laser cutting Archives - Page 2 of 5 -

Small sheet metal components

Thursday, August 3rd, 2017

Small stainless steel sheet metal components

Sheet metal work can come in all shapes and sizes and these small sheet metal components are certainly at the lower end of our range. Manufactured from stainless steel by CNC punching and CNC bending they nicely show the complexity that can be achieved with sheet metal work. They could so easily have been laser cut but having both processes in house we can pick and choose the process that suits the parts. This can be particularly helpful when moving from prototypes and small batches through to higher volumes. One process, say laser cutting, may be perfect initially then with higher volumes and some simple tooling CNC punching may lend itself to be the most efficient manufacturing process.

Small sheet metal components also present problems if they have to be folded up. We are fortunate in having 3 Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes which are ideally suited to folding small sheet metal components. With a large range of tooling and an experienced team of machine programmers there aren’t many parts that we cannot fold up whatever their size.

So what do I do next?

If you have some small sheet metal work that might need to be manufactured please give us a call. We are always happy to take a look at new projects are see if we can help you save money with a small design change. We can offer you free advice to improve material usage, reduce production time and select the most appropriate material type and finish. If you have some drawings please e-mail us on sales@vandf.co.uk. If you just want to chat through your ideas please call us on 01489 577786 and we will be happy to talk.

Video of Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting mild steel straps

Thursday, May 18th, 2017

Laser cutting mild steel sheet metal work

Fast Tube by Casper

When we need to manufacture simple sheet metal components such as these mild steel straps there are a number of ways to go about it. We could simple cut the straps to size with a guillotine and then pierce the holes using a fly press. Many years ago this would have been the preferred method of production if the volumes were not high. If the volumes were high then perhaps a dedicated press tool would have been designed and constructed. This tool would have allowed us to produce the parts quickly and cheaply. The downside would have been if any design changes were needed to the part then tool changes were expensive. We would then have moved on to CNC punching mild steel straps such as these shown in the video. This method of production allowed more freedom to change with any customer design changes. No hard tooling but software changes makes CNC punching a versatile manufacturing method and one that is still viable today. We finally end up with laser cutting mild steel straps. No tooling and complete freedom to change design when needed but with quick set up times. Laser cutting is perfect for these mild steel straps and the volume which was 750 parts were produced very quickly.

The Trumpf 3030 fibre laser shown in the video is laser cutting mild steel straps with oxygen. Any edge cutting oxidisation would have been removed when the straps were zinc plated and clear passivated. If the straps were to be powder coated we would have laser cut with pure nitrogen to remove any cutting oxidisation.

Connecting the laser cutting machine with powerful modern sheet metal work CAD/CAM software such as Radan enables us to get the best out of the machine. With the ability to change production jobs between our 2 CNC punch presses and laser cutting machine when needed enables us to be more flexible with work loads. It also enables us to bring more capacity to a large project when needed producing across all 3 sheet processing machines when needed.

Please take a look at our site to see some of the recent laser cutting sheet metal projects we have been involved with and how we can help you.

Sheet metal manufacturing in 2017

Thursday, April 27th, 2017

Sheet metal manufacturing can come in so many different forms and I have chosen 3 to look at today. Things have moved on a lot from manual cutting, marking our, drilling and fly-press piercing and mechanical bending. With modern laser cutting, CNC punching and CNC bending sheet metal manufacturing in 2017 utilises high tech equipment, software and skilled staff.

For a full description of sheet metal manufacturing and all its production processes follow this link.

CNC punching machines

CNC punching machines have been around for many years in one form or another. Our single head Trumpf CNC punch presses enable us to manufacture some very complex sheet metal work. It goes without saying that designs require holes punched accurately and quickly to keep costs down, the Trumpf machines don’t disappoint. With fast controlled punching they also offer thread tapping, forming, bending and engraving. They can be thought of as a factory in one machine. And where they cannot cope on thicker gauges the laser machine is ready to take over.

Laser cutting zintec fit fitting gear trays on our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser machine

Laser cutting is perfect for cutting through thick materials in ferrous and non-ferrous grades. But having a fibre laser cutter enables us to not only process thinner material extremly fast but copper and brass alloys up to 6mm thick.

Sheet metal folding facility

No look at sheet metal manufacturing would be complete without a look at our bending facilities. We are very proud to have a large range of CNC bending machines here in Fareham, Hampshire. We manufacture sheet metal components ranging from just a few mm across in materials as thin as 0.3mm right up to sheet metal sections 3M long. All sheet metal materials are processed through a wide range of standard CNC press brake tooling. Our 3 Trumpf 7036 and Safan e-Brake CNC press brakes share the same bend tooling for ease of production. This also allows us to move jobs between several machines when needed e.g. during busy times or if machines are being serviced.

This short blog post is only to whet your appetite, if you want to know more please explaore our website or give us a call and we will be happy to help you.

Laser cutting aluminium display panels with a fibre laser cutter

Monday, April 24th, 2017

Fast Tube by Casper

Here’s a short video showing our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting machine cutting through 1.5mm 5251 aluminium alloy. Using nitrogen as the cutting assist gas a very clean quick cut is achieved with very little post operation de-burring required. These aluminium display panels are used as traffic calming signs. We manufacture a wide range of display panels in aluminium and stainless steel alloys ranging from 1 off special projects to mid ranges volumes, 50-100 per order. You can see that the main display panels are on the left hand side of the sheet. Other brackets and support components have been laser cut from the right hand side of the sheet. This enables us to use as little material as possible and keep costs down.

With all laser cutting projects and this one was no exception we have to start with Radan CAD/CAM software. We are lucky that this customer always gives us DXF files so we can examine all features and dimensions when producing the 3D models and laser cutting CNC programs.

These sheet metal aluminium display panels after laser cutting were folded up on one of our 7 CNC press brakes. They then had many PEM bushes and studs inserted to our customer’s design. After welding and cleaning up we organised powder coating so they were ready fro our customer to assemble.

If you have a project that needs aluminium display panels either laser cut or CNC punched please give us a call. We are always happy to help you with your design or produce quote options to get the best fit of manufacturing and price for your budget.

Where can I buy laser cut sheet metal work to my designs

Monday, April 3rd, 2017

Where can I buy laser cut sheet metal work to my designs?

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

We offer the complete laser cutting service from 3D modelling, CAD/CAM program development, laser cutting and down stream production processes. Using Radan 2017 sheet metal CAD/CAM software we are able to take your 3D data in the form of STEP or SAT files. 2D drawings can also be acceptable of PDF files and we will calculate the correct developed blank sizes for you. Using advanced nesting algorithms we can experiment with different nesting patterns to produce the most parts from any given sheet. This technique helps to reduce costs at the quoting stage and speeds up production cutting times.

Laser cutting 3mm thick galvanised mild steel sheet on our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser

Here’s our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser in action cutting 3mm thick galvanised mild steel with nitrogen gas. On this occasion we are only using part of a sheet for a small batch of work. We can laser cut up to 3M long with the largest sheet that can be laser cut being 3M x 1.5M in size.

Laser cut 5mm thick aluminium sheet metal project

Here we have a recent laser cutting project that was produced using 5mm thick 5251 aluminium alloy. The nest was produced in seconds and worked perfectly to produce the parts needed by our customer. It doesn’t matter what the shape of the part we will get the best fit from the sheet saving you money.

So where can I buy laser cut sheet metal work, V and F Sheet Metal. If you send us your drawings we will calculate a range of prices for you and any options you wish for material types and batch sizes. Call us on 01489 577786 for more information or send your data to sales@vandf.co.uk.

Where is the best place to get sheet metal work in the UK

Monday, February 27th, 2017

Where is the best place to get sheet metal work in the UK?

We believe V and F Sheet Metal are a good place to start your search for a supportive flexible sheet metal working company based in Hampshire UK.

CNC punching sheet metal work

When you are selecting a sheet metal working company to partner you with your manufacturing needs you need a company who is prepared to listen to you and offer a range of ideas, manufacturing services and competitive prices. We have the ability to manufacture a wide range of sheet metal work in house using a comprehensive range of modern CNC productions techniques. Techniques ranging from CNC laser cutting, CNC punching and CNC bending to welding processes and many ancillary manufacturing processes allowing us to cope with the most demanding sheet metal work. When you are looking for sheet metal work in the UK you want a company that speaks your language when it comes to talking through design ideas and possible ways to help you save time and money, we are here to help.

Laser cutting zintec fit fitting gear trays on our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser machine

Having the ability to provide CNC laser cut and CNC punched sheet metal work in the UK allows V and F Sheet Metal to give our customers a definite advantage when manufacturing in the UK. Whether you are only looking for a few laser cut stainless steel plates, some bent aluminium angles or a more complex welded fabricated enclosure we have the skills and equipment to help you. With connections to a wide range of treatment and finishing companies we can offer the complete project manufacturing service. Whether it’s a special one off project, regular batches of sheet metal work or larger volume projects we are here to support your needs.

Sheet metal work

Sheet metal working is an exciting and growing industry with many new developments which have lead to the increased quality of work being produced often at reduced prices and with ever shorter lead times. The ability to set up manufacturing machines in ever shorter times allows us to offer smaller batch sizes at the prices of larger productions runs of years gone by. This has enabled many of our customers to reduce stock holding requirements and still maintain their product lead times.

So in conclusion if you are looking for sheet metal work in the UK then please give us a call on 01489 577786 or if you prefer send us your 3D design ideas or 2D drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and our engineering team will be happy to help you out and produce competitive prices for you.

Where can I purchase sheet metal work in the UK

Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

If you are looking for a place where you can purchase sheet metal work in the UK then you should contact V and F Sheet Metal.

Based in Fareham right on the M27 in Hampshire we are ideally placed to service local companies through Hampshire with their sheet metal working needs. With connection to next day UK delivery we can be your local sheet metal worker wherever you are based in the UK.

Sheet metal work

From simple one off projects and new design prototypes right up to high volume production we are ready to help you with your sheet metal work right here in the UK. The vast majority of the work we manufacture for our customers is repeating batches of many 10’s to many 100’s and we have just the right equipment to efficiently support them.

Sheet metal work in Hampshire

Where can I purchase CNC folded sheet metal work in the UK?

Having 6 CNC press brakes we are well placed to support you with folded sheet metal work up to 3M long. From the smallest angle clips and brackets right up to simple structure channels and angles we have the tooling and machines to help you produce your sheet metal designs. We have 2 Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes which are idea for sheet metal work up to 1M long. They are so efficient at producing angles, boxes, covers and complex enclosures that we have another one on order and it will be installed during March 2017.

CNC punching sheet metal work

Where can I purchase CNC punched sheet metal work in the UK?

With both a Trumpf 200 and Trumpf 3000 CNC punch presses we are able to offer you an excellent service when it comes to CNC punching sheet metal work. We have a large library of standard and special CNC punching tools to help you with whatever design you want manufacturing.

Laser cutting 3mm thick galvanised mild steel sheet on our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser

Where can I purchase sheet metal laser cutting in the UK?

We have a Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutting machine and can use it to cut a vast array of sheet metal. Laser cutting mild steel, stainless steel and zinc coated steels is no problem for us. We can also laser cut aluminium alloys and being a fibre laser we can also laser cut brass and copper sheet.

Basically if you want to have sheet metal work produced in the UK we would be pleased to help you. Either give us a call on 01489 577786 or send our engineering team your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will produce some estimates for you.

Laser cutting galvanised mild steel sheet metal plates

Thursday, February 2nd, 2017

Laser cutting galvanised mild steel is simple with a Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting machine

Laser cutting 3mm thick galvanised mild steel sheet on our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser

We have all the power we need to laser cut through galvanised mild steel. With the 3KW Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutter we can produce parts faster than ever before. This service is a great bonus to you if you need a few parts in a hurry to prove a new design or perhaps you have an urgent requirement for sheet metal work to satisfy a short lead time order from your customer. Laser cutting galvanised mild steel either with compressed air or pure nitrogen gas is easy for us with our powerful Radan CAD/CAM CNC programming software.

This picture captures perfectly the explosive power of the laser cutter just as it’s piercing through 3mm thick galvanised mild steel. To see the speed of the laser cutter while cutting a range of materials and thicknesses take a look at our YouTube channel. Real life sheet metal projects laser cut in our factory in Fareham, Hampshire, UK.

Laser cut galvanised steel plates

These galvanised mild steel plates were laser cut, edge de-burred and then folded up to size to produce mounting plate for LED display sign housings which we also manufactured in aluminium for our customer.

To fully appreciate the advantages of laser cutting when designing your sheet metal products it’s best to give us a call and we will be happy to talk through your options. Our engineering team are available on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk

Welded fabrication aluminium sheet metal work UK

Monday, January 30th, 2017

Welded aluminium fabrications

Aluminium sheet metal work in Hampshire UK

If you are looking for a sheet metal working company that is capable of manufacturing your work in aluminium then please give us a call. We can laser cut and CNC punch your aluminium sheet metal work as well as CNC bend and weld fabrications using TiG and MiG welding techniques. Aluminium sheet metal work along with mild steel and stainless steel is a service we offer to a large range of companies in the UK. We manufacture a wide range of aluminium sheet metal work including electronics front panels, brackets, housings and chassis components.

These aluminium welded fabrications have been manufactured to be used with a ceiling system to support light fittings. After this image was taken we cleaned off the welds and powder coated each aluminium housing matt black to the customers specification. There were 200 aluminium housings that were produced for this specific customer order but we can manufacture much larger batches if that is what you need or just a few parts for small orders or prototypes.

If you have a specific project in mind and want us to help you with various design options or you simply want some alternative prices then please give us a call of 01489 577786 and our engineering team will be happy to help you. If you have drawings we will be happy to work with them and review your options, please send them to sales@vandf.co.uk

Sheet metal work laser cutting programs

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

Sheet metal work laser cutting programs produced for our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser machine using Radan sheet metal CAD/CAM 2016 software.

The images shown here are typical of the laser cutting programs used to manufacture sheet metal work with our laser cutting machine. The laser cutting programs can be used to cut a single part from a sheet, a full sheet of a single parts or a range of parts to make a set ready for a project. This flexibility in being able to quickly create a program that suits a one of part, small batch or higher volume part with the same software in essential when offering a sub-contact laser cutting service. The parts that we laser cut may simple be blanks used direct by our customers or the starting point for a more complex part that may be folded up and welded etc.

We are always up with the latest version of Radan CAD/CAM software so that we can communicate with our customers using Solid Works or AutoCAD via DXF, DWG, STEP or SAT files. If you only have a PDF or JPG we can still take that information and create the right CAD data to program the laser and send you back a drawing if needed. If you want us to produce you some prices for your next sheet metal work order please send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to take a look for you.

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

Laser cutting programs

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

Laser cut and CNC punched sheet metal panels manufactured direct to your designs

Wednesday, January 4th, 2017

CNC punched sheet metal panels

Laser cut sheet metal panels

Sheet metal panels come in such a wide variety of shapes and sizes. These sheet metal panels have been CNC punched and CNC laser cut. The slightly green image is the laser cut panels viewed through the fibre laser safety glass of the laser cutting machine. We have many examples of sheet metal panels on our website pages and blog posts. A good place to find more examples of sheet metal panels is our gallery pages. Which manufacturing machine we use depends on the material type, thickness and complexity of the sheet metal panels. If the panels are over 4mm thick they would definitely be laser cut. If the panels have very complex cut-outs or an outer profile that is difficult to produce without special CNC tooling then again they would be suitable for laser cutting. If however the panels have formed features such as tapped threads, formed ventilation louvres, raised dimples or self tapping screw forms then CNC punch would be the way to go.

We can often produce panels with either machine and have on occasions made large batches on both types of machine together. This flexibility of manufacturing service is something we are proud to offer our customers. We are here to help wherever we can with a flexible approach to production and with free advice on designing for manufacturing.

Perhaps you have some panels you need to have manufactured and you would like us to produce prices for you. Just send you drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to take a look and help advise on your designs and offer competitive prices.

Still not sure? Give us a call on 01489 577786 and we will be happy to chat.

Folded stainless steel brackets produced on a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake

Thursday, December 22nd, 2016

Trumpf 7036 set up ready for production of stainless steel brackets

If you are looking for folded stainless steel brackets then V and F Sheet Metal have just the facility to help support you. Through 3D software modelling, CNC punching and laser cutting to CNC bending we will take care of the whole production process for you all under one roof. These folded stainless steel brackets are typical of the sub-contract sheet metal work that we produce every day of the week for our customers all over the UK. The Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes we use to bend up small folded stainless steel brackets are ideally suited to this type of work. They are quick to program and set up as well as very fast in their production rates, all leading to very competitive prices for small and large batch metal work. Although we have shown them folding up small stainless steel brackets they can fold sheet metal profiles up to 1M long and will cover the vast majority of the sheet metal folding that we produce in our factory in Fareham, Hampshire, UK.

Laser cut and folded stainless steel brackets

You can easily see that these brackets have radiused end and teardrop shaped holes which would have been very difficult to produce on a CNC punch press without bespoke tooling. With our Trumpf fibre laser these shapes are easy to produce and cost no more to produce than a standard square ended bracket with round holes. The Trumpf fibre laser machine really comes into its own when cutting thin sheet metal work or with small batches where the cost of CNC punch press tooling would not be viable.

Putting these cutting and folding machines together truly offers you a great manufacturing service right here in the UK.

What do I do next?

Perhaps you have a sheet metal bracket that you need to have manufactured. Why not give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk. We will be happy to take a look and produce some prices for you. We can also see whether your design can be improved for manufacturing saving you further time and money.

Laser cutting sheet metal electronics enclosures with a Trumpf 3030 fibre

Monday, December 12th, 2016

Just take one look at our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting out these electronics enclosures and you will realise how flexible this machine is when it comes to producing sub-contract sheet metal work. Whether it’s laser cutting special connector cutouts, complex outer profiles or intricate fan apertures this machine can cut through all sheet metal materials in seconds. We use our fibre laser cutter mainly on thinner gauges materials from 0.7mm to 3mm but it’s more than capable of laser cutting through 20mm mild steel. Driven by Radan sheet metal software it allows for the most efficient component nesting to keep material costs down and use up off cuts from parts projects.

Fast Tube by Casper

The fibre laser’s ability to cut through ferrous and non-ferrous materials including copper and brass set it apart from the traditional CO2 laser enabling us to offer you the complete sheet metal working service. Our website has many pages and photo galleries illustrating the range of sheet metal work we have produced from this machine in the past 3 years. It still amazes me today the speed and accuracy of this machine of the wide range of work we get involved with for our customers across the UK. If you are ever passing Fareham, Hampshire and want to come and witness laser cutting in action feel free to drop in and say hello.

If however you would prefer to e-mail us some drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk our engineering team is ready to produce competitive quotes fro you and help manage your laser cutting projects.

Brass sheet metal used to produce electrical contactor brackets

Thursday, October 6th, 2016

Folding brass sheet metal contactor brackets

It’s not often that we manufacture components in brass but on this occasion brass sheet metal was used to produce these electrical contactor brackets. Small brackets like these can be cut out from brass sheets by either CNC punching using a range of our standard CNC punch tools or by laser cutting with our Trumpf fibre laser cutting machine. Being one of the new breed of fibre laser cutting machines it is able to laser cut brass and copper sheet materials, up to 6mm thick. These materials were previously very difficult or impossible to laser cut with CO2 laser cutting machines. As well as copper and brass our fibre laser cutting machine can laser cut mild steel, stainless steel and aluminium enabling us to offer our customers a wide ranging service in processing sheet metal blanks. In this case the small flat blank was then edge de-burred to make it smooth and safe to handle before being folded up with three 90 degree bends. Using basic CNC press brake tooling a whole range of simple and more complex bends can be performed on any material to make bespoke sheet metal work.

Folded brass sheet metal contact brackets

Although these small brass sheet metal brackets are simple they nicely show the ease with which sheet metal components can be formed up using bends on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. You only have to look through a few of the blog posts on this site or the sheet metal component gallery pages to realise just how flexible sheet metal manufacturing can be when you have the latest CNC manufacturing technology.

If you want to know more about how we manufactured these brass electrical contactor brackets or any other sheet metal ideas you might want to discuss please just give us a call on 01489 577786. If you already have a sheet metal component design that you want us to take a look at, so much the better. Just send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to help you.

Sheet metal brackets made to your own bespoke designs

Monday, October 3rd, 2016

Sheet metal brackets made to your own bespoke designs using ferrous and non-ferrous materials

Mild steel brackets with formed sections

If you are looking to have brackets made from sheet metal then we have a wide range of manufacturing techniques that can help you achieve your goals. It might be that you need just a few sheet metal brackets to enable you to complete a special project. Perhaps a range of sheet metal brackets for a regular enclosure assembly that you fabricate or a large batch of small sheet metal brackets to support an electronics assembly. Whatever your requirements might be we are here to help you achieve your production goals. The mild steel brackets that you can see here have been CNC punched out, had their edges de-burred and then formed up with customer made fly-press tooling to produce the curved clamping section in the middle of the bracket.

Sheet metal fixing brackets folded using CNC press brakes

These sheet metal brackets have been manufactured from mild steel sheet by CNC punching. They could just as well have been laser cut and the bracket blanks would have been exactly the same size. Having both CNC punching and CNC laser cutting machines right next to each other within our sheet metal work facility enables us to pick the right manufacturing process for your bespoke sheet metal brackets. Sheet metal brackets made to your own bespoke designs are just what we specialise in and can produce your bracket with the right manufacturing method regardless of the material, thickness or complexity.

Sheet metal angle brackets

These angle brackets differ from the other two angle brackets already discussed in that they have been manufactured from angle extrusion. Rather than CNC punching or CNC laser cutting flat sheets of metal and then folding the brackets these have been sawn off from a standard angle section. Once the bespoke bracket was sawn to length it had its holes pierced in position using punch and dies on one of our fly presses. The final manufacturing operation was to barrel the metal brackets to take off any sharp edges left from the sawing and piercing operations.

So you can see that if you want sheet metal brackets made to your own bespoke designs we are the people who can help you. All you have to do is give us a call on 01489 577786 and we will be happy to discuss your ideas for your own bespoke bracket. If you already have drawings then that’s great, you can send them to sales@vandf.co.uk as DXF, DWG, SAT, STEP or PDF format and we will be happy to take a look and sort out some prices for you. Either way we are here ready to help you.

Laser cutting aluminium sheet metal work with a Trumpf 3030 fibre laser

Thursday, September 29th, 2016

Laser cutting aluminium sheet metal work in Fareham, Hampshire.

Fast Tube by Casper

Here’s a nice little video of us laser cutting aluminium sheet metal work with our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutter. You can get a real feel for the speed of the laser cutting machine when cutting a thin sheet of metal and the ease with which it can process straight and curved profiles. Laser cutting aluminium sheet metal work can be carried out using either nitrogen or compressed air as the cutting assist gas. In this case we are using compressed air as the components were not too thick and the edge finish achieved was more than acceptable.

Stood alongside our laser cutting machine are 2 Trumpf CNC punch presses which can process a wide range of sheet metal materials and thicknesses. Often when we are laser cutting aluminium sheet metal work we may then use one of our CNC punch presses to finish off a component. Perhaps it will need ventilation louvres, formed dimples or self tapping screw forms all of which can easily be pressed in after laser cutting. Having both types of blank processing machines enables V and F Sheet Metal to provide the right manufacturing process to suit your sheet metal work design and volumes.

Laser cutting aluminium sheet metal work is just one of the metals that we often cut alongside mild steel and stainless alloys. Being a fibre laser we can also cut brass and copper without any fuss right up to 6mm thick. So if you are looking for a new supplier of laser cut sheet metal work please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to provide you with some price options.

Video of laser cutting zintec with a fibre laser cutter

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016

Looking to have your sheet metal work laser cut, please take a look below.

Fast Tube by Casper

Here’s another great video showing how versatile our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser can be when used to manufacture sub-contract sheet metal work. We are laser cutting 0.7mm thick zinc coated mild steel, called zintec, to produce gear trays for LED light fittings for one of our customers in the UK. Laser cutting zintec is easy with our laser cutter and the finished parts are clean and grease free. With a laser cutter there is no specific tooling needed so all sorts of complex cut-outs can be created easily and CNC programmed using our Radan sheet metal software without extra cost to our customers.

These zintec gear trays are being laser cut using compressed air as the assist gas for a clean cut competitively prices part.

If you have a sheet metal work project that needs laser cutting from zintec or other sheet metal materials please contact us and we will be happy to take a look at your design and produce prices for you. We will also see if your design can be altered to suit the best manufacturing techniques to save us time and save you money.

Looking for sheet metal workers in Eastleigh area

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016

laser cutting sheet metal, sheet metal supplier

Laser cutting in Hampshire by V and F Sheet Metal

If you are a company based in the Eastleigh area of Hampshire or further afield you should be contacting V and F Sheet Metal as your sheet metal supplier.
For your welding, CNC punching, CNC bending and laser cutting needs give us a try. With our Trumpf fibre laser cutting machine we can laser cut your ferrous and non-ferrous sheet metal work as well as copper and brass sheet up to 6mm thick. As well as providing laser cut components and assemblies we can CNC punch sheet metal work using a wide range of standard CNC punch tooling before it’s folded up and welded where needed. Through our extensive network of sub-contract suppliers we can have your parts painted, powder coated, zinc plated, silk screened etc to your specification reducing the need for secondary purchase orders.

Looking to change your sheet metal supplier for your next sheet metal project?

We are happy to review your existing designs and provide you with pricing options and design advice to help reduce your purchasing costs. To talk to our engineering team please call 01489 577786 or simple send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will get started for you.

Sheet metal manufacturing

Monday, May 9th, 2016

A range of sheet metal parts demonstrating CNC punching, CNC laser cutting and CNC bending in a sub-contract manufacturing environment. Virtually all the sheet metal projects that we manufacture for our customers use one or more of these production processes to produce the parts to our customer’s design. This is where most investment goes and the technology is supported by sophisticated software and control processes. Some of these parts can be laser cut or CNC punched out from standard sheets of metal in seconds and with quick setting CNC press brakes can be bent in minutes. These techniques lead to competitive prices for small batches of parts when our customers cannot commit to higher volumes.

To see the advantages of these production techniques in a modern manufacturing factory please contact us with your project. You can speak to our engineering team on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings in DXF, DWG, SAT, STEP or PDF format and we will be happy to help advise you on your designs and produce prices for you.

Laser cutting sheet metal light fittings

Thursday, May 5th, 2016

Laser cutting sheet metal light fitting gear trays

I always like it when a laser cutting or CNC punching nest completely fills a sheet of metal. This laser cutting nest of 0.7mm zintec lighting gear trays was just such a job. Being able to get the most from a sheet of metal helps to keep the costs down for our customers and speeds up production with less handling time. The middle image above shows this really well and the other two detail some of the features that were so easily laser cut. After several small batches of samples and development work this was the first production batch of 100 parts. If the volumes increase to many hundreds per batch then I may well look to move this job to one of our Trumpf CNC punch presses to increase the speed that the holes are processed but at the moment the Trumpf fibre laser is perfect for this job. Being able to move jobs between different production methods is a useful way of saving our customers money and time when a particular machine is busy.

If you have a sheet metal project that needs to be laser cut or CNC punched please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us an e-mail with your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk

Sheet metal components in April 2016

Sunday, May 1st, 2016

Sheet metal components

Here we are at the end of April and here’s another couple of sheet metal components that we have made this month. They are typical of the sheet metal components we make on a daily basis for our UK and European customers and they were each made in batches of several hundred. The components have been CNC punched and bent up from zintec coated mild steel sheet metal. If you click on the image you can see 3 holes in the middle of the component that have a plunged form and are used with self tapping screws. We have the tooling for M3, M4 and M5 as standard in our Trumpf CNC punch presses. Once we had finished them they were used to hold control gear for industrial light fittings and were just left self colour zintec as this was good enough for the warm dry environment into which they were going.

Sheet metal brackets

These brackets were laser cut and then CNC folded on one of our CNC press brakes. They were also made from zintec sheet metal and are used by a pump control company to hold a pumping system in place where beer is pumped from the kegs to the bar in public house cellars.

For more information on sheet metal components and how we go about making them take a look at our web page “What is sheet metal and how is it made”

Laser cutting copper sheet metal work

Monday, April 25th, 2016

Laser cutting copper sheet metal

Having a fibre laser cutter has been a great advantage to us when it’s come to cutting out blank shapes from copper sheet. These simple triangle shapes could have been CNC punched but we would have wasted more material, we would have had to edge de-burr all the shaped to remove the CNC punch marks and the process would have been a lot slower. The Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutter cut the parts straight out without any edge de-burring and used all the sheet here possible to get the best fit of components.

Laser cut copper sheet metal parts

The pattern of copper triangles was arranged by using our Radan CAD/CAM software with it’s schedule module. It enabled us to mix several different shapes and sizes of copper parts together all laser cut from the same thickness sheet to save material and money across the whole project. Whenever we are working with expensive materials like copper sheet we try all possible solutions to get the best material yield when quoting for the work and then actually laser cutting it.

If you have a sheet metal project in copper or brass and you have been told it can’t be laser cut, look again, up to 6mm thick and we can laser cut it for you.

Laser cut stainless steel grids

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016

Laser cut stainless steel grid

We had a project to produce stainless steel drainage trays for a customer of ours who makes living roofs. The type of roofs that have grass and plants growing across them on schools, bus shelters, nature hides etc. The roofing systems have a series of stainless steel trays laid over the roof with the plants growing and a drainage system to take the water away. The trays have welded corners and a simple gutter / down pipe system to take the rain water away. Inside each roof tray there is a filter system consisting of this stainless steel grid which is welded in place around a drainage hole allowing a filter media to be positioned to hold back the growing media.

The stainless steel grid was laser cut from the same parent sheet as the drainage trays and designed to fit perfectly with small tabs that located into slots in the tray to aid positioning when being welded. We even left more material when we had to bend the grids so there was enough stainless to bend cleanly, this is the advantage of using a laser cutting machine even on small volume projects.

Bespoke sheet metal work from V and F Sheet Metal in Fareham Hampshire

Monday, March 21st, 2016

Here we have 3 quite varied examples of sheet metal work manufactured in our modern factory. They show perfectly the flexibility of production equipment we have when producing batch sheet metal work for our customers.

Laser cut brass clamping strips

One of the more unusual materials that we work with from time to time is CZ108 brass sheet. We could have CNC punched these parts but with the complex arrangement of curves, several special shaped punch tools would have been needed which the 250 off batch didn’t really support. Luckily having a Trumpf fibre laser machine cutting brass up to 6mm thick isn’t a problem for us. These parts were laser cut straight from the sheet with the holes and external profiles programmed with our Radan sheet metal software. A quick barrel de-burr and the parts were ready for our customer.

Aluminium CNC punched disks

Here we have a batch of circular discs that have been CNC punched out from 3mm thick 5251 aluminium alloy. All the holes and internal cut-outs were produced with standard CNC punch tooling on our Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press. The outer circular profile was produced on the same machine as the last punching operation with a curved “banana” punch and die allowing the finished part to fall from the parent sheet of metal and into a collecting bin under the machine. A quick edge de-burring operation and they were ready for powder coating.

Galvanised steel sheet metal brackets

A more standard production job for us here at V&F is producing sheet metal work whether laser cut or CNC punched from galvanised steel sheet metal. These light fitting parts have been CNC punched, edge de-burred, CNC bent up and have a hank bush inserted.

For more free advice and prices on your specific sheet metal projects please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings or 3D CAD data to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to help you more you sheet metal projects forward.

Radan sheet metal software case study

Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

We are really pleased to have been chosen by Radan to be featured in a case study on the use of their software. We have been using Radan CAD/CAM software for over 16 years to help us produce sheet metal work from a range of machines. We use Radan software to produce 3D models from scratch and to read 3D models sent to us by our customers. We also use it to develop our 2D flat blanks which can be either CNC punched or laser cut with our Trumpf manufacturing equipment ready to be bent using a range of CNC press brakes.

We have always valued the support we get from the Radan team and the continual development in the software to support a range of new features in sheet metal manufacturing machines.

Please follow the link to our Radan case study for more detail.

Laser cutting brass sheet metal

Thursday, February 25th, 2016

Removing brass scrap pieces

It’s not often that we get a laser cutting job that can really show off the ability of our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting machine here at V and F Sheet Metal but here is one such sheet metal project. We were asked to cut 2 decorative brass fretwork panels and our laser cutting machine was perfect for the task. The brass panels were to be manufactured from 2.5mm thick brass sheet and laser cutting was no problem for us having a fibre rather than CO2 laser cutting machine. The Trumpf fibre laser cutter is able to cut up to 6mm thick brass sheet so this order was no problem.

Complete brass laser cut panels

I took the DXF files supplied by the customer and cleaned them up. They had various errors in them including lines upon lines, corners not joining in places and more importantly points where if we had followed the drawing the brass panel would have fallen into several parts. All the drawing was cleaned up using our Radan CAD/CAM sheet metal software and small changes were made to suit laser cutting. The “clean” file was then programmed for laser cutting and the 2 panels needed laid out on a single 2500mm x 1250mm sheet.

Laser cut brass sheet fine detail

With both parts laser cut and the sheet automatically cleared from the machine it was only left for us to remove the internal waste parts to reveal the finished brass fretwork panels.

Perhaps you have a brass sheet metal part that you didn’t realise could be laser cut with modern fibre laser technology, please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to help you and advise where you designs can be improved to save you money.

Folding sheet metal brackets to your design

Thursday, February 11th, 2016

Laser cut blanks ready for folding

Before we can fold any sheet metal work we need to produce a developed blank shape. This blank has to be the correct size so that when it’s folded up it becomes the size and shape required for the customer’s drawn design. Using our Radan CAD/CAM sheet metal software we are able to simulate the component as a 3D model and then unfold the part to create the correct blank ready for folding on one of our CNC press brakes. The blanks can be CNC punched or CNC laser cut, these brackets have been laser cut using our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser, a brand new machine installed in 2013 to boost the blank production capacity along side our 2 CNC punch presses. The accuracy of the blank is essential in achieving an accurately folded sheet metal bracket and the laser certainly gives us this accuracy and control over the profile finish.

CNC press brake tooling with mild steel brackets

Folding sheet metal brackets on a Trumpf 7036

Here are the components before they have been folded up and after. The brackets are relatively simple with just 4 x 90 degree bends which have all been created with the same V block and blade tooling. The CNC program to fold up the brackets has been written at the machine and then saved away onto our company computer network for recall at a later stage if the components are manufactured again. The folding process is relatively simple using the same tooling and simply folding one bend and turning the component over and then bending again to create the Z shapes seen in the photograph.

Folded mild steel brackets

And the final folded brackets stacked ready to be packed up and sent off to the zinc platers for treatment. These folded sheet metal brackets are typical of the smaller parts we often manufacture here at V and F Sheet Metal on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes.

If you have a sheet metal design that needs folding up be it 0.7mm mild steel brackets, 2mm stainless steel angle brackets, 3mm aluminium chassis components etc. please give us a call on 01489 577786 and we will be happy to chat through your idea with you. Or perhaps you have a drawing you want to send to sales@vandf.co.uk and our engineering team will be happy to review it and produce a range of price options for you.

Laser cutting curved profiles in aluminium sheet metal

Tuesday, February 9th, 2016

Laser cut aluminium sections

Looking for aluminium profiles with curved shapes? With a laser cutting machine the curved profile can be easily created, such as these light fitting accessories where curves can blend perfectly back into straight lines. Not only is the profile clean but at this gauge there is no cutting burr on either side of the of the sheet metal. Each of these parts were approximately 200mm long and were cut in seconds with many being nested together from a standard 2500mm x 1250mm sheet of metal.

These are just simple parts, some laser cut components that we cut here in Fareham Hampshire can be very complex. All the parts that we laser cut are programmed with our Radan 2016 sheet metal CAD/CAM software.

Where you are looking for laser cut aluminium, stainless steel or mild steel components our Trumpf 3030 3KW laser produce your parts. And being a fibre laser cutting machine it can cope with copper and brass sheet right up to 6mm thick. If you have a drawing you want us to look at then please send it to sales@vandf.co.uk or give our engineering team a call on 01489 577786.

Laser cutting copper sheet metal

Saturday, January 30th, 2016

Laser cutting copper sheet with a fibre laser machine

Laser cut copper sheet metal

Laser cutting copper sheet metal has always been a problem for conventional CO2 laser cutting machines. With a fibre laser cutter this isn’t a problem and we have just the machine to deal with copper and brass up to 6mm thick. Our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser is more than able to cut straight through thin copper sheet such as this flower. For this sheet metal project our customer needed a quick turn around. We quoted for the work, programmed it, laser cut it and sent it out in 2 days, more than meeting our customer’s expectations. The “flower” was a blank for some jewellery project and we defined the shape in Radan sheet metal software and fed a drawing back to our customer to match her simple hand sketch and verbal instructions. Now we have the design on our system server we can produce the copper “flower” again and again without any variance from batch to batch.

Perhaps you have a sheet metal manufacturing project which needs making from copper or brass sheet and haven’t been able to get it laser cut up to now, please give us a call on 01489 577786 and we will be happy to talk through your options and how we can save you money with our fibre laser cutting system.

Precision CNC Laser Cutting Company

Thursday, January 21st, 2016

Precision CNC Laser Cutting Company

Fast Tube by Casper

V and F Sheet Metal’s precision laser cutting machine provides our customers a fast, accurate and economical option for ferrous and non-ferrous sheet metal cutting. When combined with our CNC punching facilities here in Fareham, Hampshire we offer a great all round sheet metal blank production service.

The benefits of using our Trumpf 3KW fibre laser cutter is its flexibility when it comes to material choice. From 0.3mm tin plated mild steel, to 20mm thick mild steel, 15mm stainless steel a range of aluminium alloys and being a fibre laser brass and copper up to 6mm thick are no problem. Fibre laser cutters are very accurate and incredible fast for thin gauges but even 4mm stainless steel as shown in this video is not slow. With the ability to laser cut any shape without the need for special tooling and a great edge finish the Trumpf 3030 fibre really is the machine to use for sub-contract sheet metal work. With a 3M x 1.5M bed and auto-change pallets we can process large sheets for economic material yield or small parts of sheets where needed.

From small batches of the simplest parts to large volumes of complex shapes we can handle your laser cutting requirements.

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