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Sheet metal fabrications in Hampshire

Monday, October 5th, 2015

Sheet metal fabrications in Hampshire

Here’s more sheet metal fabrications manufactured from mild steel in our factory in Fareham, Hampshire. I’m always looking for more new examples of the sheet metal work that we have manufactured and these mild steel housings are a typical example including laser cutting, CNC bending, Tig welding and cleaning up before powder coating. These fabrications were made in a batch of 50 which is typical for small sheet metal fabrications but we also make smaller numbers for prototypes and larger volumes as repeat batches or for large projects.

Once the powder coating is applied to these sheet metal fabrications there is no sign that they were ever welded.

If you have any sheet metal fabrications you want manufactured please contact us and we will be happy to look at your drawings for you.

Patterns in sheet metal work

Wednesday, September 30th, 2015

Recent sheet metal projects manufactured by V and F sheet Metal using some of their CNC laser, CNC punch and CNC bending technologies. As well as having a very practical nature sheet metal production can be attractive in its own right.

If you are looking for sheet metal work laser or CNC punched and flat or bent up please give us a call and I’m sure we will be able to help you.

Laser cut angle brackets

Monday, September 28th, 2015

Angle brackets cut to size on a laser machine

Laser cut angle brackets

Simple angle brackets laser cut from 3mm thick 304 stainless steel sheet metal

Angle brackets that have been cut from 3mm stainless steel sheet using a Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutting machine and nitrogen as the cutting assist gas. Using nitrogen allows us to produce a clean and bright surface with no burn marks on the cut edge of the top surfaces. The angle brackets were designed in Radan software as a 3D model and then development out and “tooled” for laser cutting.

Angle bracket model

The part’s attributes such as material type, material thickness and the shape of the angle bracket were defined within the modelling software. This enable us to unfold the model and calculate the correct blank size to be laser cut without the need to run test samples first. The blank could then have any tooling needed for laser cutting built into the part program such as the lead in point and any tags that might be needed to hold the angle bracket within the sheet while cutting. This enables a laser cutting nest to be built that has all the intelligence needed to either produce whole sheets of the same parts or a mixture or family of parts if needed.

Angle bracket laser cutting nest

The final “tooled” part is then laid out on a next with all the cutting order and codes need to drive the laser cutting machine. In this image 2 types of angle bracket as shown being cut together to complete the order. Once the angle brackets had been laser cut they simple needed a single bend and were then finished.

If you have an angle bracket that needs manufacturing please contact us and whether it needs laser cutting or CNC punching we will be happy to help you.

Stainless steel folded channels

Thursday, September 10th, 2015

Stainless steel channels

Here’s another project that caught my eye last week and I thought it would be good to share it. These parts have all been manufactured from 2mm thick 304 stainless steel sheet. They have been laser cut as flat blanks from standard sheet sizes and all nested together to get the best sheet utilisation. Being laser cut with our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser and using nitrogen as the cutting assist gas they were bright and clean on all the laser cut edges and holes and so they did not need any edge deburring. The laser cut blanks were then folded up to the sizes pre-determined on our 3D Radan sheet metal models on our brand new Safan e-brake CNC press brake. The final operation was to press in stainless steel hank bushes using both our fly presses and our Haeger bush inserter press. It’s surprising just how mush equipment is needed to produce relatively simple sheet metal work when you want to do the job properly. You might have a new project that you are working on needing stainless steel channels or angle or you might want to look again at pricing an existing project. Please give us a call on 01489 577786 or e-mail us on sales@vandf.co.uk with your drawings and we will be happy to help.

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

Laser cutting steel sheet metal work

CNC punching is so flexible in being able to produce complex shapes in a range of sheet metal work. Being able to form dimples, louvre, self tapping forms etc is essential which is why we have 2 CNC punch presses to cover those needs but sometimes sheet metal components profile are so complex with compound curves that laser cutting is the only real option available. Luckily for us we have a Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser which enables us to laser cut very complex sheet metal work with perfect profiled edges. The ability to fill a sheet of metal completely without any clamping areas is also a great advantage especially when it’s an expensive material.

Zintec sheet metal components

Monday, May 18th, 2015

Zintec sheet metal components

Another day at V and F and these zintec base plates caught my eye and a good example of various production methods working together.

Zintec is a zinc coated mild steel sheet metal that can be used as a good pre-treated surface for components that are going to be painted or powder coated. Zintec can also be used on it’s own in some cases where sheet metal components are kept dry and require minimal corrosion protection. In this case these base plates or a piece of scientific equipment have been manufactured by laser cutting, CNC bending and then having a range of sheet metal bushes and studs inserted using our Haeger inserter and will be powder coated. All the laser cut edges are perfectly clean as they were cut using nitrogen for a burn/oxide free cut. The photo shows how smooth a radiused feature can be when laser cut without any edge de-burring needed.

Mild steel sheet metal chassis

Thursday, May 14th, 2015

Mild steel laser cut chassis blanks

Here’s another nice example of laser cutting and bending technology from Trumpf working together to make for an efficient production capability at V and F sheet Metal. We have just produced a batch of 2000 1.5mm thick mild steel chassis blanks on our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser using oxygen as the assist gas. The chassis blanks were produced so cleanly that no edge deburring was needed after laser cutting. The chassis blanks shown here have slight signs of burning from the laser cutting process but this isn’t important as the acid treatments when they are being zinc plated will clean all this off the surface producing a perfect shiny finished component. As ever with laser cutting there were no tools involved and our customer has made several changes to the design with no price impact for them. The next process is to bend the chassis blanks up into there finished form.

Bending mild steel chassis components

The bending process is relatively simple and very quick with a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake. We have made these chassis components before so the CNC program was already stored on our system server and it was a simple matter calling it back up. The tooling needed, position of the tooling and all bend sequence information is saved for the machine setter to use and then the machine operator to follow in producing each chassis component. A 3D graphic image with each bending stage can be viewed to ensure that the component is bent up correctly ready for inspection. Once the machine is set the Trumpf 7036 is very quick in producing each bend. The sequence of bends is repeated for each component until the batch is completed. The efficient ergonomic layout of the CNC press brake enables an operator to sit at the machine close to the tooling but still safe with the use of laser guards. The machine has it’s own lighting and adjustable work table for optimal position and enabling the operator to work without strain on longer batches of sheet metal work.

Finished mild steel chassis components

The final finished sheet metal chassis are stacked within arms length and at the same height as the bending area to minimise movement and speed up the process. The consistency of laser cutting and CNC bending using Trumpf equipment nicely is demonstrated here.

You may have a sheet metal chassis that you want pricing, it might need CNC punching, laser cutting and CNC bending. We are happy to take a look for you and produce prices and suggest ways that the component can be improved for manufacturing to save you money. Please give our team a call on 01489 577786 or send us an e-mail.

CNC punched mild steel front panels

Thursday, April 30th, 2015

CNC punched mild steel front panels

Nice little blog post today looking at mild steel front panels. These particular front panels are for professional audio equipment and have been CNC punched from mild steel sheet. All the tools were in our standard tool library on the Trumpf CNC punch presses so there was no tooling cost to the customer. The front panels were CNC punched with other parts for the order that were from the a material and gauge. After CNC punching they were edge de-burred and then folded and painted. With a batch size of 200 components CNC punching was the ideal method to produce these front panels. They could have been laser cut as well and we have the ability to laser cut in house moving work from machine to machine to help with production schedules when needed.

Whether it’s CNC punched or laser cut mild steel please give us a call and we will be happy to help you.

Laser cutting 3mm mild steel sheet metal

Thursday, March 19th, 2015

Fast Tube by Casper

Simple video showing our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutter cutting through 3mm thick mild steel sheet metal to produce blanks for electronics chassis housings. You can see that the laser cutting machine is easily able to process this type of material and thickness of sheet using nitrogen gas as the assist gas to cut through the steel. These chassis housings do not has any edge de-burring after laser cutting and once folded with bushes and studs inserted are ready to go straight to powder coating. You can see that whether it’s laser cutting circles, slots, cut-outs or edge profiles it makes no difference to this machine as the laser beam simply follows the program without the need for special tooling. All we have to do is change the nozzle size to suit a particular material thickness and that only takes 1 minute. This makes laser cutting a very versatile process for trying out new design prototypes and small batch work as well as running larger volume production.

As well as watching the laser cutting head cutting through the sheet metal within the laser machine the operator can monitor the progress of the program on the screen show at the end of the video. This enables the operator to make corrections if a gets caught or start the program from the same place so that parts are not lost within a sheet.

If you have a sheet metal component and are not sure whether it should be laser cut or CNC punched then just contact us through the website and we will be happy to take a look at your design ideas and pick the process that best suits the material, thickness and design to give you the best quality and price or component.

Laser cutting galvanised mild steel sheet metal

Thursday, January 29th, 2015

Incredible fast laser cutting with a Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser

Fast Tube by Casper

No you are not seeing things this laser cutting is really going this fast, we haven’t speeded up the video. We are cutting 0.8mm thick galvanised mild steel with nitrogen and the machine absolutely flys through this type of sheet metal work. The advantage of using a fibre laser is the cost is reduced over CO2 laser cutting, it’s much faster and there is no edge de-burring to be done that can be the case after CNC punching. The other advantage over CNC punching on a job like this is we can use the material to within 5mm of the edge without a problem whereas if we tried to CNC punch that close to the sheet metal it would distort and probably wrap up around the punching head when CNC punching because of the lack of strength on such thin material. With laser cutting as the head doesn’t physically touch the sheet metal itself (just the laser beam) the strength is not so import as the sheet doesn’t move just the head.

If you have thin gauge sheet metal work that you are currently having CNC punched of laser cut with CO2 lasers give us a call and will be happy to take a look at see how we can improve the component and reduce your costs.

Sheet metal welding fabrications

Thursday, January 22nd, 2015

I thought it would be useful to pick out 3 quite different sheet metal welding fabrication projects being manufactured during January 2015 to use as illustrations of the type of welding techniques we can employ when making fabrication assemblies.

Sheet metal MiG welded fabrications

Here I have shown a batch of 100 wall mounting bracket assemblies for supporting speaker systems. We normally manufacture 100 to 200 of the bracket assemblies at a time from mild steel square section tube, 5mm bar and 6mm thick mild steel plate. The 6mm thick plate is screwed to the wall with the welded tube projecting out at 90 degrees. The 5mm bar is used both sides of the tube to strengthen the joint and prevent the heavy speaker sagging once it has been fixed to the tube.

We used to buy the laser cut 6mm plates in from another source as they were too thick for us to CNC punch with our Trumpf punch presses. Now we have invested in a new Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutting machine we can easily laser cut them in house, out of interest the laser cutter is able to cut steel up to 20mm thick so 6mm was no problem. We also used to saw the mild steel tubes to length and then drill all the holes both sides with a standard pillar drill set up. We have now moved this operation onto the laser cutter as well with some customer built jigs. We still saw the tubes to length and then simply position them into the jig on the bed of the laser machine and as the laser head can move in the Z axis it can move onto the tubes and cut the holes require. We just cut a row of tubes and then flip them all over 180 degrees before cutting the other side. This has proven to be much quicker than having to drill them all out by hand. The tube, strengthening bars and wall mounting plate is positioned within a jig and then MiG welded together. By using anti-spatter spray we can keep the surface of the plates clean and they need little cleaning up before being ready to go for powder coating. MiG welding tends to be used on heavier sheet metal welding fabrication jobs than TiG welding as it’s quicker to apply and you can build up a lager weld quicker than TiG welding. I’s not a neat as TiG welding but in this case that was not important.

Sheet metal TiG welded fabrications

This is a simple sheet metal support shelf for a rack mounting enclosure. We often make 20-30 of these fabricated assemblies at a time with both parts being manufactured from 1.5mm mild steel. The main shelf and stiffening channel was laser cut from the same sheet of metal using nitrogen as the assist gas. Using nitrogen produced a very clean cut that didn’t need and edge de-burring and also is a perfect finish ready for zinc plating or powder coating.

Although you cannot see in this photo the stiffening channels have small tags laser cut in them and the main rack shelf has a small rectangular slot cut to match the tag. The welder who TiG welds them together doesn’t have to worry about positioning them or measuring point to tack weld as the 2 parts simply press together and are them welded. This method of assembly for welding is also a simple check that the 2 parts are being bent correctly as they can be checked once the first parts are bent to ensure they all line up before running the complete batch through the CNC press brakes.

Sheet metal spot welded fabrications

These spot welded fabricated assemblies are used as part of a chassis used on some scientific measuring equipment. The batches can vary from 25 off up to several hundred at a time. They are laser cut from 2mm thick mild steel with nitrogen as the cutting assist gas in house on our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutter. The front section with the curved forms are folded up and the then extended sides are created but spot welding them to the front section with support strips as the overlapping joint inside the profile. The spot welding tips on the outside sheet metal surface were flat to reduce the amount of distortion and any indents to these surfaces. Spot welding is good for madding welded joints were great strength is not needed, they can be much quicker than TiG or MiG welding but as they are so small several spots are needed over a larger are to ensure sufficient joint strength is achieved.

After the spot welded joints had been made the outer surfaces were cleaned off and the orbital sanded before being powder coated silver.

If you have a sheet metal work project that needs welding then perhaps you might consider using our skills, please give us a call on 01489 577786 or e-mail us some drawings at sales@vandf.co.uk

Sheet metal frames

Wednesday, January 7th, 2015

Sheet metal frame – mild steel

Sheet metal frames can be used to support, surround and contain many different products. These particular frames have been laser cut from 0.7mm thick CR4 mild steel sheet and then bent up on a CNC press brake. The advantage of using laser cutting to produce these frames is there is no edge de-burring required and as they were cut with compressed air as the assist gas they were cut very quickly and cheaply.

They are used by a lighting company to provide the front frame of an office light fitting and will be powder coated white and then pop riveted to the light housing before installation in office suspended ceilings in place of a ceiling tile. We manufacture lots of different frames from mild steel, stainless steel and aluminium alloys for many different products including light fittings, air conditioning surrounds, pump housings, LED display housings etc. If you have any sheet metal work projects that need housing enclosures or surrounding frames please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send an email to the address on the website and we will be happy to take a look for you whether it’s just a few for a special project, prototyping or higher volumes, we are here to help.

Sheet metal brackets – lots of them!

Tuesday, January 6th, 2015

Aluminium angle brackets

Even the simplest angle bracket can need multiple manufacturing processes to complete it to a customers design. These simple angle brackets needed the following stages: CNC 3D modelling, CNC programming for a CNC punch press, punching out on a Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press, edge de-burring to remove any sharp edges and corner tags, folding up on a CNC press brake, alocrom 1200 treatment and then insertion of small PEM self clinch bushes. These brackets are typical of the brackets that we manufacture every day of the week for our customers here from our factory in Fareham, Hampshire. They may be aluminium as these brackets of from stainless or mild steel, they may have many bends or be a simple angle, with welded sections or just left as single parts, with studs and bushes pressed in place or with simple plain holes. Whatever the bracket design you have in mind we can manufacture it and often help you by suggesting ways of reducing costs when reviewing your design at the price estimating stage. One this occasion we manufactured a batch of 200 brackets but it can be as low as just a few for a special project or many thousands depending on the needs of our customers.

Aluminium strirrup brackets

Here we have some aluminium stirrup brackets used to support battery powered LED light fittings. They have been laser cut from 2mm 5251 aluminium sheet metal, de-burred, with 2 bends and then had a hand operation to pull the bracket curve around a former jig to create the shape that you can see here in the photo. On this occasion we manufactured 300 brackets ready for a call off of 100 per month. this is a service we can offer on smaller components so that our customers enjoy the reduced cost of a larger batch of work but don’t have to take all the parts in one go.

Laser cut mild steel brackets

Laser cut mild steel brackets. Again a simple single bend bracket which has been laser cut from 1.2mm thick mild steel with no need to have any edge de-burring. The bends were formed on a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake with standard press brake tooling so at no extra charge to our customer. The advantage of laser cutting brackets like these that have radius corners is that we can produce any size of radius without the need for tooling and can blend rads together to make safe edges for assembly and in the final bracket if handled in use.

If you have a single bracket you want manufacturing or lots of them please give us a call and we will be happy to help you with a quote or work with you to refine your design for manufacturing and save you money.

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutter in action

Fast Tube by Casper

Just a simple 3mm thick mild steel sheet metal work project today to show you. This part used to be manufactured on one of our CNC punch presses and could be if needed. Today it’s being produced on our laser cutter to reduce the amount of de-burring needed and produce more from the standard sheet of metal. Considering it’s cutting through 3mm thick mild steel this machine is really moving at speed and is a perfect tool for this type of work. You can see from the short laser cutting video that the parts can be placed very close together (5mm apart for these parts) and near the edges of the sheet in all directions enabling the best possible use of all the sheet metal.

Perhaps you have a sheet metal work project that can be laser cut, we may well be able to speed up your production times and reduce your costs, please give us a try. We are more than happy to look at your drawings and produce a range of prices free of charge.

Laser cutting sheet metal with a Trumpf 3030 3KW fiber laser

Sunday, December 21st, 2014

Fast Tube by Casper

The speed of a Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser is very impressive when cutting thin sheet metal. Here in this video it’s laser cutting 0.9mm zintec coated mild steel sheet which will be used to manufacture support brackets and gear chassis components for the pumping industry. These particular sheet metal brackets did not need any edge de-burring after laser cutting with compressed air due to the clean edge that is produced. Along with the ability to use the whole sheet right up to the edges on all 4 sides it helps to produce very cost effective cutting and therefore cheaper components.

As well the the machines ability to laser cut thin gauges very quickly and use up as much of the material as possible to produce components the time taken to change from 1 job to another is only minutes given a great flexibility when it comes to small batches of work or prototyping for customers new designs.

Laser cutting sheet metal CNC nests

Sunday, December 21st, 2014

Laser cutting sheet metal nests produced with Radan sheet metal software.

Laser cutting CNC nest

Without the need for CNC tooling a laser cutter can cut any shape and nest the close together to save material. Although not show here if we are running several jobs together from the same material and gauge we can fit the onto a single sheet and even within a part with a large open interior area such as this ring.

Laser cutting CNC nest

No matter whatever strange shape your design might need don’t be put off because we can probably laser cut it for you whether it’s in mild steel, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, brass, galvanised steel or zintec. Using Radan sheet metal software with our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser is the perfect combination for controlling the design shape and the best fit from any sheet we have in stock or can buy in.

If you have a sheet metal component and you want us to laser cut it please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send a drawing to us and we will work out a competitive price for you.

Sheet metal panels and their manufacture

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Laser cut and formed mounting plates

4mm thick mild steel panels laser cut on our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser using oxygen as the assist gas and then bent up. These panels used to be CNC punched out but due to the amount of cleaning up needed to deburr all the edges after punching this became an idea job to be moved to laser cutting when we installed our new laser cutter (Nov 2013). Many other jobs have also been moved to laser cutting if they had complex profiles and some others were left with CNC punching if they had lots of holes or any 3D features such as dimples, formed threads or ventilation louvres. That’s the advantage of having both production methods under 1 roof, we can move jobs around to suit our customers requirements and to find the best use of the technology to suit the design.

CNC punched ventilation panels

1mm thick aluminium ventilation filter holders CNC punched on our Trumpf 200 CNC punch press. These panels are typical of the type of work produced on our CNC punch presses and a batch of 50 off was perfect for the Trumpf 200. Each hole was pierced with a diameter 3mm punch and die. If the volumes get larger there will be a point when a cluster tool will become cost effective. This type of punch tool can be anywhere from 2 to 50 punches held in one tool greatly speeding up the hole perforating speed of the panel.

Zintec panels

These zintec panels have been CNC punched out, edge de-burred and then had mild steel zinc plated bushes inserted before sending off to be powder coated. All panels whether CNC punched or laser cut up to 2.5M long or even 3M long if just flat can be produced in house.

Need some sheet metal panels for a special project you have or a standard product that you manufacture, please give us a call or e-mail your drawings and we will take a look for you.

Sheet metal Laser cutting v CNC punching

Wednesday, December 17th, 2014

Quick pros and cons of laser cutting V CNC punching

For more information on laser cutting follow this link

For more information on CNC punching follow this link

Laser cutting zintec sheet metal chassis VIDEO

Friday, November 21st, 2014

Laser cutting zintec sheet metal chassis

Please click on this short video to see how quick our Trumpf 3030 3kW fibre laser can laser cut through 1.2mm zintec sheet metal.
The laser cutter really does go that fast when cutting a profile and considering we do not need to deburr these parts after they have been cut it makes for a very efficient manufacturing process. There was also another gain in that these parts were laser cut using compressed air rather than nitrogen or oxygen which saved more money as well.

Fast Tube by Casper

For more information on programming, laser cutting and CNC bending these chassis components please take a look at our full blog post Laser cutting and CNC bending sheet metal work

Laser cutting and CNC bending sheet metal work

Monday, November 17th, 2014

3D Sheet metal software modelling

When working with any complex sheet metal component we tend to start with a 3D model in our Radan CAD/CAM software system. The 3D model is created with reference to the material type, material thickness, profiles sizes, hole sizes and hole positions. Once the 3D model is complete it can be used to check hole alignment with other sheet metal parts that we may be manufacturing for our customers. At this stage it’s easy to see if there is a problem with the 3D model or our customer’s drawings and report back to them before committing to laser cutting or CNC punching any sheet metal material. We can either send the 3D model as CAD data in a *.SAT or *.STEP format. For customers who don’t have a 3D facility themselves we can offer 3D images and 2D CAD data in a *.DXF or *.DWG format. Once the model has been approved it is used to create the flat pattern needed for manufacturing.

Laser cutting part layout nest

Having created the 3D model in our Radan CAD/CAM software, unfolded it and tooled it up ready for cutting we have to obtain the best fit of the flat blanks within a standard metal sheet size. The most popular commercially available sheet sizes are 2m x 1m, 2.5m x 1.25m and 3m x 1.5m but we can always use small off cuts from other jobs of buy in special blank sizes for production jobs to reduce material waste on awkward shapes. The CAD/CAM software automatically finds the best fit taking into account the grain direction on the sheet. We can always intervene if we want to change a position of a component or can see a more efficient nest layout. Once the component layout has been completed, which normally takes just seconds, we can create a compiled file which is used to drive the actual laser cutting machine to cut the components required.

Laser cutting the chassis brackets

The laser cutting program that is generated from the CAD/CAM software instructs the machine setter in what material type is needed for the job, it’s thickness, the laser cutting assist gas that will be used and the nozzle size needed to produce a clean laser cut edge. The software takes most of the decisions and makes the Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutting machine set up from one job to another a simple task, often being just a matter of minutes. Once the material is loaded onto the pallet changing bed of the machine the operator can cut a component, stop the machine, check the part for size and edge cut quality and then run the production batch needed to satisfy the order. The whole laser cutting process is automatic and carried out inside the machine with the machine operator only able to view the laser cutting process through a special filter glass window.

Another advantage of using a laser cutter to produce sheet metal blanks is that there is no tool clamping zone on the sheet so the laser cutting head can cut over the whole sheet leaving very little waste material, which all adds up to more competitive piece part prices for our customers.

If at the end of a production run more sheet metal work is needed to complete an order the laser machine setter can create his own program at the machine for a small quality of parts with the need to create more full programs.

Fast Tube by Casper

Please click of the video to see our Trumpf 3030 in action laser cutting the sheet metal nest illustrated above. The video has not been speeded up this is the speed that it cuts 1.2mm zintec with compressed air.

Laser cut chassis blanks ready for bending

The laser cut blanks are produced from 1.2mm thick zintec sheet with 20 being cut from a standard 2mx1m sheet. With the Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser we have the option of laser cutting using either Nitrogen, Oxygen or compressed air. The Nitrogen gas is used to produce a clean cut edge as it’s inert and prevents oxidization while the material is cut. It’s perfect for aluminium, stainless steel and mild steel along with its zinc coated derivatives. The Oxygen gas is used when thicker steels need to be cut e.g. 5mm and upwards or when parts are zinc plated and the surface oxide is removed on the plating process. Compressed air is perfect for thinner sheet metal parts out of aluminium, mild steel or stainless steel. These zintec coated mild steel components were cut with compressed air which was perfect and the cheapest option of the 3 cutting gas types.

CNC press brake set ready for bending

Here is the tooling set up on one of our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. The component is taken from flat blank to the final folded part is a series of bends across all 3 of the tools shown here. Once generated, the program to control the machine is saved away on our system server and is available for both CNC press brakes with interchangeable tooling making a flexible option when repeating batches. The CNC press brake control has a 3D graphical interface making it easy for the machine programmer to see if the component will be achievable with the tooling selected and also acts as a teaching aid to new operators when first folding a new job.

Finished sheet metal chassis brackets

After 3D software modelling, developed blank part generation, part nesting, laser cutting and CNC bending we have the final parts. In this case the parts were left un-finished in a zintec coated mild steel material which was more than adequate for our customer’s needs. If you want to see more videos of our laser cutting machine working or sheet metal manufacturing in general please visit our YouTube channel.

If you have a sheet metal work project that requires laser cutting or CNC bending please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us an e-mail with your details and we will be happy to provide some quotes for you.

Sheet metal projects in November 2014

Thursday, November 13th, 2014

Stainless steel sheet metal work

This sheet metal work project going through our factory in November 2014 is typical of the work that we are doing everyday for our customers. These parts were made in batches of 50,100 and 200 across a range of styles and sizes. These 304 bright annealed stainless steel sheet metal ventilation panels have been CNC punched out and CNC bent up all on Trumpf manufacturing equipment. The white colour is the peelable plastic protective film that we leave in place during manufacturing to help protect the cosmetic surface of the stainless steel from scratched and dirty marks while being CNC punched and bent up We are very proud of the investment that we have put into high tech equipment and the advantages it brings to our customers.

Mild steel brackets

If you have a sheet metal work project that requires simple or complex bracket then we are the people to help you. These mild steel bracket were laser cut in house and then folded up on our Trumpf 3030 3Kw fiber laser cutter. The brackets were then folded up on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. They could have just as easily been CNC punched out on one of our Trumpf CNC punch presses and bent on our larger Edwards Pearson CNC press brakes. We like to have a range of machines for each process giving us the flexibility to swap jobs about if a customer has an urgent order of if we have a large demand for capacity on any one machine.

Zintec sheet metal covers

Sheet metal covers, boxes, lids, housings and enclosures are our everyday work. These zintec coated mild steel covers have been CNC punched and bent up in the first few days of November 2014. They will go off and be powder coated and then shipped to our customer.

If you have a sheet metal work project you want us to take a look at for you pleas simple call us or send and email with your drawings, 3D data or photograph and we will be happy to produce a quote for you or give you some tips to help reduce the cost of your design where we can.

Sheet metal work, Hampshire

Monday, November 10th, 2014

Some recent sheet metal work projects manufactured in our factory in Fareham, Hampshire

Bending sheet metal with a CNC punch press

CNC punching sheet metal in Fareham, Hampshire

Here’s a great example of the flexibility that can be achieved when manufacturing sheet metal work on a CNC punch press. These stainless steel chassis panels have been CNC punched from 304 1.5mm thick sheet using standard CNC tools but with some tabs being bent up with a special tool called a multi-bend tool. We have been using this tool for many years to enable us to speed up the production of sheet metal work with small bends by producing them on the CNC punch press rather than by hand on a press brake.

Laser cutting used to produce sheet metal plates

CNC laser cutting sheet metal in Fareham, Hampshire

These mild steel plates have been manufactured by laser cutting with our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser. They could have been CNC punched out but we didn’t have a suitable tool for the end radii. With a laser cutter you don’t have to worry about having the correct tool as the laser can cut any square, slot, circle or sheet metal profile with a continual laser beam making it the perfect process for small batch work and prototypes. The speed of the laser is also more than able to process larger volumes as well with it’s automatic pallet loading system.

CNC punched stainless steel grilles

CNC punching sheet metal in Fareham, Hampshire

We have just started manufacturing stainless steel sheet metal ventilation grilles on our Trumpf 3000 CNC punch press here in Hampshire. The pattern of ventilation slots has been created by using 3 new custom tools and repeating a punched pattern to produce a pleasing and efficient air flow pattern. The ventilation panels come in a range of sizes and materials with the ones shown here being bright annealed stainless steel and others being manufactured from zintec and having a powder coated finish. All the bends have been completed on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes with minimum tool set up time.

If you want to know more about CNC punching or CNC bending please follow these links to one of our web pages.

If you are based in Hampshire or further afield and want some prices for your sheet metal work projects or technical design advice please give us a call or e-mail your drawings and we will be happy to help you.

Sheet metal work from V and F Sheet Metal

Thursday, November 6th, 2014

Bent zintec gear chassis

A view of a small zintec folded tray which had been bent up on one of our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. All the bends were achieved from one set up and all bend lengths and angles saved on our network server for call back whenever the part is repeated. Having 2 of the CNC press brakes with identical program software and tooling enables us to move jobs around to suit work flow and keep machine down time to a minimum.

Mild steel angle brakets

Simple mild steel angle brackets that have been laser cut and CNC bent up waiting to have a press stud inserted before zinc plating and passivating. These parts are simple yet we used to have to guillotine the blank size then use a corner notcher to produce the 2 angles sizes, a radius flypress tool to crop the end rad, deburr the edges, flypress the holes and then set up a bending machine to produce a part like this. Now its just laser cut and CNC bent, job done, now that’s progress.

Zintec CNC punched brackets

Here’s a nice example of inline tagging being used on a CNC punch press. Each part is tagged at the end where the bracket comes to a point but it is also tagged in 2 places on each side where it touches its neighbour. This is achieved by using a special CNC punch tool shaped a little bit like a bow tie. The diamond shaped tags that are left when the component is broken out of the nest are not sharp and can easily be knocked off the side of the components. The components are bent up in the nest and sent to the customer ready for them to break out, saving bend time and break out time keeping the cost down for the final part.

Sheet metal brackets

Monday, November 3rd, 2014

Galvanised mild steel bracket

Galvanised mild steel brackets to mount electrical connectors.

These brackets were CNC punched using standard CNC tooling that we had on the shelf. The holes and slots around the folded flaps were all CNC punched out first and then the complete disk was punched down a die the correct size in one hit. The punched out parts did not require any edge de-burring before a simple single bend operation on one of our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. These brackets are typical of the sheet metal work that we produce with standard CNC punch and CNC bend tooling everyday of the week for our customers.

Zintec coated mild steel brackets

Zintec coated mild steel brackets to support light fittings in an office ceiling grid.

These small plates have been CNC punched out using a custom made L shaped CNC tool to produce the U shape that can been seen in the picture. The final outer profile was also punched straight down a die using tooling that was specially made for these plates. We had to check out the cut size by cutting strips of metal and bending them up to accurately calculate the blank size needed for the CNC tooling. The part had several bends to produce the final shape and the cut size was critical.

Stainless steel mounting brackets

Stainless steel mounting brackets used to secure children’s playground equipment to posts.

When we originally started to manufacture these stainless steel mounting brackets we CNC punched them out using one of our Trumpf CNC punch presses. Once we had the laser cutting machine in place we moved the job over to that machine. The laser cutter enabled us to produce a cleaner outer edge profile straight from the machine without specific edge deburring operations. It also enabled us to squeeze a few more from each sheet which helped to offset a rise in stainless steel material price keeping the part cost the same for the customer. As a by-product it also enabled us to produce the parts without as much noise in the workshop, always a bonus when working with stainless steel. The brackets were then formed with the curved section and tight V bend on our CNC press brake machines. The final operation was to give them all a gentle tumble in our de-burring barrel to remove any sharp edges around the outer profile, slots and holes. The volumes these brackets are manufactured in are 500 to 1000 so they perfectly suit CNC laser cutting and CNC bending.

Folded sheet metal work

Thursday, October 30th, 2014

Folded aluminium sections

I often marvel at the complexity that can be produced in sheet metal components with the simplest of CNC punch press tooling. These 0.7mm thick aluminium lighting gear trays have been produced with some custom made tooling to pierce complex shapes in a single hit. They have also been CNC programmed with a combination of rectangular slots, rounds and squares. The overall effect is a complex sheet metal component that can be produced again and again. The advantage of CNC punching is the inclusion of taptite screw plunged forms and small bent tabs along the length of the gear tray without the need for any post punching operations.

Folded mild steel sections

Here’s a great example of the repeatability and accuracy that can be achieved using the latest CNC sheet metal manufacturing equipment. Some of these parts were produced on our Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser with other parts and some were punched out on our Trumpf 3000 CNC punch press. Both parts were then folded together on one of our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. They were all brought together and tack welded just the same producing a welded fabrication. Our ability to swap sheet metal parts from the laser to the CNC punches and back again when production loadings require it give us a great advantage in flexibility for our customers. This machine flexibility is also supported by the ease of using Radan software to program sheet metal parts across both types of machine allowing us to tool for either production method instantly.

Zinc plated mild steel brackets

These small zinc plated mild steel brackets demonstrate the advantages of purchasing custom CNC tooling. The large window shape in the middle of the bracket has been CNC punched with one hit using a custom CNC punch press tool. This enabled us to produce the bracket nice and quickly when there were batches of 1000 to 2000 at a time keeping the part cost down and removing lots of nibble marks.

If you have a sheet metal project and you not sure whether it might be beneficial to invest in some custom CNC punch press tooling just give us a call and we will be happy to provide you with quotes with and without tooling costs to see where the cost break points will be.

Laser cutting and folding 4mm thick stainless steel brackets

Thursday, October 23rd, 2014

The manufacturing processes we go through to produce sheet metal work illustrated by a batch of 4mm thick 304 stainless steel brackets

3D Software model of 4mm stainless steel bracket

Most sheet metal components that we manufacture here at V and F Sheet Metal start with us creating a 3D software model, the only exception being flat panels. The 3D model enables us to test out any hole alignment issues that might occur when assembling several parts together such as lids fitting on housings or front panels lining up with enclosures. We can use the 3D model to create a flat developed blank with the correct cut size calculated for any given material type and thickness. The 3D model also has the advantage of enabling us to show our customers any problems that we think may occur in manufacturing their sheet metal components before we have to start CNC punching or laser cutting any sheet metal. It also allows us to give some customers their first view of their part in 3D if they only use 2D CAD software. We are lucky and have some customers who also use 3D software and can output either SAT or STEP files which we can then read straight into our Radan CAD/CAM software speeding up the whole process of CNC program generation. The next stage after generating a 3D model is to create the CNC tooled part and then the part nest.

Laser cutting nest in Radan software

A single sheet metal part is taken from the 3D model as a flat blank which is then refined and cleaned up to produce the profile needed for the customer. This part is easily tooled up for laser cutting with all the cutting lead ins and profile allowances calculated by the software. Then, as with CNC punching we can use the software to calculate the most economical fit of components for any given sheet size. The software will also automatically find the quickest path to cut all the parts on the sheet so that the laser head doesn’t travel over any areas that have already been cut, reducing the risk of head collisions with sheet metal that might be protruding from the surface of the parent sheet and keeping heat build up to a minimum within the sheet.

Trumpf 3030 laser cutting control

This image perfectly illustrates the Trumpf laser cutter controller with the job cutting in progress. The green parts on the screen have been laser cut and the grey are still to be cut, so at this stage 10 and a half parts have been laser cut. The path will follow exactly that which has been laid down by the Radan CAD/CAM software and output in the compiled laser block file. The operator has control over the speed of the cut, gas flows, nozzle size and focus but cannot change any design details of the components being cut. You can just see inside the laser cutter (on the left hand side) through the filter glass, the operator has a view of the machine while it’s cutting being able to monitor cutting progress and act on any error messages that may arise on the control at the same time.

Laser cutting 4mm thick stainless steel

Here’s a view inside the Trumpf 3030 fibre laser machine as it’s cutting the 4mm thick stainless steel sheet. You get a good idea how close to the edge of the sheet we can program parts and laser cut them enabling us to use as much material as possible keeping the component part prices down for our customers. The image has a yellow/green look as it’s taken through a special filtered glass door which is essential on fibre laser machines to filter out certain light wave lengths given off by the fibre laser that could be harmful to the naked eye. The operator can stop the machine at any time open the safety doors, reach inside and remove a part to check the edge quality, change a parameter if needed and then safely resume cutting from the same point without wasting any material or potential finished components from a sheet. If more than one sheet is required to satisfy the order volume the Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser cutter has a pallet changer that allows a cut sheet to be swapped with a fresh sheet of metal automatically to keep the laser cutter working while cut parts can be removed and another fresh sheet loaded on the pallet changer.

Fast Tube by Casper

And here’s the Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre laser in action cutting straight through the 4mm thick stainless steel plate. The laser cut edge quality means that no other de-burring was needed on these parts.

Fast Tube by Casper

One of our Edwards Pearson CNC press brakes being used to fold up the stainless steel blanks into brackets.

And finally the stainless steel brackets being folded up. It’s not that easy to see here but the tooling we use on this machine enables us to fold more than just 90 deg bends, this type of V tooling is called air bend tooling. We can fold up angles from just a fraction of a degree to approx 30 deg inclusive angle, if we need to fold a component right over into a dutch fold (safe edge) we apply a second bending operation to flatten down the V bend. The back stops behind the CNC press brake tooling can move from side to side and in and out towards the tooling. This enables us to program in different bend lengths, bend angles and a range of bends on the same part along the full bed of the machine if necessary so that a completed component can be produced in one series of bends rather than having to set the CNC press brake several times for each bend type. This enables us to produce the first finished component much faster for inspection and on a large batch of parts we can part batch if needed to get an urgent job started for our customers.

Finished 4mm thick stainless steel brackets

The final bracket has been processed through the CAD/CAM software from a 3D model, laser cut and CNC bent all within our production factory in Fareham, Hampshire. There were 2 slightly different brackets run together with slightly different angles but all the same manufacturing processes and materials, the flexibility of CNC laser cutting and CNC bending allows us to easily use these machines to make a range of parts with minimal set up times and fuss.

If you have a sheet metal project that needs laser cutting, CNC punching or CNC bending please let us take a look and see how we can help remove cost from your parts.

Laser cutting CNC programs using Radan software

Monday, October 13th, 2014

Laser cut nest

Here’s a small section of a much larger CNC nest program that filled up a 2m x 1m sheet of metal. We only have to worry about programming 1 part and then the software takes care of finding the best most efficient pattern wasting as little material as possible. The programming software even picks the fastest route through all the parts so that the laser cutting head doesn’t have to keep going over sheet that has already been cut. This image shows just one type of part nested over a whole sheet but the same principle works with multiple part types on a nest.

Full sheet nest of stainless steel components

This image shows a CNC laser nest used to laser cut out 4mm thick 304 stainless steel plates. The panel on the right hand side shows us the different profile conditions for the holes and outer profile. The bottom panel shows the order cutting text where we can later the order that features and parts are laser cut. The main window shows the parts as they will appear within the actual sheet of metal on the laser bed. We can simulate the cutting sequence to verify that all parts will be cut and that there won’t be any problems with parts flipping up and catching the laser cutting head.

Laser nest with 3D model and production notes

This view shows all the information that can be used to aid production staff when manufacturing a component. Not only is there the nest shown filling a standard sized sheet of metal but there are notes giving part numbers, laser cutting run times, assist gas types, sheet type and thickness information as well as a 3D images and dimensions bends ready for production. It’s easy to provide a print out of this information to go with the customer drawing and route card to answer most of the questions setters need when setting up each work centre.

For more information on Radan sheet metal software follow the link or give us a call.

Mild steel fabrications

Monday, October 6th, 2014

Mild steel fabrications

We have been busy manufacturing these mild steel frameworks for ceiling mounted LED light fittings in September and October 2014. The 4 sides have been made from individual sections which we have laser cut and CNC bent using Trumpf plant in our own factory in Fareham, Hampshire. We manufactured a simple tray to act as a jig to help position each part ready for a few tack welds creating the final frame. The frames are all stacked on pallets waiting to be packed up and powder coated for our customer.

Mild steel fabrication details

We have a lot of experience in welding together thin sheet metal fabrications such as these. These were manufactured from 0.7mm thick CR4 mild steel sheet metal to keep the weight down on the final product and keep the material cost down. The welds didn’t need to be cleaned off at all as the final welded fabrication is out of view from the customer and acts only as a housing to hold the LED lights and plastic cover for an office light fitting. If you have a welded sheet metal fabrication project that you want us to take a look at please just email us a drawing in 2D formats PDF, DXF or DWG, 3D formats SAT or STEP or give us a call on our main number above.

Laser cut sheet metal projects in October 2014

Thursday, October 2nd, 2014

Laser cut sheet metal projects in zintec and mild steel during October 2014

Laser cut zintec panels

I have shown this recent laser cutting project because it’s actually a hybrid part with laser cutting and CNC punching used to produce the final sheet metal blank. If you look closely by clicking on the image you can see that the part has formed dimples that have been pressed in place on our Trumpf 200 CNC punch press. We laser cut the part from 0.9mm zintec just using compressed air. We then ran it through the CNC punch press a blank at a time to press in the dimpled feet forms. It’s easy for us to use both laser cutting and CNC punching to get the best process from either machine to suit your sheet metal parts project.

Laser cut mild steel panels

These mild steel panels have been laser cut using nitrogen to give a perfect clean edge ready for powder coating. Again as with the part above we have used both the laser cutter to produce a clean blank and then a CNC punch press to form in the CSK holes that you can see here. These parts were originally CNC punched but needed a lot of edge deburring to produce a clean edge before powder coating but now the laser cut edge is all that is needed. Also, there is no need to worry about the size of circular holes whether we have the correct tooling as any size hole is achievable with the laser cutter without any fuss.

Laser cut thick mild steel plate

These mild steel plates have been laser cut with oxygen as the assist gas. They have been cut in 5mm thick mild steel and need no further edges preparation. The laser cutting process is perfect for this type of work if there are only a few parts, thicker material and with curved shapes. You might have a sheet metal project and not sure whether it should be laser cut or CNC punched, please give us a call and we will be happy to look at it both ways and give you the most competitive price for you component.

Laser cutting stainless steel angles with a Trumpf 3030

Monday, September 29th, 2014

Here’s a great example of the versatility of using laser cutting to cut holes in stainless steel angles.

Fast Tube by Casper

We have cut a jig plate with a series on slots as pockets to place the stainless steel angles in. The laser cutter is then programmed to follow a pattern of positions to suit the rows of angles. By careful positioning of the jig plate the holes can be accurately cut in each angle bracket. We have produced the same effect in mild steel tube where we used to drill out holes we can now laser cut them straight on the bed of the machine.

If you want to see more example of sheet metal work that has been laser cut please follow the link.

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