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  • About
    • History – How did we get here?
    • FAQ – Sheet Metal Work
    • How to contact us
    • What is sheet metal work
    • Lighting Industry
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    • COVID-19 Coronavirus Risk Assessment
  • Plant List
    • Corner Notcher and Notching
    • Cleaning Equipment
    • Edwards Pearson PR3
    • Fly Presses and press work
    • Guifil PE 6-16 CNC Bending
    • Haeger Bush / Stud Inserter
    • High speed sawing aluminium
    • Laser Cutting Sheet Metal Work
    • Power Press and press work
    • Rolling Sheet Metal Work
    • Safan e-brake CNC bending
    • Safan Guillotine and Cutting
    • Sawing angle, tube and bar
    • Spot Welding sheet metal
    • Stud Welding Sheet Metal
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    • Welding Fabrication Processes
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    • P4W Production Software
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    • What is laser cutting?
    • Trumpf standard 2D tooling
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    • What is CNC Bending?
    • What is CNC Punching?
    • CNC Bend Table – U Bend
    • CNC Bend Table – Z Bend
    • CNC Bend Table – Single
    • Bend Table – Small Joggles
  • Design Data
    • Mild Steel and it’s Treatments
    • Stainless Steel and it’s Finishes
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    • Bend Sizes and Hole Positions
    • Sheet Metal Punching Rules
    • Sheet Metal Thickness
    • Gauge Conversion Table
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Laser cutting 6mm thick mild steel brackets to your designs

Tuesday, December 4th, 2018

Laser cutting mild steel brackets to your bespoke designs here in the UK

Laser cutting mild steel brackets

Laser cutting 6mm thick mild steel brackets

Here is a typical display of mild steel brackets produced in our factory in Fareham, Hampshire, UK. Manufactured in house by laser cutting and CNC bending direct to our customer’s own designs. Understanding just what can be achieved with laser cutting and CNC bending then leave it to V and F Sheet Metal! We have decades of experience in sheet metal working from producing simple angle brackets right up to complex electronics fabrications. These mild steel brackets were laser cut from 6mm thick plate and used to support heater units in a shopping centre.

So what’s next

Looking for more images of sheet metal brackets to give you some ideas for your design follow this Pinterest Board. We have hundreds of examples of past sheet metal projects on our Pinterest Boards and gallery pages within our website, help yourself!

If you have a need for mild steel brackets please give us a call and our engineering team will be happy to help you. With lots of standard CNC press brake tooling on the shelf we can move on your projects straight away. Try us.

Sub-contract CNC sheet metal manufacturing in Great Britain

Monday, November 5th, 2018

Sub-contract CNC sheet metal manufacturing

CNC folding sheet metal work

CNC folding sheet metal work

There are several advantages to CNC manufacturing.

Firstly, the speed with which new projects can be trialed. Often no special tooling is needed whether components are being CNC punched or CNC bent. And certainly no tooling is required if sheet metal manufacturing is taking place with laser cutting.

There is the ability to change details of a component’s blank size, hole positions or bends without tooling changes. This can lead to many design options and no extra costs for our customers. This is ideal when you have special projects or are looking for customisation within your product range.

The ability to produce components accurately and quickly across a range of batch sizes is another strength when looking to manufacture using CNC equipment. Here you can see 2 good examples of manufacturing repeatability within the CNC bending manufacturing process.

CNC sheet metal manufacturing

CNC sheet metal manufacturing

Everything we do at V and F Sheet Metal and the investments we make are to make your job easier. Quicker delivery of accurate parts at a price that will help you to compete and win new orders. We want to be an essential part of your business and offering the right service is very important to us.

All our CNC programs, whether they are generated by our engineering team or at the machine on the workshop are backed up offsite every night. We need to be able to access the right CNC program just when it’s needed to produce your work.

For more examples of CNC sheet metal manufacturing please take take a look at our Pinterest Boards.

If you are looking for a new supplier for your CNC manufactured sheet metal work then give our team a call (01489 57776). If you would prefer to e-mail (sales@vandf.co.uk) that’s no problem with us. Make the move today and start to reap the benefits of working with a flexible and reliable supplier.

Stainless steel blanks laser cut with Trumpf 3030 fibre laser

Monday, October 29th, 2018

stainless steel blanks

stainless steel laser cut blanks

Stainless steel used to be a difficult material to work with. It’s very hard and wears press tooling and CNC punch press tooling, stainless steel also needs high tonnages to process. Once laser cutting machines become available to the sub-contractor stainless steel blanks became much easier to produce.

stainless steel folded chassis

stainless steel folded chassis

Folding stainless components with the range of CNC press brakes that we have is easy for us. Whether we are using our small Guilfil or Trumpf machines for stainless steel brackets and chassis assemblies or our Safan e-Brake for longer sections, it makes no difference to us.

Stainless steel blanks are just the start of the process. If you want to know more about sheet metal production please take a look at “What is sheet metal work” for more details.

We have a YouTube channel with dozens of videos showing laser cutting, CNC punching and CNC bending stainless steel components.

Once you have a design you want manufacturing we will be happy to help you. Whether you want part designer in 430, 304 or 316 stainless steel we can help you and get the best from the material for you. Call us on 01489 577786 we are waiting to take your call.

Quality sheet metal workers in Hampshire

Monday, October 22nd, 2018

If you are looking for quality sheet metal workers in Hampshire then you need to talk with V and F Sheet Metal.

Whether it’s laser cutting, CNC punching or CNC bending we are here to help you. Offering a quality service to manufacture your sheet metal products. Working to your designs and guiding you through the purchasing / manufacturing process.

For further explanation of what makes a quality sheet metal worker do take a look at our report, “What is sheet metal”

If you would like to view further examples of our past sheet metal projects we have well over 1000 images on our Pinterest Boards.

Give us a call on 01489 577786 if you want to talk with a quality sheet metal working team of engineers. We are waiting to help you with your latest design projects. We also pride ourselves of helping our customers to reduce costs through designing for manufacture. Using standard CNC punch and bending tooling is so import to reduce manufacturing costs. In conclusion, send us your drawing (sales@vandf.co.uk) and we will help you.

Radan nest of parts

Radan nest of parts

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Spot welding Zintec sheet metal assembly

Spot welding Zintec sheet metal assembly

Brackets in production

Brackets in production

Quality sheet metal workers in Hampshire Folding up the blanks

Folding up the blanks

3 D Radan model

3 D Radan model

Laser cutting mild steel brackets using a Trumpf 3030

Friday, October 19th, 2018

Laser cutting mild steel brackets at speed

Laser cutting mild steel brackets

Laser cutting mild steel brackets

We love manufacturing sheet metal brackets here at V and F Sheet Metal. Our manufacturing machinery is perfectly designed to produce small components like brackets, you just have to take a look at our website to see that. The image you can see here is through the safety glass looking onto our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutting 3mm mild steel. The beauty of this machine is the ease with which we can go from job to job with virtually no set up time. Here we are laser cutting some brackets from material off-cuts from a previous order. The ability to amend CNC programs from full production sheets to smaller off-cuts enables us to offer the best prices. Using up remnants especially of expensive or thick materials is an easy way to keep costs down when quoting for work.

For more examples of past sheet metal bracket projects please take a look at our Bracket and Angle Gallery.

Or if you want to watch the laser cutter in action follow the link.

So, if you have a sheet metal bracket that needs manufacturing please give us a call. We are always happy to help you with ideas to speed up the manufacturing process to save you money. Perhaps you have designed a bracket and we can change some CNC punch tooling to suit standard tools and reduce punching time. We may have just the form tool needed to produce the curve you want.

Our engineering are always willing to help.

Laser cut stainless steel plates with a protective plastic film

Thursday, September 27th, 2018

Laser cut stainless steel

Today’s activity in the factory has given me the opportunity to talk about laser cut components using our Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser. This was an interesting job using stainless steel of 2mm gauge with a 4 thou plastic fiber laser coating to produce a batch of 300 laser cut brackets.

Initially we start by laying out the components on the sheet for maximum utilization of the material. There’s not much wastage here!

LASER CUTTING STAINLESS STEEL PLATES

LASER CUTTING STAINLESS STEEL PLATES

The individual components are cut out using the laser in a particular way which is not always obvious. If you look carefully at the drawing of the “red” component, you’ll see at certain points there are small yellow lines. These are called “lead ins” and correspond to the start of the laser cutting point. This allows for a nice clean edge and in the end the initial area where cutting starts from will be on the piece of material that’s thrown away. The advantage of this is that no burn marks are seen on the piece of material you want to keep, only on the scrap. These yellow lead in lines are seen on all areas where cutting occurs.

LASER CUTTING PROGRAM

LASER CUTTING PROGRAM

When cutting metal with a plastic coating using a laser there are two processes which occur. In the first instance the laser beam passes through the plastic and metal and a “vapour” cut sticks the plastic to the metal sheet. Finally a cut is made using nitrogen to cut the part out.

Need some assistance?

Are you looking for someone to laser cut components for you? If you have a project that needs some input from a friendly sheet metal company then we are here to help. We can look at your designs and suggest areas that can be improved with a view to saving you money. Always good news! Simply send us your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will take a look for you.

LASER CUT STAINLESS STEEL PLATE

LASER CUT STAINLESS STEEL PLATE

Would you like to see more images of laser cut components to give you some ideas for your design? Take a look here: Pinterest Board We have many examples of our work on our Pinterest Boards and gallery pages within our website.

Stainless steel components another great example of using a laser cutter

Wednesday, September 26th, 2018

Stainless steel components produced by laser cutting

Laser cutting stainless steel components

Laser cutting stainless steel

Here’s a great example of a component with a really complex inner and outer profile. With so many curves blending into each other there’s only one way to produce this part and that’s laser cutting. We were really lucky with this project as our customer had already produced STEP files. We simply read them into our Radan software and then output 2D files for tooling ready to laser cut. Once the components had been laser cut they needed no further cleaning up around the laser cut edges as we have used pure nitrogen gas. These stainless steel components were simply CNC folded and were then ready to be shipped to our customer.

Laser cutting has become second nature for us whenever there is any profile complexity. The ease of CNC programming and reduced amounts of edge cleaning make it a perfect sub-contract manufacturing process. Working alongside our CNC punch presses we have the perfect combination of cutting machines to wok on your sheet metal projects. Interested in seeing more examples of laser cutting please take a look at our Laser Cutting Pinterest Board.

Have a drawing you would like us to look at? Send it over to us and we will be happy to produce you price options for laser cutting. Not quite sure what you want? No problem, give us a call and we will be happy to chat through your ideas.

Aluminium and mild steel sheet metal brackets manufactured especially for you

Friday, August 31st, 2018

Sheet metal brackets manufactured from aluminium and mild steel

If you are looking for aluminium or mild sheet metal steel brackets you have come to the right place. With over 30 years experience in sheet metal work we will produce brackets to your own designs. Our website has a vast array of past examples of sheet metal brackets made for our UK customers.

Mild steel sheet metal brackets

Mild steel sheet metal brackets

Here at V and F Sheet Metal we will CNC punch and laser cut the blanks for any aluminium or mild steel brackets. We will produce them to your design using the very latest CAD/CAM software ensuring accuracy to your initial ideas. For that reason we always use Radan sheet metal software to enable us to communicate with our customers. Whether it might be 3D design files or detailed drawings we will be able to support you with your manufacturing project.

Take a look at our past CAD/CAM examples to see what we get up to.

Once we have accurate blanks we have a range of CNC press brakes to fold the brackets. Using accurate tooling we will produce a wide range of shapes and sizes of bracket. Please take a look at our bracket gallery for more examples. Another good source for sheet metal bracket examples is our Sheet Metal Bracket Pinterest Board.

Aluminium sheet metal brackets

Aluminium sheet metal brackets

We can also work with other grades of material including stainless steel, copper and brass. More specialised materials such as zintec, bondcote and pre-painted steel are no problem to us.

In conclusion you can see that we are definitely the people to contact when you need sheet metal brackets. You can send us your drawings right now and we will be happy to take a look. Producing price alternatives for material type and volumes options is not a problem to us. If you would rather have a chat please call us on 01489 577786, we will be waiting for your call.

Folding sheet metal brackets from mild steel laser cut blanks

Sunday, May 13th, 2018

Folding sheet metal brackets from mild steel laser cut blanks using our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes

So the best place to start when you want an accurate sheet metal component is an accurate blank. Using years of experience and the latest CAD/CAM software we are able to offer this with little fuss. Linking CNC programs to our CNC punching and laser cutting machines leads to efficient manufacturing. If you can start with an accurate blank it makes folding sheet metal brackets so much easier.

laser cut mild steel brackets

laser cut mild steel brackets

The best way to produce an accurate sheet metal blank is to use a laser cutter. We have the option of cutting accurate sheet metal blanks using our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutter. Depending on the component’s shape, material and thickness we will decide whether to CNC punch or laser cut. These parts have been laser cut which was perfect for the shape and batch size involved.

CNC press brake tooling folding sheet metal brackets

CNC press brake tooling folding sheet metal brackets

Once an accurate sheet metal blank has been produced we can tackle the folding. We are lucky to have such a wide range of machines to fold our sheet metal work. Perhaps we might have a simple sheet metal part and fold it on a fly-press of Guifil CNC press brake. We may use our Safan e-brake with it’s 3M bed. In this case the Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes were ideal for the job. The component’s CNC program was written in under 10 minutes. The tooling was all laid out for one bending sequence. And off we went producing parts.

CNC folded mild steel brackets

CNC folded mild steel brackets

Finally the finished article. A mild steel bracket with a series of bends and stiffening points built into the bends. Folding sheet metal brackets couldn’t be made easier than when using a laser cutter in conjunction with a CNC press brake.

Looking to get some sheet metal brackets manufactured then please give us a call. We love a challange, send us your STEP or DXF files and we will get working on a quote for you. Call 01489 577786 or e-mail sales@vandf.co.uk for help with your sheet metal project.

CNC punching stainless steel sheet metal components

Tuesday, May 8th, 2018

CNC punching stainless steel sheet metal components using our Trumpf punch presses

CNC punching stainless steel

CNC punching stainless steel

Nowadays when you think of cut stainless steel sheet metal components you think of laser cutting. If laser cutting is what you want we can certainly accommodate that with our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser. But, you shouldn’t ignore CNC punching especially on thinner gauges. These 304 stainless steel brackets were easily CNC punched out. If the shape is simple then CNC punching is a very competitive manufacturing method.

CNC punching stainless steel sheet

CNC punching stainless steel sheet

There are obviously some parts that are better cut on a laser machine. These could be where the shape is complex or the gauge is too thick to CNC punch. We will take a view on every drawing we receive from our customers. We will always select the best method to produce a quality part at the right price.

And using Radan CAD/CAM software enables us to swap from one machine to another very easily. If there is a bottleneck in production we can swap jobs around to suit your delivery needs.

You don’t have to worry about which method we will us unless it’s important to you. We have all bases covered here at V and F Sheet Metal and are always happy to help you. Send us your drawings and our engineering team will be please to take a look for you. Even if you just want to refresh prices on an old project we are here to help.

Laser cut small components in Hampshire, Great Britain 2018

Monday, April 2nd, 2018

Laser cut small components

Looking for a company to produce your small components in large batches? Here at V and F Sheet Metal we’re ideally placed to do this for you using our Trumpf laser cutting machine. Small flat components, such as the examples shown here, are ideally suited to production on this machine and we love to use it!

Small components ready for powder coating

Small components ready for powder coating

The laser cutter is extremely versatile, being able to cut any shape into mild steel sheet without the need for dedicated tooling. This is a real advantage for many of our customers with smaller batch size projects. In addition we’ve found that most laser cutting nests that we have converted have shown a better yield of components from a given sheet size. Always an attractive feature. For mild steel there is the need for cutting head assist gases which can be compressed air, oxygen or nitrogen, all of which we have available here at V and F Sheet Metal. The extra cost of the gases can usually be offset by the reduced material usage and the reduction in de-burring time offering a better quality part that is cost neutral for our customers.

Laser cut components

Laser cut components

The Trumpf laser can easily handle a range of metal gauges and its versatility lies in the array of complex shapes it’s able to produce. As you can see from the photos, this machine has the advantage of being able to generate a smooth consistent arc as compared to a standard punching technique.

Selection of small components

Selection of small components

The small components here are made of mild steel, 2-3 mm thick and will either be powder coated or zinc plated further down the line. If you take a closer look, all of these components demonstrate “safe designs” with rads on corners making them safe and easy to handle. Always a feature worth considering. These are typical examples of the repeating batch work we are involved in and usually, although not exclusively, for UK customers.

Perhaps you have some small sheet metal components that need to be manufactured? If so then please feel free to give us a call. We are always happy to take a look at new projects, we may be able to save you time and money with only 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.

Please e-mail us on sales@vandf.co.uk with your drawings attached.

Alternatively give us call on 01489 577786 and we will be more than happy to talk.

Laser cutting an intricate decorative handrail in Hampshire 2018

Tuesday, February 13th, 2018

Laser cut handrail

laser cutting Radan image

Radan image

laser cutting Cut out handrail

Cut out handrail

Laser cutting Close up of pattern

Close up of pattern

Laser cutting sheet metal work is a process we’re proud to offer at V and F Sheet Metal. So I jumped at the chance to talk about a recent interesting job that came our way. My customer required a rather intricate decorative handrail made in stainless steel for installation in a lady’s home. The complex and artistic pattern makes it an ideal job for our Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser.

We received a DXF file from our customer. A file with the .DXF file extension is a Drawing Exchange Format file developed as a type of universal format for storing CAD models. DXF files can easily be opened in CAD packages enabling an accurate and competitively priced quote to be created. The red photo is the image created in Radan software.

The remaining photos show the cut out rail covered in a plastic coating. This coating is removed after laser cutting.

Do you have a complex project you’re looking at right now? If you think laser cutting may be the way forward then we may be able to assist you! Please give our friendly team a call on 01489 577786. Alternatively email us on sales@vandf.co.uk.

Manufacturing sub-contract sheet metal work in Great Britain

Tuesday, September 26th, 2017

Manufacturing sub-contract sheet metal is what V and F Sheet Metal are all about. We have been manufacturing in Great Britain since the 1980s. We have a company ethos of constantly investing in the latest machinery and software to improve the quality of the parts we manufacture. Managing costs and improving order lead times is an everyday job for us.

Manufacturing sub-contract sheet metal

CNC punching plastic coated steel

Manufacturing sub-contract sheet metal for our customers can be range from the simplest flat plate right through to complex welded fabrication assemblies.

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Whether we are using the latest laser cutting technology or CNC bending machines people are still the most important factor in any business. With a stable workforce we have a wide range of experience. Manufacturing special projects and prototypes to repeat batch work and kanban systems, we are happy to help you.

Supporting a wide range of customers in the UK and mainland Europe we will often alreadyd have come across a solution you need. Having a large library of standard CNC punching and bending tooling we can usually produce all your work without any tooling costs.

Trumpf 7036 CNC bendingSheet metal angle brackets

Trumpf 7036 CNC bendingSheet metal angle brackets

If you are looking for a long term relationship with a UK based company manufacturing sub-contract sheet metal then please contact us. We will be happy to talk to you about your latest sheet metal projects on 01489 577786. If you prefer to e-mail us your drawings then please feel free. We can work with STEP, SAT, DXF and DWG CAD data, please send it to sales@vandf.co.uk. We can produce you quote options, price ranges and advice on treatments and finishes to save you money.

CNC laser cutting sheet metal programming in Great Britain

Friday, September 22nd, 2017

sheet metal programming

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

We use Radan sheet metal CAD/CAM software to drive our CNC punching and CNC laser cutting machines. Radan software is one of the most sophisticated packages for controlling sheet metal manufacturing machines available today. With support for 3D modelling, 2D drawing, standard tooling libraries, auto tooling and auto nesting of full metal sheets. Sheet metal programming is critical for producing accurate components at the right price. For us sheet metal programming is the most important stage in the manufacturing cycle before any material is cut.

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

The examples of sheet metal programming shown here are typical of those we produce every day of the week. The Radan software automatically finds the best fit for components on any given sheet size or off-cut no matter how complex the blank shape or size.

With many years of experience in producing a vast range of sheet metal parts via CNC punching and CNC laser cutting we are happy to help you modify your designs to reduce processing time and part costs.

You can send us your drawings as 2D PDF, DWG or DXF files. If you are lucky enough to produce 3D data then STEP or SAT files can help us to speed up sheet metal quotes and the final production sheet metal programs.

Sheet metal housings and gear trays manufactured in the UK

Tuesday, August 15th, 2017

Mild steel sheet metal housing base

Mild steel sheet metal housing base

Sheet metal can be used to create a wide range of housings, enclosures and boxes for electronic and lighting products. Whether the housings are made from stainless steel, mild steel or aluminium we have the correct equipment for efficient manufacturing. With a varied customer base demanding a quick service from just a few samples right up to volume production we have a large flexible sheet metal housing production service.

Sheet metal light fitting gear tray

Sheet metal light fitting gear tray

Whether it’s CNC punching or laser cutting that’s needed to start off a sheet metal housing we have the right software to get the best from any given sheet of metal. Using either fresh standard sheets, custom sheared blanks or remnants from previous jobs we can cope with your requirements. Radan CAD/CAM software is very powerful with it’s ability to change a part from CNC punching to a laser cutting job in seconds. This allows us to swap production jobs around when that inevitable panic order comes in.

Linking the flexibility of CNC punching and laser cutting under the same roof as CNC bending is perfect for most people’s sheet metal housing needs. Bending housings as small as the palm of your hand right up to 3M long is no problem for us. With many of our CNC bending machines sharing the same tooling enables us to be flexible when running higher volumes of work. We can set up the same part over several machines to increase work flow when needed.

These small housings are typical of the easier parts we manufacture. If you have something more complex please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to take a look for you. Whether it’s a 3D STEP file or 2D data please give us a try.

Laser cutting stainless steel sheet metal work

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017

Laser cutting stainless steel
Laser cutting stainless steel sheet metal work in Great Britain during 2017

Whether you are looking to just have a few stainless steel parts laser cut or higher volumes here at V and F Sheet Metal we will be able to help you. Using the latest Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser technology we can cut work from 0.3mm to 12mm thick. Using a fibre laser enables us to offer you a comprehensive laser cutting service. We can laser cut ferrous and non-ferrous materials. As well as stainless steel this can include aluminium alloys, mild steel and galvanised steel. Using the fibre technology we can cut brass and copper alloys.

Employing either nitrogen, oxygen or compressed air as the cutting gases we can ensure the best edge quality to suit your needs. This also helps us to select the right solution to keep your finished part costs down.

Laser cutting stainless steel is only one service we offer our customers. For a fuller picture please take a look at our plant pages and galleries. If you have a design that needs sheet metal work please give us a call. Our engineering team will be happy to help you and talk through your ideas.

Small sheet metal components

Thursday, August 3rd, 2017

Small sheet metal components

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.

UK 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 UK sheet metal manufacturing and all its production processes follow this link.

CNC punching machines

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 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.

uk sheet metal manufacturing

Sheet metal folding facility

No look at UK 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 explore 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

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

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.

Where can I buy laser cut sheet metal

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 GB

Monday, February 27th, 2017

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

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

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 GB 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

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 GB 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.

There are lots of examples of sheet metal work that can be seen on our Pinterest Boards.

sheet metal work in GB

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 GB 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 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

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

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

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

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 cutting galvanised mild steel

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

Aluminium sheet metal work

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 sheet metal work CNC program nest

Laser cutting programs

Laser cutting programs

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

Laser cutting sheet metal work CNC program nest

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

CNC punched sheet metal panels

Laser cut 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

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

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.

Laser cutting sheet metal electronics enclosures

Laser cutting sheet metal electronics enclosures is just one of the many components we manufacture. Please take a look at our Pinterest Boards for hundreds of examples of laser cutting.

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 for you and help manage your laser cutting projects.

Brass sheet metal used to produce electrical contactor brackets

Thursday, October 6th, 2016

brass sheet metal brackets

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.

Angle brackets made from brass sheet

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.

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