute in the machine or do we tag it in or punch it all to scrap. These decisions are made all the time by our estimating and CNC programming team to ensure you receive the cheapest component but to a quality level that you required for your finished design. Its the same with CNC bending, deciding which tooling to use and which machine to run you components in can have an impact on the corner radius size and speed that we can produce the components.

Luckily for you all these decisions are made by us to offer you the most efficient method of manufacturing your components and you needn’t worry about these yourself.

Mild steel enclosures

Mild steel enclosures

A wall of 0.9mm thick mild steel enclosures which have been bent up on our Edwards Pearson PR6 CNC press brake. Although we can fold sheet metal components up to 2.5M long on this press brake we often fold smaller components in this material gauge of much thicker, such as 6mm thick angle brackets. These particular bent components will have many different studs and bushes inserted into them and then have the corners all tack welded together before being powder coated.

Tags: , , , ,

« Older Entries