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CNC bending and foldingcnc punchengineeringEngineering and Sheet Metal Newslaser cuttingsheet metalSheet metal dataSheet metal fabricationsSheet metal facilitiesTrumpf manufacturing equipmentUncategorizedWelding

Laser Cutting Sheet Metal

Wednesday, October 7th, 2015

Laser Cutting Sheet Metal

Laser cutting systems have been based on CO2 laser cutters for many years but now there is a new way to laser cut sheet metal work and that is fibre laser cutting. Fibre laser cutting enables us to laser cut sheet metal work up to 4mm thick quicker than conventional CO2 laser cutter systems and a lot cheaper. The fibre laser cutting machines are cheaper to run and have less parts that need to be replaced at service enabling us to pass on these savings to our customers. Using either Nitrogen, Oxygen or Compressed air to work with the laser the fibre laser machine allows us to be very flexible in the cutting methods we can use for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. And the icing on the cake is the ability to laser cut copper and brass sheet metal up to 6mm thick which is something that cannot be attempted with a CO2 laser cutting machine. All in all it’s a very versatile cutting machine and has been a real benefit to V and F Sheet Metal and our customers. Let’s take a more detailed look at some of the laser cutting work that we have produced recently in our factory here in Fareham, Hampshire.

Trumpf fibre laser cutting machine

Trumpf fibre laser cutting machine

The centre of our sheet metal laser cutting facility here at V and F Sheet Metal is a Trumpf 3030 3KW fibre based laser cutting system with automatic sheet pallet changing system. This German sheet metal laser cutting machine was installed brand new in late 2013 offering an exciting new service to our customers alongside 2 Trumpf CNC punch presses. With the ability to laser cut sheets as big as 3M long by 1.5M wide and much thicker than the CNC punch presses the Trumpf laser cutter opened up a new range of sheet metal projects that we couldn’t cope with before with our in house CNC punching capacity. Some sheet metal work has moved on to the laser cutter and some has stayed on the CNC punch presses not only enabling us to select the best method of production for any particular part but it has also increased cutting capacity and reduce lead times.

Laser cutting sheet metal in action

Laser cutting sheet metal in action

It’s always exciting to see the laser cutter in action when it’s speeding through mild steel produce sheet metal brackets making lots of sparks as it cuts. These 2mm thick mild steel pump mounting brackets were being CNC punched before we had the laser cutting machine but they are now laser cut with a lot less edge de-burring and all the corners rads are perfectly cut and smooth. The sheet of metal looks small because it’s an off cut that was being used up as well as full 2.5M and 1.25M sheets or the main production batch. This is an great advantage when using laser cutting, you can use odd size pieces and still produce perfect parts keeping the costs down in production. Laser cutting sheet metal is certainly flexible at the machine but also when we are CNC programming the sheet metal parts ready for laser cutting. With no tools to think about we can cut complex shapes that would be expensive with CNC punching and thicknesses that would be impossible with CNC punching. The ability to program a part for laser cutting just with the click of a button allows us to produce programs quickly but also allows us to try different combinations of parts on any given size of sheet to produce the best price when we are at the quoting stage of a sheet metal project.


Fast Tube by Casper

Here’s the laser cutting machine in action at high speed laser cutting thin galvanised steel sheet. Although the machine is laser cutting very fast the finish it is producing here is perfect and needed no further cleaning up. The machine is using compressed air as the assist gas to produce these parts keeping the cost down to our customer. If you look at the video watch out for the speed it cuts a large circle out in under 2 seconds, there is no way we could produce a cutout this quickly using CNC punch presses. Working alongside our 2 CNC punch presses has enables us to pick the best attribute from each machine and sometimes combining the 2 on a single part. We have laser cut parts and then CNC punched in ventilation louvres as a typical example.

Laser cutting sheet metal software nest

Laser cutting sheet metal software nest

The flexibility of laser cutting sheet metal can be seen in this CAD/CAM nest produced in Radan sheet metal software. 2 complete sets of parts needed for a complex housing assembly have been automatically nested together saving time in CNC programming, material and laser cutting time. We like this advantage of all the parts coming from the same sheet of metal especially if the subsequent laser cut parts have to be CNC bent up as it reduces the time spent setting up and correcting programs to achieve the correct bend angles.

Laser cutting sign letters

Laser cutting sign letters

We always say, if you can draw it we can laser cut it from sheet metal. This is a typical project to manufacture a batch of lighting units as signs with different wording cut but and back lit. The Trumpf fibre laser produced perfect lettering with a crisp clean profile and no de-burring was needed. We have the ability to laser cut sheet metal with a range of common fonts as signs, part numbers or even etch marking to help identify sheet metal parts in our assembly / stores areas.

Laser cutting sheet metal mounting brackets

Laser cutting sheet metal mounting brackets

Here we have laser cut into 2mm thick mild steel sheet to produce wall mounting bracket blanks. The shape that is shows as black in this photograph is a cut out in the sheet metal where the laser has cut straight around the profile without stopping and the part inside the profile has dropped through the sheet and been carried by the scrap conveyor to a collection / recycling bin. The mounting brackets have also been laser cut with a common line to reduce the amount of material used and time taken to produce the batch of parts. The laser cut sheet shows really nicely how clean the parts can come off from laser cutting, no dust, lubrication or scratches on the top face making laser cutting really efficient for cutting any cosmetic surfaces e.g. front panels, sign work, electronics covers etc.

Laser cutting complex shapes in sheet metal

Laser cutting complex shapes in sheet metal

Another great feature of using Radan sheet metal software with the Trumpf fibre laser is the ability to fit complex parts together to achieve the best fit into a standard sheet of metal. These colour wheels are used on fibre optic lighting control boxes and were laser cut from 1.2mm aluminium alloy. The software automatically works out how close each part can be cut next to its neighbour and the best fit for the sheet or any off cut we need to use up. The software can also work out the quickest path to travel around the sheet of metal for the quickest cut time. It also follows a path that means the laser cutting head never travels over a parts that has already been cut to help reduce the risk of a part that is already cut catching the laser head when it is moving fast.

Laser cutting stainless steel sheet

Laser cutting stainless steel sheet

Whether its laser cutting mild steel, aluminium alloys, copper, brass, galvanised coated mild steel or stainless steel alloys the Trumpf fibre laser can cope with them all. These 3mm thick 304 stainless steel clamping brackets are used to secure children’s playground equipment in place and where being CNC punched but as soon as we had the laser cutting machine we moved them to that and saved on material and de-burring time. They are typical of the laser cutting that we do everyday of the week for our customers from Fareham, Hampshire, UK with deliveries across Hampshire and next day services throughout the UK you are never far from a quality laser cutting sheet metal service with V and F Sheet Metal.

Laser cutting sheet metal brackets

Laser cutting sheet metal brackets

Sheet metal brackets really are our speciality. Whether they have been laser cut or CNC punched with 6 CNC press brakes we can fold them, create safe edges, press in bushes and studs, weld up joints and spot weld assemblies together. If the brackets need to be zinc plated, anodised, powder coated etc. we have a range of sub-contract suppliers who can help us to provide the complete service for you when it comes to manufacturing finished sheet metal brackets. These small fixing brackets have been laser cut from mild steel, CNC bent up, zinc plated and clear passivated and will be used in a garage door fixing system.

Laser cutting sheet metal gear trays

Laser cutting sheet metal gear trays

Here’s another great example of laser cutting sheet metal cleanly to produce mild steel gear tray blanks. These gear trays are used in light fittings to hold all the control gear for the lamps. The final gear trays have been CNC folded and the zinc plated and clear passivated. No edge de-burring was needed with these parts and they were laser cut with oxygen as the assist gas to save money. Any edge oxidisation with using oxygen was removed by the acid in the zinc plating process producing clean, burr free parts.

Laser cutting stainless steel sheet metal channels

Laser cutting stainless steel sheet metal channels

These parts have all been laser cut from 2mm thick 304 2B mill finish stainless steel sheet metal. The channels have been laser cut as flat blanks from standard 2M x 1M sheets with all the family of parts nested together to produce the best sheet utilisation. Being laser cut with our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser and using nitrogen as the cutting assist gas they all came out really bright and clean on all the laser cut edges and holes needing no further edge de-burring. The laser cut stainless steel blanks were then folded up on our brand new Safan e-Brake CNC press brake. The last operation was to press in stainless steel hank bushes using both our fly presses and our Haeger bush inserter. It’s surprising just how much equipment is needed to produce relatively simple sheet metal work when you want to do the job properly. The accuracy of the laser cutter helps all downstream operations to be much more efficient reducing the whole project lead time not just the sheet metal blank laser cutting stage.


Fast Tube by Casper

So in conclusion, laser cutting sheet metal work with a fibre laser cutter is very flexible, fast, accurate and cost effective. If you have sheet metal work components that you are currently having laser cut or possibly CNC punched and you are not sure if fibre laser cutting would be a good option why not give a chance to take a look at your drawings and see where we can help you. Either give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us some drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to help you and produce some great prices for you.

Sheet metal fabrications in Hampshire contact us for a quote

Monday, October 5th, 2015

Sheet metal fabrications in Hampshire

Sheet metal fabrications in Hampshire

Fabrications in Hampshire, sheet metal projects

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 particular 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 larger projects. With some smaller part we can hold them and send in when required to reduce your delivery times.

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

Our gallery pages contain plenty of examples of past sheet metal fabrications. Working with a wide range of companies in the UK. Electronics, lighting, heating, audio and display industries are often supported by us.

For more fabrications in Hampshire take a look at our Pinterest Boards.

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. Call on 01489 or e-mail sales@vandf.co.uk

Bending sheet metal work

Thursday, October 1st, 2015

Bending mild steel sheet metal work

Bending sheet metal work

Bending sheet metal work

Complex shapes can be produced using sheet metal and relatively simple standard tooling when you have a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake and luckily for us we have 2 of them. With an extensive library of top and bottom V tooling we can easily accommodate the majority of our customer’s demands without the need to make special tooling. The ability to set these bending machines in minutes including writing a CNC program and selecting the correct tooling helps to reduce part costs whether the batch is small or large. With all bending programs saved onto our system sever we can recall bend programs from years ago and have them ready for action in moments.

Folded sheet metal work

Folded sheet metal work

Really complex parts may have several tooling set ups and the components may have to be worked through several times. These parts were able to be started and finished all within the same bending cycle which is normally the case with the majority of parts that we bend up.

Please follow the link to our page on the Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake to see more examples of folded sheet metal work and a video of the machines in action.

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

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

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.

Safan e-Brake CNC press brake bending sheet metal work

Thursday, September 24th, 2015

Bending up sheet metal work is at the heart of V and F Sheet Metal. We now have a brand new 3M long CNC press brake from Safan to add to our other 5 CNC press brakes. The 3M Safan e-Brake as well as being longer than the old 2.5M press brake it replaced has 100 tons of bending force enabling V and F Sheet Metal to fold thicker sections with ease. The tooling we have invested in is the same that we have on our 2 existing Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes giving us a more flexible service to offer our customers when times are busy or when they have a rush job.

For more information on bending sheet metal work at V and F Sheet Metal please give us a call on 01489 577786 and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

MiG welded steel fabrications

Monday, September 21st, 2015

MiG welded steel fabrications

MiG welded steel fabrications

Mild steel bars used to produce exterior flood light mounting brackets. With fly presses, CNC bending and MiG welding these mounting brackets are ready to go off to hot dip galvanising. With 2 fully equipped welding bays and a variety of cleaning up equipment to sort out most jobs we can sort out your sheet metal fabrications from 0.7mm to 6mm thick.

Whether it’s stainless steel, mild steel or aluminium we are happy to TiG or MiG weld fabrications.

Folded sheet metal work

Thursday, September 17th, 2015

CNC bending sheet metal work

CNC bending sheet metal work

Nice example of CNC punched and CNC bent aluminium sheet metal trays being bent on our Trumpf 7036 CNC brake presses. A simple one blade set up like this can be programmed on the machine with tooling in place within minutes. Jobs like this are our bread and butter and being run everyday here in Fareham, Hampshire. All components that have been bent on these machines have their CNC programs saved on our server for a repeat batch if needed.

Folded sheet metal trays

Folded sheet metal trays

Consistent folding of sheet metal components from one batch to another or within a batch is essential for us to meet our customers requirements. With these Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes we certainly have consistence in angle and linear dimensions when bending sheet metal work.

Perhaps you have a sheet metal project that needs CNC bending, please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send your drawings to sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to help you.

Sheet metal 3D models

Monday, September 14th, 2015

Here’s some more sheet metal work examples that have recently been manufactured by us by CNC punching, laser cutting and CNC bending. All three parts have been generated within Radan sheet metal software before generating the CNC programs needed to drive equipment to cut and fold the parts. The 3D models allow us to test out design ideas, check that parts can be manufactured correctly and that features work such as hole alignments, fit clearance and that we have the correct tooling to suit the customers designs. The 3D models can be generated by us here at V and F Sheet Metal or imported direct from our customers when needed. We can also export the model data if needed by our customers to aid their design assemblies.

If you have a sheet metal work project and you want us to create a 3D model first please contact our programming team for more information.

Stainless steel folded channels

Thursday, September 10th, 2015

folded sheet metal channels

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.

Sheet metal brackets

Monday, September 7th, 2015

Sheet metal brackets

Sheet metal brackets

6mm thick mild steel brackets laser cut and folded within the same day at our manufacturing factory in Fareham, Hampshire. Using our Safan 100 ton e-Brake CNC press brake these 6mm brackets were easily folded up with standard tooling. The parts were programmed using Radan software straight from our customers solid works 3D models.

Once these sample brackets have been approved we will be moving into batch production during the autumn of 2015.

Laser cutting sheet metal work

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

Laser cutting steel sheet metal work

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.

Easy programming of the Safan e-brake CNC punch press reduces set up times

Monday, August 24th, 2015

CNC programming on a Safan e-Brake

CNC programming on a Safan e-Brake

The ability to quickly create a CNC bending program from scratch in either 2D profile or 3D is a real strength of the Safan e-Brake CNC press brake. We have now managed to create several hundred programs in just a couple of months. With all tooling available in a standard library and a database of all material bent, gauges and bending calculation for bend spring back correction the machine is a joy to use. We have set up the machine to run on windows 7 and log straight onto our network so there is no time wasted when the machine is turned on in the morning, it’s straight to production.

CNC press brake progamming

CNC press brake progamming

Looking for a company who can program and bend up your sheet metal work projects up to 3M long and with 100 tons force all in one machine then please give us a try. With an experienced manufacturing team to advise you on your designs and to provide samples where needed V and F Sheet Metal are keen to be your partner on future sheet metal projects.

CNC press brake tooling gets organised

Thursday, August 20th, 2015

CNC press brake tooling rack

CNC press brake tooling rack

Sometimes it’s just nice to take the time out of a busy schedule and get organised. We had some much new press brake tooling come with our new Safan e-Brake that it was a great opportunity to sort ourselves out and make up a trolley rack with all the tooling stored safely together. Having the same Trumpf style tooling on both our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake bending machines and our new Safan e-Brake bending machine means we can move the tooling direct to whichever bending machine is being set up.

Follow the links to both of the CNC bending machine to see their capabilities and lots of work examples.

Sheet metal housings folded with new CNC press brake

Monday, August 10th, 2015

Sheet metal housings folded with new CNC press brake

Sheet metal housings folded with new CNC press brake

Safan e-Brake 3M CNC press brake

It’s great to see our new CNC press brake making it’s presence felt with a project which needed long housings to be bent very accurately. These housings have been CNC punched from 2mm thick zintec with an array of ventilation louvre forms on our Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press. Some sections of these housings have been formed into curves with a multi-bend sequence. The Safan CNC press brake has been a great asset to our workshop since it’s installation in June 2015 and as time goes by and we create more programs for it we will see production speed up on repeat batch work.

(Quick update, the Safan e-brake is still going strong in 2021 and has been perfect for the type of metal housings and brackets we often manufacture for our customers).

Perhaps you have a sheet metal housing that you purchase and would like us to take a look for you and see if we can improve the design or reduce your costs. Please give us a call on 01489 577786 or send us your drawings and we will be happy to help you.

Aluminium sheet metal enclosures manufactured in the UK

Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

Aluminium sheet metal enclosures

Aluminium sheet metal enclosures

Aluminium sheet metal enclosures

These aluminium enclosures were laser cut and then folded up from 1.5mm 5251 aluminium alloy sheet. All the details for the exact blank size and hole positions were calculated using the latest Radan sheet metal software from the initial 3D model, 2D parts and the final CNC laser nest lay out. All the files being saved off line on our server before being called down to the specific machines in production when required. These enclosure parts had their corners TiG seam welded up and then cleaned of smooth before being powder coated.

Batch sizes for these particular enclosures are 25. We manufacture some special enclosures in small volumes and others up to many hundreds at a time.

The final finished enclosure housings and front panels are used for LED display panels.

You may want to get some ideas from past sheet metal projects. We have hundreds of examples of sheet metal enclosures on our Pinterest Boards.

If you have a sheet metal enclosure project please contact us and we would be happy to work with you to get the best price and product. Please send STEP, SAT, DXF, DWG or PDF drawings and CAD data and we will do the rest.

Sheet metal work supplier August 2015

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

CNC bending sheet metal work

CNC bending sheet metal work

Now we have had our new Safan e-Brake in production for a couple of months we can already see the advantages of its quiet, quick no nonsense approach to folding sheet metal work. We have got to grips with the CNC programming system really quickly and are already seeing some common parts repeating with stored CNC programs coming in very handy. The ability to swap jobs up to 1M long between the Safan and our 2 Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes will be really useful at busy times to help reduce production bottle necks. These mild steel housings were one of the first major bending projects to come off the new CNC press brake but we have already folded stainless steel, aluminium and pre-painted mild steel parts. We are certainly looking forward to a busy month in August.

Mild steel formed sections

Mild steel formed sections

These mild steel formed sections are part of a series of items manufactured for heater air curtain units. They have been laser cut and then folded up on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes using a multi-bend programming technique to create the curved sections out of a series of flats. We have produced these before but this time the volume was bigger and some design changes were made which is easy to accommodate with these machines as the old CNC program is saved on the system server and easily modified ready for the latest batch of parts. We can use this to save the cost of special form tools on a host of material types and gauges. Please give us a call and we will be happy to look at your sheet metal work projects and see if this technique can help you.

Folded sheet metal chassis housings

Folded sheet metal chassis housings

Sheet metal chassis housings such as these are typical of the work that V and F Sheet Metal make on a regular basis. These chassis were made from zintec coated mild steel but they could just as well have been made from aluminium alloys or stainless steel. Volumes from just a few off samples to many hundreds in a batch are quite typical for us and with our CNC punching, CNC laser cutting and range of CNC press brakes anything from the simplest to the most complex parts can be taken on for you.

For more information on sheet metal work and how it’s made please take a look at this page.

For any of your sheet metal work project needs please give us a call on 01489 57786 or e-mail us your drawings at sales@vandf.co.uk and we will be happy to take a look for you.

New CNC press brake tooling speeds up production times

Monday, July 27th, 2015

Safan CNC press brake tooling

Safan CNC press brake tooling up to 3M long

With the installation of a new CNC press brake, the Safan e-Brake, we had to make a decision on which tooling system to go for. We wanted the tooling to be able to be used on both the new Safan press brake and our 2 existing Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. The Trumpf tooling system was available on the new Safan so it was the best tooling to go for. This decision has immediately given us more tooling options across all 3 machines and the ability to swap work around when production pressures might need it without any impact on the component design or blank cut size. You can see the back stop design enables us to fold difficult shapes where a flat back stop end would not be suitable.

Safe edge bend tooling

Safe edge bend tooling

Having 3M worth of safe edge (dutch fold) tooling enables us to produce bend and crushed features in 2 simple operations all built into one simple to set tooling system. The sheet metal component is simple bent into a V form on the top part of the tooling and then the V is flatten right down onto the sheet surface in the open section of tooling below in 2 bend cycles.

Automatic top tool clamping

Automatic top tool clamping

The new Safan e-Brake has the ability to automatically clamp the top V tooling in place. This certainly reduces setting up times when moving from job to job. Being able to just press a button and have all 3M worth of top tooling clamped in position and when adjusting tooling is a nice feature for the machine setter and all adds to the ability to produce sheet metal components quicker enabling us to keep part prices down.

Segmented tooling for complex shapes

Segmented tooling for complex shapes

Being able to set up a vast range of tooling lengths is vital if we want to fold up trays, boxes, chassis components etc that have many bends. Having a range of bottom and top V tooling in segmented parts is perfect in allowing us to be very flexible when quoting new work and setting programs in production.

Sheet metal projects in June 2015

Monday, July 13th, 2015

Ventilation louvres in sheet metal panels

Ventilation louvres in sheet metal panels

Louvre tooling in a CNC punch press

Here’s a great view of a recent sheet metal project (June 2015) showing just what can be achieved with a Trumpf CNC punch press and tooling. We have an up-form louvre tool that has been used to press into the sheet metal (2mm Zintec coated mild steel) to produce a large area of ventilation. In this product some electrical equipment needed to be housed and could not be allowed to overheat so the louvre tool solution was perfect. The tooling used enabled a close pitch pattern of louvres to be pressed in both the x and y direction over the sheet without any stress or sheet distortion.

Tapping threads in mild steel sheet metal

Tapping threads in mild steel sheet metal

CNC punched mild steel components with tapped threads

When producing thin sheet metal components we often have to produce points within the designs with threads. These chassis trays could have had M3 self clinch or anchour rivet bushes inserted which would have done a good job but there wasn’t room within the design. Luckily for us we have a Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press which allows us to form a plunged hole and then form a thread within the parent sheet metal all on the CNC punch press. The positions where this has been carried out is automatically lubricated and can clearly be seen in the photo.

Bent stainless steel sections

Bent stainless steel sections

Stainless steel formed sections

When folding up stainless steel sections you need to have a CNC press brake that can deliver sufficient tonnage and tooling that can cope with the loadings produced. With our brand new Safan e-Brake 3M 100 ton machine we just such a machine. These 3mm thick stainless steel sections were needed as support sections on a large ventilation cover project we have be developing with our customer for the last few months and they were no problem for the Safan e-Brake. The ability to quickly produce CNC programs at the machine, in 3D if needed, is an advantage as well as the ease with which we can make alterations to bending programs and save them directly to our system server for use again when the projects repeat.

Safan e-brake with mild steel enclosures

Safan e-brake with mild steel enclosures

Safan e-brake with mild steel enclosures

And here’s the new machine itself. We are pleased to invest in a new Safan e-Brake CNC press brake to go along side our other 5 CNC press brakes. This machine enables us to support bending up to 3M long now which is in line with the 3M x 1.5M sheet that we can cut on our Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting machine. Also, having increased pressing force to 100 tons enables us to fold thicker sections again supporting the increased material thickness that we can offer with our laser cutter.

June 2015 has been a busy month finishing off a busy year for V and F Sheet Metal with investments in a brand new CNC press brake, 2 new spot welders, a down draft welding ventilation system and an additional 3D Radan software licence. We are always trying to improve the service we offer our customers, please call us and see how we can help you with your sheet metal projects.

A brand new CNC press brake for V and F Sheet Metal

Monday, July 6th, 2015

Edwards Pearson CNC press brake

End of an era in CNC bending

We have had our Edwards Pearson PR6 from new and it’s time for it to go. I wouldn’t like to try and work out how may bends its completed but it’s easily into the 10 of millions. With over 20 thousand CNC programs it’s been a really good machine and earned its keep every day of the week. But all good things come to an end and at nearly 20 years old it was time for an update. It was surprising how quickly the press brake was disconnected and made ready to be lifted onto the lorry and off to it’s new owner. The space was free for just minutes before it’s replacement was heading into the factory, just enough time to sweep up and catch our breath.

Safan e-brake CNC bending

Perfect position for bending sheet metal on a sunny day

The brand new Safan e-Brake 3M 100 ton CNC press brake was driven direct to our factory from the manufactures in the Netherlands and then lifted onto our factory yard ready to be maneuvered through the factory door. Perfect day for this kind of operation shame we couldn’t keep it here and work outside everyday but it is England. It looks a really smart machine and we can’t wait to get in inside and get started with bending up our sheet metal work but first we have to position it and connect it up.

Don't drop it!

Don’t drop it!

Always a nervous time when your new baby is being lifted and swung around to get it ready for positioning onto the factory floor. I’m never sure whether to look and make sure all is ok or stay in the office until it’s all done. Usually my curiosity gets the better of me and I have to see what’s happening and take some photos for the archive.

I'm sure I measured the door height correctly!

I’m sure I measured the door height correctly!

No matter how many times you check something and know that you are right it’s always good to see a new machine fit through the door and be moved into the factory without any issues. These guys are doing this everyday of the week with kit like this and bigger and make it look so easy but I’m still impressed how quickly they can have tons of machinery positioned to the inch and bolted down before you know it.

Safan e-brake in position

Safan e-brake in position at last

At last after viewing several machine styles and numerous meetings all the planning has worked out and the new machine fits exactly where we need it. Once the electricity and the data connection to our network is completed we can start our training and then start to see the new CNC press brake earn its keep.

I certainly expect the Safan e-Brake to be as productive as the Edwards Pearson was except with improved accuracy, easier programming software and the ability to cope with a greater range of work being 3M long and having 100 tons force at its control.

CNC punching sheet metal work

Tuesday, May 26th, 2015

CNC punching sheet metal work in Fareham, Hampshire, UK

Trumpf 3000 CNC punch press

CNC punching with a Trumpf 3000R punch press

Our main CNC punching machine is a Trumpf 3000R. It can CNC punch all over a sheet of metal 2.5M long by 1.25M wide without having to reposition the machine clamps giving a positioning accuracy of +/-0.1mm. With a reposition the machine can handle sheets longer making a flexible sheet metal manufacturing machine. With it’s single head design all the tools on the rail can be rotated through 360 degrees enabling any part being CNC punched to be produced at any angle helping us to make the most of each sheet of metal that we use. Being able to rotate all tooling speeds up production with less tool changes and gives a freedom to the part designer to be able to place punched features just where they want them and at any angle.

Mild steel lighting geartrays

CNC punching mild steel geartrays

Here’s a better view of the mild steel geartrays that are being CNC punched in the image above. They have a series of circular holes punched in and rectangular cut-outs. But of more interest are the dimples and taptite screw plunged forms that save our customers so much time in production assembly when screwing electrical components onto the geartrays. You can see that that there is very little waste steel on this job with the geartrays being punched with common line cutting with just 5mm between each part. We can also buy in the sheet metal to a custom length for our customers so that even a higher percentage of the material is turned into product rather than scrap material. The geartrays are powder coated white and don’t have to have any features masked, saving money, and then they can be assembled.

CNC punching aluminium disks

Our second CNC punching machine is our Trumpf 200R which is very similar to the Trumpf 3000R but a bit smaller. It can still punch 2.5M long sheets but needs a reposition after 2M to get there. This machine has been the main stay of our CNC punching for many years and still does a great job for us. Along with it’s bigger brother they offer us a flexible and production CNC punching service to offer our customers be it prototyping, small batch production or higher volumes. With a vast standard CNC punch tool library we can sort out most peoples needs without any new tooling costs. If you want to see some of our standard tooling data tables that can guide you in your sheet metal design please visit, TRUMPF STANDARD 2D TOOLING.

Trumpf 200R CNC punch press

Trumpf 200R CNC punch press

Here we have an aluminium circular disk being CNC punched out with the outer circumference punched with a banana tool. The advantage of a curved banana tool is that it has the correct radius ground into it to produce a clean curve quickly and with much less edge de-burring. Here you can see that the tool is being used with the machine’s internal chute enabling the disks to fall free from the sheet and drop into a collecting bin below. This eliminates the need to leave tags on the outer profile speeding up post operation cleaning. It also speed up the time taken to get each part out of the punched nest once all the punching is finished. We have found that every little feature that we can utilise on the Trumpf CNC punch presses leads to better parts and cheaper prices.

Take a look at the video of the Trumpf 200 in action producing these aluminium circular disks.


Fast Tube by Casper

If you have a product that you want CNC punching please give us a call and we can take a look and see if we can help to improve the design to reduce costs.

Sheet metal cnc punching

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

CNC punched ventilation grilles

CNC punched ventilation grilles

These heater ventilation grilles have been CNC punched out with specially ground punch and die tooling to speed up production and produce a shape that when bent up produces very little resistance to air flow thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the heater. The parts were CNC punched on our trusty Trumpf 200 punch press which has produced 10s thousands of these parts over the years with no problems at all. The Trumpf 200 machine is a flexible production tool that seems to be able to turn it’s hand to almost anything we through at it and just keeps going and going. With regular services the machine can still produce parts to +/- 0.1mm accuracy and clean edges.

CNC punching electronics chassis covers

CNC punching electronics chassis covers

Here we have a batch of mild steel audio equipment chassis covers that have just been CNC punched on our main CNC punch press the Trumpf 3000R. The ventilation slots have been produced by using a standard library obround punch and die tool set and we have used the presser foot feature on the Trumpf 3000 to stop the webs between the slots tripping up in the sheet. This feature is controlled by the program software to enable us to press the head onto the sheet for the hits that we want. With common line cutting between the panels using a 70 x 5 rectangle tool there is very little waste sheet and the time is also reduces to produce each part leading to competitive prices for the customer.

CNC punched ventilation pattern

CNC punched ventilation pattern

CNC punching a pattern of holes that are close together can often create a lot of stress within the sheet metal. With our Trumpf 3000 we can program the machine’s punching head to press down on the sheet with each hit helping to hold the sheet in place, reducing the amount of distortion. This product is still in the prototype stages but we are expecting to make quite a few of them over the next few months.

If you have a sheet metal project that needs CNC punching, please give us a call and we will be happy to take a look and see what we can do to give you a competitive price or review your design to save money in manufacturing.

Zintec sheet metal components

Monday, May 18th, 2015

Zintec sheet metal components

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.

For additional examples of laser cut sheet metal components why not take a look at our Pinterest Boards.

If you have a new project coming up and you need laser cut sheet metal components please send us you drawings (2021). We are happy to help guide you on your design and offer a range of prices where needed.

Mild steel sheet metal chassis

Thursday, May 14th, 2015

Mild steel laser cut chassis blanks

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

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

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.

Folded sheet metal work

Monday, May 11th, 2015

Folded Zintec channels

Folded Zintec channels

Here’s a great little idea to save money on sheet metal brackets. We have CNC punched out bracket profiles with all their holes but left them still tagged within the parent sheet metal in separate panels. We have then bent them up in rows of 10 at the same time saving a lot of folding time. The final banks of 10 brackets are sent like this to the customer who can keep them on the shelf and break them out by simply twisting the channels of brackets whenever they want them. The only downside to this method of production is that we cannot deburr the edges as they are still within the folded channel when they are sent out but if you are happy to work with this then it’s a simple idea to save money and well worth considering for components with a consistent cross section.

Please give us a call if you think we might be able to help you with this technique and we will be happy to take a look at your designs for you.

Folded stainless steel housings

Folded stainless steel housings

Stainless steel housings with folded sides and safe edges all around the tops. The safe edges have been produced by over bending to a 30 degree inclusion angle and then as a separate operation closed down with a flat bottomed CNC press brake tool. Once the housings had been folded up with close touching corners the corners joints were seam welded up and then cleaned off smooth before powder coating. These stainless steel housings are typical of the work we manufacture on Fareham, Hampshire, UK with batch of between 50 to 100 off.

Folded housings with multi-bend curved corners

Folded housings with multi-bend curved corners

CNC bending is great at producing straight bent sections. These can be just a slight touch of the sheet producing a 179 degree inclusive angle stiffening bend in large lids etc to stop them panting. Many parts are bent are 90 degress such as support angles, brackets, boxes and lids. Some as the example above can be safe edge profiles where the material is folded right back round on itself. There is another technique that can be carried out when bending sheet metal and that’s multi-bending. Multi-bending can be used to produce curved sections by using a series of small bends at regular intervals to simulate a curve by producing the flats as a tangent to the curve circumference. The advantage of this manufacturing method is the flexibility to use standard press brake top and bottom V tools to produce whatever radius of curve that is needed. This also allows us to modify the program if there are design changes and to deal with variations in material from batch to batch which can be a problem with fixed shape tooling. These parts have been produced on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes which are the perfect machine for this type of work.

A selection of sheet metal projects, April 2015

Thursday, May 7th, 2015

Just a small taste of the wide range of sheet metal projects we manufactured during April 2015 in our sheet metal working factory in Fareham, Hampshire, UK. All sheet metal projects start with CNC programming of some sort or either CNC punching or CNC laser cutting and then onto the bending machines or other secondary operations. For more information on each image click to enlarge.

If you have a sheet metal project that you want help on please give us a call or e-mail your details to us and we will be happy to help with your design or produce some prices for you.

CNC punching sheet metal projects

Tuesday, May 5th, 2015

CNC punched aluminium fan panel

CNC punched aluminium fan panel

These aluminium electronic enclosure fan panels have been CNC punched using special shaped tools created to punch out the shapes in singles hits. Each triangle shape in the fan area has a single hit punch and die (although some were created by rotating the shape by 180 deg). The volumes of fan panels and the number of fan positions within each fan panel justified the customer investing in special tooling with the advantage of clean shapes in the component, more accurately produced parts, reduced cleaning up time and cheaper parts with less CNC punching time. These fan panels were then put through a grind master to produce a grain effect on both sides of the plates which removed any marks from the CNC punching process and any that were on the aluminium sheets during handling in the workshop. The final parts were then folded up into a 4 sided tray shape before being treated with Iridite NCP.

CNC punched 0.7mm zintec electrical plates

CNC punched 0.7mm zintec electrical plates

CNC punch presses are great for producing shapes in sheet metal components when the exact punch shaped tool is not available. Sometimes it’s just not be possible to create the desired shape with a single tool; perhaps because the shape is too complex and the tool would be very weak or the tonnage for a single hit would be too much for the punch press or simply there is not the volume requirement to justify the expenditure of bespoke tooling. That’s where a CNC punch really comes into its own with the ability to quickly nibble out shapes with a series of smaller tools to create the desired geometry. These zintec coated mild steel plates are used for supporting heating coils in small fan heaters and are a great example of nibbling out shapes with a series of small tools. You can see from the CNC punched nest that there were several standard rectangular tools used to create the plate end shape by the shape left in the waste material at each end. The advantage of using the Trumpf CNC punch press that we have is that the single punching head design enables each tool in turn to be turned through any angle that is required to produce the component design. This is a great advantage over turret machines with just a few auto-index stations as it allows us to do more with each tool cutting down the amount of time the machine spends on tool changes and frees up the sheet metal component designer to use more angles with features, cut-outs or outer profiles if required.

CNC punched 0.9mm zintec lighting gear trays

CNC punched 0.9mm zintec lighting gear trays

In the two examples above we have seen fan plates CNC punched with special tools made just to produce that job. We have also seen heating plates CNC punched with standard tools that we held on the shelf. This part, CNC punched from Zintec coated mild steel was produced using a combination of special tools and standard tools. The curved shape of the lighting control gear plate was CNC punched using a “banana” tool ground to produce the correct outer circumference needed so the gear plate could fit into a plastic molded light housing. The rest of the features were CNC punched using our standard punch and form tools. In the front towards the bottom of the image there is a small circular formed ring which is for taptite screws to screw into in production. The advantage of using this type of feature is that it allows a self-tapping screw more material to cut a thread into when the component sheet is quite this, in this case just 1.2mm thick Zintec.

I guess the main point to remember when designing sheet metal parts to be CNC punched is that there is a range of ways that components can be produced. We can help you in your design to take advantage of the huge standard tool library we have here on the shelf at V and F Sheet Metal and can advise when it might be appropriate to invest a little bit of money into bespoke tooling to help improve your parts and reduce the part costs. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call and our engineering team will be happy to talk through your deigns with you.

Patterns in sheet metal

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

We love patterns in the sheet metal products that we manufacture be it random or fixed. These are just a few images from the thousands of sheet metal parts be manufacture ever month here in Fareham, Hampshire on some of the most modern sheet metal plant around. Whether parts have been cut by a laser machine or CNC punched and whether they are flat or bent up using CNC press brakes we can handle them in small to large batch sizes.

Perhaps you can see something here that is similar to a sheet metal product that you need in one of your designs, please give us a call and we will be happy to take a look at your drawings and give you a quote.

Step by step bending sheet metal boxes with a CNC press brake

Friday, May 1st, 2015

The images above show all the stages in bending up a 0.9mm thick mild steel sheet metal box. The sequence of bends is programmed into the CNC press brake to control bend length and bend angle, the correct top and bottom tooling is loaded into the press brake and then the correct bend sequence is followed to achieve the final folded box. This particular machine is an Edwards Pearson PR3 but the same process is used by any of the CNC press brakes we have to produce folded sheet metal components.

CNC punched mild steel front panels

Thursday, April 30th, 2015

CNC punched mild steel front panels

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.

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