Blog - Page 13 of 17 -

Sheet metal lids

Thursday, September 12th, 2013

Sheet metal lid

Galvanised mild steel electrical junction box lid

Lids and covers are usually simple components when manufactured from sheet metal and these examples are typical of the type of sheet metal work we get involved with. They may be falt sheet, have folded sides like these or have welded corners. This simple lid has been CNC punched from 0.9mm thick galvanised steel sheet. The sides have all been folded down to cover the top of the box and and earth stud has been inserted on our Haeger bush / stud inserter machine. The windows have all been CNC punched out and will have electrical sockets snapped in place and then installed as electrical wiring junction boxes. For more information on inserting bushes and studs please take a look at our Haeger bush/stud insert web page.

Stainless steel cabinet lid

Here is an example of sheet metal work where stainless steel has been used to manufacture a series of side covers and a top lid for a large stainless steel fabricated enclosure. The whole fabricated assembly was manufactured from 304 stainless steel with sections being TiG welded together. The enclosure was used to hold ozone gas which was pumped into it’s main cavity and held in place while it kill bugs on plastic packing materials before they are used to pack up sandwiches.

Stainless steel lid on an enclosure

Stainless steel enclosure with lid in place ready for shipping. The lid and enclosure have been manufactured from 304 stainless steel and the lid has been attached by spot welding cut lengths of stainless steel piano hinge. These particular stainless steel enclosure assemblies are used to house pumping equipment and their control gear on oil and petrol tankers. If you have any products manufactured from sheet metal that need lids then please give us a call or e-mail us, contact details on our website and we will be happy to provide you with a price or help on your design if needed.

More formed countersinks in sheet metal …

Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

CNC punched countersink form in aluminium sheet metal

Small countersink screw holes have been formed into 1.5mm thick aluminium sheet metal without any local distortion. These components are used in a small LED light fitting. The CNC punched nest also nicely shows the use of corner radiusing tools and a knife tool to produce a small securing tag in the parent sheet.

CNC punched countersink form in Zintec sheet metal

These Zintec coated mild steel tread plates are used as protection strips for wheel chair access ramps and between areas within properties where protection is needed between carpet and hard floor areas. The formed countersink holes have been plunged through the sheet on our Trumpf 200 CNC punch press to fully support the countersink screw and enable it to sit below flush with the top surface for safety.

CNC punched countersink form in mild steel sheet metal

Formed countersink holes in 3mm thick mild steel sheet. The formed holes, 2 different sizes, were created with 2 different tools within our Trumpf 3000 CNC punch press but in the same program cycle time.

Forming Countersinks in Stainless Steel Sheet Metal

Friday, September 6th, 2013

CNC punching stainless steel pump mounting plates

A great shot of stainless steel pump mounting plates after they have been CNC punched on one of our Trumpf CNC punch presses. The keyhole feature has been created by the use of a slot and circular punch. The countersinks have all been formed with the pilot hole and countersink form both taking less than 1 second each to produce, much quicker than drilling a countersink. These particular plates were 0.9mm thick 304 stainless steel but a range of thicknesses and materials can use this technique to produce quick and consistent countersink formed holes. For more information on our CNC tooling please take a look at Trumpf standard 2D tooling

Pierced pilot holes and formed CSK.

Close up of the formed countersink holes. The countersink form is created in two hits, the first being a simple round pilot hole to remove some of the material from the plate and the second hit being the shaped countersink form tool. Both operations are carried out in the cycle time of the CNC punch press and are part of the CNC program so that the finished form is completed before the sheet metal parts are broken out of the CNC punched nest. The parts were held in using a 0.1mm corner tag so that they could easily be broken out and then the tag was removed with the edge de-burring process.

CNC punching stainless steel pump mounting plates with formed material on the reverse (die) side.

The reverse (die) side of the countersink form shows some material that has been formed through the sheet metal gauge. This is acceptable on these pump mounting plates as the plate does not have to sit down flush. The extra material also has the advantage over drilling a countersink hole in that it supports the complete head of the countersink screw.

Sheet metal fabrications in Hampshire

Friday, August 16th, 2013

Sheet metal work and fabrications in Hampshire

We get involved with so many different sheet metal projects and fabrications here in our manufacturing base in Fareham, Hampshire. I have included today just a few of the latest sheet metal projects that have been manufactured for our UK based customers. Everyone has it’s own story and range of manufacturing skills and techniques needed to produce the perfect sheet metal fabrication.

Galvanised mild steel sheet metal channel sections

These long sheet metal fabrications were CNC punched from 2mm thick pre-galvanised mild steel sheet. The project called for several trial samples to get the design correct for the customer and adjustments to suit our press brake tooling. The bend angles were held off at just over 90 degrees so they would stack inside each other saving a lot of space when being packed and transported to the final installation site in Kenya. The final order call for several hundred fabrications all produced within our sheet metal facility in Hampshire. Our engineering services are idea for a project like this including Radan sheet metal development software, CNC punching and CNC bending.

Sheet metal brackets

This is a great image that caught my eye why walking around the factory the other day, couldn’t resist a quick photo. Each part is a sheet metal bracket with a couple of bends but by stacking them together you do get a great pattern, sad I know but it pleased me. The brackets had been CNC punched, edge de-burred and CNC bent using one of our two Trumpf CNC press brakes. The operation was to have them surface treated with zinc plated and clear passivate by one of our zinc platers in Hampshire.

Aluminium sheet metal fabrication project

A simple aluminium fabrication but it was designed in Radan as a solid model with a front panel and PCB mounting angles from our customers verbal instructions. We were able to take our customers verbal instructions and a simple sketch and turn it into a series of 3D images for approval. Once it was approved we then manufactured a sample set of parts for assembly and then after a few simple updates the production batch was produced and then powder coated. This shows just how powerful 3D modelling can be when the initial project is not fully detailed.

Complex sheet metal shapes

When complicated profiles such as these are required and we don’t have the exact tooling to form in one operation a manufacturing technique know as multi-bending can be very useful. The curves of the profile can be simulated by producing a series of separate smaller flats with a bend setting the angle between each flat. In affect the curve is produced by a series if flat faces touching the curve at a tangent. If we produce my bending and the profile in the sheet metal fabrication is a better approximation to the drawn curve but it costs more as the component takes longer to produce.

For more examples of sheet metal fabrication projects that might help give you ideas for your sheet metal designs take a look at our SHEET METAL WORK AND FABRICATIONS IN HAMPSHIRE.

Sheet metal box

Tuesday, August 13th, 2013

Sheet metal boxes, their design and manufacture

3D models helping to create sheet metal boxes

Nearly all our sheet metal work projects start with a 3D model or series of models if an assembly is required and sheet metal boxes are no different. The box and cover pictured here have been created in Radan sheet metal development software to enable us to check the sizes of the box and cover, their fit to each other, hole alignment, material and thicknesses. Once the model has been approved it can be used to create the correct flat pattern and then assign CNC punch tooling or laser cutting paths to the inner holes, cut outs and outer profile. Production features such as corner assembly tabs can also be added to the model where needed.

Corner preparation for welding fabrication

Sometimes thin gauge sheet metal boxes need to be held in place when being welded. Thicker materials when bent hold their correct position and don’t need tagging unless the box is being fabricated from several separate sheets of metal. With thinner materials such as this mild steel box show here although the corners can be bent correctly they will move around when being welded up. The corners can be clamped together with individual clamps or production jigs but these can be time consuming to position correctly. By building the tabs into the design the welder can push the 2 sides together and produce the correct box shape and size every time simply and quickly.

Fabricated aluminium box

Here is a nice example of an aluminium box that has been CNC punched out from sheet, CNC bent up to form all the sides and then TiG welded together in the corners. The welds have then been cleaned off by grinding and orbital sanding to create a smooth outer surface which once powder coated will produce a perfect finish. If you want to see more examples of the stages of design and manufacturing involved in producing sheet metal boxes please take a look at our web page sheet metal box manufacturing to see what goes on here in Fareham, Hampshire.

Sheet metal panel

Friday, August 9th, 2013

Sheet metal panels

Ventilation panels

Ventilation panels
These ventilation panels are used on heating units with formed extruded sections. The ventilation panels are used to support the heating coils within the heat unit body (which can be up to 2.5M long) and are manufactured from Zintec coated mild steel. The extruded forms are produced in the panel by first piercing a pilot hole smaller than the final extruded hole in the sheet metal and then a second operation of a male and female former tool come together to push the excess metal through the sheet. Each formed extrusion is produced in a second on one of our Trumpf CNC punch presses making the process very easy and cheap to perform and yet perfectly repeatable within the program right across a full sheet of metal. The depth of the form within the panel can be controlled by altering the size of the initial pilot hole within the CNC program.

Ceiling adaptor panel for light fitting

Ceiling adaptor panel
This 2.5mm thick 304 type stainless steel plate is used as a ceiling adaptor or mounting panel for a small replacement light fitting. When a ceiling has lighting replaced there may be a hole that is too large for the replacement lighting and rather than renew the whole ceiling sometimes ceiling adaptor or mounting panels can be used to allow new smaller light fitting to be used with the minimum disturbance to the original ceiling structure. This ceiling mounting panel has been made from stainless steel sheet metal and has a machined beveled edge all around to produce a pleasing effect once installed in the ceiling. There are weld studs on the back face to fix the light fitting to and the front face has been posy op polished to give the clean smooth effect seen here.

Mounting panel for electronics housing

Electronics mounting panel
Here is a simple mounting panel used within an electronics housing. This panel has been manufactured from 1.2mm aluminium sheet on a Trumpf CNC punch press, edge deburred and then had 5 self clinch bushes pressed in place on our Haeger inserter press. This small panel is typical of the huge range of simple sheet metal components that we manufacture in batches from just a few to many thousands. The advantage of CNC punching is the ease with which you can change batch sizes and create bespoke CNC programs just for one batch if needed to match production with customer order requirements or even KANBAN call off if required.

LED display panel

LED mounting panel
LED PCB mounting panels used within LED display board units for moving image and text signs. These mounting panels have been CNC punched and CNC bent using Trumpf equipment in our manufacturing factory in Fareham, Hampshire. They are an example of a large range of display panel work that we make from aluminium sheet metal. The patterns of holes have been CNC punched using special cluster tooling which helps to reduce the time and cost of each part. The customer purchased the tooling for this panels and they are used across the range of their LED panels and they savings per part have paid for the tooling many times over.

Sheet metal bending in Hampshire

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Aluminium sheet metal sections

Sheet metal bending in Hampshire

Whether you want a 2.5M long L angle section, U section, top hat profile or more complex cross section we have the bending machines and tooling to produce your sheet metal work for you. Perhaps you need a smaller fixing bracket, heat sink chassis, gear tray or enclosure again we have a huge range of standard straight and swan neck tooling for our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes to produce your designs quickly and cheaply.

We have customers right across Hampshire and the length of the UK which we serve with next day deliveries in vans or on pallets depending on the work volume and length of component. If you are passing Fareham on the M27 we are just a few minutes away and always welcome a visit and a chance to show off our bending facilities.

Give us a call on 01489 577786 or e-mail us your drawing ideas and we can produce a quote for you.

Sheet metal housings

Sunday, July 21st, 2013

Sheet metal housings

3D software model

3D software models used to help develop sheet metal housings
Whenever we have a new housing that needs to be developed for a customer we use 3D sheet metal modelling software from Radan. We can easily create a 3D model (of either a single part or a complex assembly of parts) ourselves from scratch or import your 3D data in either SAT or STEP format. The 3D model can then be used to calculate all the correct blank sizes, hole positions and corner notches needed to produce the correct CNC punching or laser cutting programs. Once folded up on one of our CNC press brakes or fly presses the final part will replicate the 3D model.

Mild steel spot welded housing

Spot welded mild steel light fitting housing

Here is a great example of a sheet metal housing we manufacture for a UK lighting company. The housing has so many different manufacturing techniques needed to produce it including CNC programming, CNC punching, de-burring, CNC bending, bush and stud inserts pressed into place, spot welded fabrication and powder coating with the bush and stud threads being masked off to stop them filling up with powder when coating. The perforated sheet metal end plates act as added ventilation for the light fitting housing and have been CNC punched out of pre-perforated mild steel sheet. This sheet metal housing holds all the electrical control gear needed to drive a fibre optics bedside lighting unit often used in hotel bedrooms.

Aluminium light fitting housing

Aluminium light fitting housing components

This light fitting housing was again developed in Radan software using the 3D modelling tools to ensure all the fixing holes lined up and the cover of the housing correctly fitted over the body of the housing. The housing assembly was complex and many points had to line us correctly with bushes and screw clearance holes. Some of the countersunk holes were produced in our CNC punch presses using form tooling allow us to press the countersink form in 1 second. The blue and green plastic coating the aluminium sheet is to help protect the surface and reduce scratched in production. Once the housing parts have been finished they have the plastic film removed and then silver anodised.

Welded aluminium housing

Sheet metal fabricated housing

Strong sheet metal housing constructed from aluminium. All the corners have been fully seam welded together with various plates inserted into the housing. Once again, 3D software helped us to develop all the correct sizes needed to manufacture the housing and to produce 2D drawings with inspection points. With all these housings whether they are just folded up to fit together, spot welded fabrications and fully welded the importance of producing the correctly sizes parts starts from accurate CNC punch press or laser programming. If you have a housing that needs to be manufactured from sheet metal we will have the right approach to produce the housing efficiently, accurately and at a price that will help you be competitive, please give us a call or send you drawings to us for a quote.

Sheet metal channel

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

Sheet metal channels manufactured from ferrous and non-ferrous materials in Hampshire, UK

Sheet metal channels in aluminium alloy grade 5251

Whenever you want a sheet metal section bent up as an “L” angle, U channel, “Z” section or more complicated cross section we are here to help you. You may want a small bracket bent into a “Z” shape or a 2.5M long “U” channel either way we can help you. With standard CNC press brake tooling, over bend tooling, safe edges tooling and swan neck tooling most shapes that you come up with in many materials from 0.4mm thick to 6mm thick we will be able to help you with. We can even produce curved sectioned without special form tools by using a multi-bend technique allowing a series of close bends to form a curve section in small steps.

If you want to see some of the standard sized sections that can be bent with standard tooling please take a look at these links:

Single “L” bend

Double “U” bend

“Z” bend

Small joggle bend sections

Sheet metal plate

Friday, July 12th, 2013

Sheet metal plates produced on a CNC punch press

Sheet metal plates

CNC punched plates
These sheet metal plates have been CNC punched from Zintec coated mild steel, they are typical of the complex sheet metal plates that can be manufactured on Trumpf CNC punch presses. We have used a combination of rectangles, circle and corner radius tooling to produce the inner shapes and outer profile on these plates. You can see that the parts have been nested together to reduce the amount of material usage and increase the component yield from each sheet. Each plate is held in position on one corner of each arm by a 0.1mm piece of metal, which is defined in the CNC program. The part can easily be broken out of the nest and the small tag de-burred off along with the outer profile.

Sheet metal fixing plates

Fixing plates
These simple sheet metal plates have been manufactured in our sheet metal facility in Fareham, Hampshire with the use of our Trumpf CNC punching machines. We have CNC punched out the basic outer profile and inner holes using a range on rectangular and circular CNC tooling. The parts at the production stage shown in this photograph are waiting to have an M10 threaded zinc plated steel bush inserted into the large hole in the middle of the plate. The bush will be inserted on one of our 4 hydraulic powered fly presses finishing the component off and making it ready to be sent to our customer. These simple little fixing plates are used as anchor points in wooden speaker cabinets to help reinforce the flying points and wall mounting points.

sheet metal plates

End plates
Here’s a good view of a sheet metal plate blank that has been CNC punched in a full sheet of Zintec coated mild steel. You can see that the components have been nested front to front and back to back. This technique allows us to adopt “common line” cutting where a slit tool produce the left hand side of one part and the right hand side of it’s neighbour with the same punching operation. Common line cutting helps to reduce material usage and tooling hits, helping to reduce component costs.

Sheet metal fabrication

Tuesday, July 9th, 2013

Sheet metal fabrications and welding.

Stainless steel seam welded joints

Stainless steel electrical connector box

Stainless steel boxes and enclosures like these can easily be welded shut at the corners by TiG welding. The TiG welding process melts some of the parent metal from each side of the joint. We can sometimes introduce a filler material in the form of a stainless steel rod of a piece of metal cut from the same sheet as the sheet metal components. This filler can help to build up larger welds if internal fillets are required on structural welds. Sometimes the joint can be left after welding with no other work done to it and sometimes it will need to be cleaned off smooth back to the parent metals surface. This joint if powder coated or wet sprayed will be invisible to the final customer and is very often used in cosmetically sensitive products.

Aluminium welding

CCTV camera mounting bracket assembly

Aluminium fabricated assemblies such as this bracket can be joined together by TiG welding without any trouble. This particular assembly had slots CNC punched on the top plate and tabs CNC punched in the side brackets. This technique enables us to position the 2 parts together accurately without the need for special welding jigs and it ensured the positional accuracy of the final assembly. The position of every bracket will be accurate and repeatable throughout the batch. This welding process is good for any gauge of aluminium from 0.9mm up to 5mm thick in our factory and in 1050A, 5251, 5005 or 6082 aluminium alloy grades.

Mild steel TiG welding

Oil reservoir tank in mild steel

If a component or fabricated assembly of sheet metal components has to have a water or in this case oil tight seal TiG welding if perfect. We have made oil tanks out of 2mm thick mild steel sheet which has been CNC punched, CNC bent up with MiG welded corner joints and TiG welded input and output ports. All the welded joints were then leak tested with dye which penetrated the joints to show up any cracks that might leak and would then need re-welding. The heat affected zone (HAZ) seen here on the sheet as a blue and brown area will be covered in a black powder coat finish before the final customer see the tank assembly so was not a problem on this assembly.

For more information on welding please take a look at welding fabrication processes

Sheet metal manufacturing – a birds eye view!

Friday, July 5th, 2013

Great overview of our sheet metal work bending, pressing and drilling areas.

CNC bending in Fareham, Hampshire

Great view of our newest CNC press brakes our Trumpf 7036 machines. These machines are perfect for bending sheet metal parts from very simple sheet metal angles to very complex chassis and enclosure work up to 1M long. With advanced computer systems and software built into each machine and the ability to save files direct to our systems server the skilled machine setters can call up past jobs in seconds and drop tooling into place and be working on your job in minutes. This flexibility is perfect when you have small batches of work or samples to try our for new projects.

Fly presses on a sunny day!

We still value our fly presses as great little production machines. It’s amazing what can be produced on these machines either for sample work or production batches up to many thousands off. Piercing, forming, bending and pressing in bushes and studs is no problem for us with a huge range of tooling. We also have the ability to manufacture our own form and bend tooling to suit these fly presses which is idea if you need a special joggled section, certain dimple form size or hook shape etc. Being hydraulic powered we have better control of the bend angles and form depths making an accurate option on electronics housing and front panel work.

Fly presses and sawing section

Another view of our hydraulic fly press piercing and forming production area. The saw in the back ground is idea of sawing up steel and aluminium rectangular and round tubes, bar, angle and strip. If we get aluminium extrusion to cut up we now have a new high speed up cutting saw in our CNC punching area which is perfect for this type of work. We also have several sets of rollers and a hyraulic corner notching machine to complement our fly presses enabling us to produce so many different shapes in sheet metal that most sheet metal work projects can be catered for without the need for new tooling.

Guifil and Edwards Pearson CNC press brakes

Here you can see over our 2 Guifil CNC press brakes and onto our Edwards Pearson CNC press brakes. The Guifil bending machines are good for simple components for example L angles and U channels up to 600mm long. The Edwards Pearson machines are our largest bending capacity at up to 2500mm long and have enough tonnage to cope with most of the requests our customers make of us.

Please follow some of the links to our plant pages to see videos of these machines working in more detail.

Stainless steel sheet metal work

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013

Stainless steel sheet metal work can come in some many different shapes and sizes here at V and F Sheet Metal.

The clamping brackets have curved corners that have been formed with bespoke form tooling created by us to suit one of our CNC press brakes. The stainless steel trays are back panels for all mounted display boards. The dimples have been pressed in each corner on our Trumpf 200 CNC punch press and are used to space the panels off the wall when mounting outside restaurants, church halls and schools etc.

For more information on standard commercial sheet metal stainless steel grades and their properties please take a look at our web page. If you want to see more examples of sheet metal components manufacture in stainless steel or to discuss your specific project please give us a call.

Sheet metal enclosures

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Sheet metal enclosures manufactured from sheet metal

Aluminium Electronics Enclosure

Here at V and F Sheet Metal we are often asked to manufacture enclosures for a variety of uses. They may often be our customer’s bespoke version of an enclosure that they cannot purchase as a standard enclosure. You know the problem, you have looked in all the standard familiar enclosure directories, trawled the internet and still cannot find the size of enclosure you want or in the right colour or with the right features to suit your product’s requirements. Yes you could buy a standard enclosure and try and modify it by drilling holes or having it re-sprayed but it’s never going to be as good as designing it for yourself and having it made to do the task you need. We do modify standard enclosures for clients when they only want a few units and don’t have the time to design something special but once the quantities increase they will normally want to have an enclosure that does the job just for them. Using Radan sheet metal development software we can help you visualise your design in 3D before committing to manufacturing which can be costly if your design is in error.

19” rack cabinet enclosures are a little different as they have to follow certain size constrictions to ensure standard front panels, chassis, fan units and rear panels can all be sited together and not clash regardless of which manufacturer they have been purchased from. We can help you with that with standard CNC punch tooling and experience of putting together 19” rack enclosures.

Electrical cabinet enclosures are easier as they normally mount on a wall and in isolation from other equipment so size constrictions are not a problem. There is a freedom of design to incorporate hinges, gear plates, anodised or painted front panels, spot welded, screwed or fully welded construction. Again, if you need help please just ask as we have many years of manufacturing this type of enclosure and are always able to come up with ideas if you are stuck.

In conclusion, as with all bespoke sheet metal work we are here to help not just take your order and follow your drawings. We have manufactured so many different enclosures out of sheet metal for people of over many years and are ready and more importantly willing to help you get started and realise your specific manufacturing needs.

Cleaning up sheet metal weld joints

Tuesday, June 25th, 2013

Cleaning up sheet metal welded joints

Nearly all welded joints have to be cleaned up in some way if they are to have any cosmetic appeal. The welded joints may have been TiG welded, MiG welded or brazed in ferrous or non-ferrous materials but cleaning them up will require the same techniques and equipment. The lower the grit number the coarser the surface of the grinding disk so we will often start with a 60 grit sanding disk to clean up welded joints and then work our way up to say a 120 grit or higher depending on the fineness of the final surface required by the customer.

The cleaned up joint can then be orbital sanded to produce a very smooth finish which is ideal if a part is to be powder coated. To go further than this we can get the sheet metal work polished producing highly shiny surfaces in stainless steel or even a uniformly grained effect.

To see more examples of welded sheet metal work being cleaned up please take a look at our plant web page on cleaning up.

CNC punching sheet metal and recycling

Thursday, June 20th, 2013

CNC punching sheet metal and recycling waste to be used again.

When we are CNC punching sheet metal components we produce a certain amount of waste metal. This waste metal can be in the form of metal “slugs”, the small sheet metal pieces that are punched down the tool die with each cycle of the punch press ram. The slugs can be tiny nibbled parts when the sheet is moved only a small distance with each punch cycle or complete pieces of metal where a hit is on its own e.g. a large hole. The nibbled and single hit slugs are sucked away from the sheet surface after passing through the bottom die by a vacuum that is formed on the Trumpf CNC punch press. The slugs are then ejected into a collecting bin underneath the machine. These bins can be changed over to collect different materials depending on the job being run. We also have wast materials which are the outside edges of the metal sheet after all the components have been removed. This nest skeleton can be folded up and put in our scrap bins waiting for recycling. With modern sheet metal processing software like Radan we manage to keep this waste area to a minimum and will often combine different components on the same sheet to get the highest possible material yield.

The materials we run are separated into copeer, brass, stainless steel, aluminium alloys and (ferrous) steel based products e.g. CR4, galv and zintec. By separating out the different metal grades they can easily be processed at the metal dealers and recycled back into fresh sheet metal ready for us to process again.

To view more information on Trumpf CNC punch presses in action take a look at our plant web page.

Aluminum sheet metal work

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

Recent examples of sheet metal work manufactured in aluminium from our factory in Fareham, Hampshire.

We manufacture a wide range of sheet metal products in aluminium alloys include 1050a, 5251 and 6082. These standard alloys can produce brackets, front panels, enclosures, heat sinks, gear trays etc. We also use more specialised aluminium alloys such as 33PG, semi-specular, Miro4 and 1100G materials from Alanod to produce a range of lighting reflectors for a range of lighting companies in the UK. These material allow us to focus and diffuse light in many different ways depending on the lamps being used in the light fitting. For more examples of lighting reflectors please take a look at our reflector past projects page. We also finish and treat aluminium products by powder coating, wet spraying, decorative anodising, alocrom 1000 and 1200 treatments as well as Iridite NCP treatments.

Aluminium alloys are a wonderfully flexible material to work with being easily CNC punched and CNC bent up. They can be welded, riveted and have a number of inserts easily fixed to them. Sheet metal components can be light yet strong, cosmetically attractive and long lasting.

Mild steel sheet metal work

Friday, June 7th, 2013

Mild steel sheet metal work from our recent projects.

With such a large range of sheet metal work going through our factory here in Fareham, Hampshire every day of the week it wasn’t difficult to find a few good examples of mild steel work to show off today. Being able to manufacture single parts and completed welded assemblies from mild steel sheet we can produce a range of parts from the size of your little finger nail up to 2.5M long and in a range of material thicknesses. You may want just a few samples or higher volume repeat production, either are fine with us. Using flexible CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines specifically designed to manufacture sheet metal work enables us to offer you the complete sub- contract engineering service. You only have to look at our gallery pages and plant pages to see just how many different types of sheet metal work we manufacture be it mild steel, stainless steel, aluminium or more exotic materials.

Explore the images above to see just how flexible designing and manufacturing with modern sheet metal CNC machine can be.

If you want to learn more about mild steel sheet metal and it’s different form please take a look at our web page.

Bending sheet metal work

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013

Bending sheet metal work is so much easier with CNC press brakes.

Here at V and F Sheet Metal we have a range of machines called CNC press brakes specifically designed for bending sheet metal work. This work may only be a few mm long and very thin gauges e.g. 0.3mm tin plated steel or 0.4mm specially anodised reflector aluminium up to 10mm thick mild steel plate. The length of sheet metal sections that can be bent can go right up to 2.5M long. This flexibility of thickness and length enable our CNC press brakes to be used to produce all of the sheet metal work that our customers ask us to complete for them.

The range of machines we have are up stroking and down stroking from 2 at 600mm long bed, 2 at 1M long bends and 2 at 2.5M bend long beds, these are as follows:

Guifil PE6-16 x 2 at 600mm long

Trumpf 7036 x 2 at 1M long

Edwards Pearson PR3 and PR6 at 2.5M long

For more examples of bent sheet metal work why not take a look at our gallery pages.

Sheet metal work in Hampshire UK

Monday, May 27th, 2013

We manufacture many sheet metal components from Zintec material. Zintec is a form of mild steel sheet metal with a thin coat of zinc to protect it from atmospheric corrosion applied at the steel mill to the master coil. Zintec is often used for components that do not need to be fully protected such as computer internal chassis, brackets and rear panels, light fitting gear boxes and covers, air conditioning enclosures and covers etc. Zintec is often a good material to be powder coated giving a better protection to the component if it is scratched through the powder. If you want more protection than Zintec then you can have your mild steel components zinc plated. Exterior components that are manufactured from thicker gauge mild steel can be hot dip galvanised to coat them in an even thicker layer of zinc.

These sheet metal components have all been manufactured during May 2013 in our factory in Fareham, Hampshire, UK.

For more information on Zintec and how it is produced please take a look at our mild steel data page.

Bending light sheet metal work

Friday, May 17th, 2013

The bending light gauge sheet metal work has never been easier than with Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes.

We have the ability in house to fold sheet metal up to 2.5M long in both of our Edwards Pearson CNC press brakes and often do. When it comes to smaller brackets, trays, chassis and sheet metal boxes if they are under 1M long we will use our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes all the time. With quick set tooling, easy programming on the machine and the ability to recall past jobs from our computer network these machines offer the best service possible for small sheet metal bending. If the volumes are high being electric these machines can produce bends very quickly and with easy set ups they are very competitive for small prototype work.

Here we have a typical range of sheet metal work for one project that has been CNC punched on Trumpf CNC punch presses and bent up on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. All the parts were manufactured from Zintec coated mild steel with some parts being powder coated and some left self colour. We have lots of examples of sheet metal work on our web site that has been bent up on these CNC press brakes, please follow the link to the plant page with videos of the machines in action.

Bushes, studs and standoffs in sheet metal work

Friday, May 10th, 2013

Sheet metal components can be enhanced by the use of self clinch and anchor rivet inserts.

When components need permanent fixed threaded features these bushes and studs are a perfect solution. Whether it’s a fixed nut into a side of an enclosure, an earth stud on an electronics chassis or a captive screw in a sheet metal back panel there is a solution that we can offer you. Using our Haeger inserter machine and a range of fly presses with standard tooling we can offer you a solution to all your insert problems. These inserts are ideal as they are quick to insert, reliable and mostly cheap to buy.

If you want to see more examples of sheet metal work with inserts in place please take a look at our gallery web page. If you are not sure which insert you should specify just give us a call and we will be happy to talk through your design with you and see which option would best suit your needs.

A big thanks to TR Fastenings for allowing us to use their images here to illustrate the range of inserts that are available.

Sheet metal work in April 2013

Tuesday, May 7th, 2013

Just a small taster of the range of sheet metal work projects that we have completed in April 2013

Having the ability to work with a wide range of sheet metal materials from 0.4mm pre-anodised reflector aluminium, grained stainless steel, zinctec and up to 4mm thick mild steel sheet from components the size of your little finger nail up to full standard sheet sizes means we cover a large range of sheet metal projects. With the ability at V and F Sheet Metal to supply CNC punching and CNC bending for complicated sheet metal work and fly presses for simple parts we cover a range of sheet metal projects for the lighting, electronics, audio and heating industries many others in the UK. Now being able to offer high speed aluminium sawing has improved the quality of the extrusions we cut to size for our customers.

Offering sheet metal sub-contract manufacturing services to a large range of companies in the UK enables us to get involved in many diverse and interesting sheet metal projects.

If you want to see more examples of past sheet metal work projects please take a look at our gallery pages

If you have some components that you think we may be able to help you with please just give use a call on 01489 577786 or e-mail on the address at the bottom of the page.

Sheet metal work in 3D software

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

Sheet metal brackets, housings, enclosures and chassis modeled in 3D using Radan software.

The best way to be sure of getting a sheet metal project right is to create it in a 3D environment before committing to CNC punching any materials. Time can be reduced and material costs saved by working out all the manufacturing and assembly problems before starting any sheet metal production. Please take a look at the gallery images below and you will see just how flexible this technique is when working on sheet metal sub-contract manufacturing projects for our customers.

For more examples of our recent sheet metal work that has been 3D modeled in Radan sheet metal software before manufacturing please take a look at our gallery page 3D SOFTWARE MODELS

If you want to read more about the processes we use to produce sheet metal parts and fabrication assemblies with Radan software please take a look at our web page BOX FABRICATION

If you have a project and you need sheet metal parts but you are not quite sure how they may fit together we can take a look and help you with a 3D model, please give us a call.

Flypress work, sheet metal brackets

Saturday, April 27th, 2013

Fly presses with simple fly press tooling used to manufacture sheet metal brackets

We manufacture a huge range of sheet metal brackets for our customers in the UK often using CNC punching and CNC bending technologies. These techniques are perfect for small and large batch manufacturing. We do however sometimes have complex sheet metal components that need to be manufactured quickly and without expensive custom CNC tooling and that’s where fly presses can be so useful.

Fly presses can be used to bend brackets, form small features, press safe edges and curved sections often with our range of standard fly press tooling. For further examples of sheet metal brackets that have been manufactured by V and F Sheet Metal recently please take a look at our sheet metal brackets gallery page.

If you have a small sheet metal bracket or angle design and you want us to produce a quote for you or want some help to find the best design to suit cheap and effective manufacturing techniques then please give is a call.

CNC punching sheet metal brackets

Sunday, April 21st, 2013

Sheet metal brackets and sheet metal angles

All the sheet metal brackets that we manufacture start off with CNC punching if we manufacture them from materials below 4mm thick. If particularly thick materials are needed we get the brackets laser cut before CNC bending in out factory in Fareham, Hampshire. We manufacture a huge range of bespoke sheet metal brackets for our customers right across the country. Some are simple angle brackets made in mild steel, zintec or galvanised steel for a range of industries. We manufacture stainless steel sheet metal brackets where corrosion resistance is required for instance marine, catering and pharmaceutical requirements. Aluminium brackets are often used in electronics designs where a light weight solution is needed or when their ability to carry heat away from a component is needed.

For more examples of sheet metal brackets please following the link to our galley pages.

Stainless steel display cases

Saturday, April 13th, 2013

Display cases manufactured from stainless steel sheet metal go underground

We have just finished a project for a customer of ours in the south of England to manufacture sheet metal display cases for the Glasgow Underground. These cases were manufactured from 304 stainless steel alloys with fully welded corners and then polished to a high standard. These display enclosures house flat screens that can be used to see advertising space where there is a heavy flow of public. These cases are perfectly positioned on the stairways to an underground station.

Stainless steel fabrications such as these display cases are manufactured using CNC punch presses and CNC press brakes before welding.

Bending sheet metal reflectors on a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013

Bending sheet metal reflectors on a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake at V and F Sheet Metal in Fareham, Hampshire.

Fast Tube by Casper

0.4mm thick pre-anodised reflector aluminium is being bent into shapes to create reflectors for a paint drying heater. The initial flat sheet metal blank has been produced by CNC punching from full sized sheets on a Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press machine. The correct program and tooling has then been used to produce the bend angles and lengths and form up the reflectors. Once the program has been created, saved and tested the operator can follow the program cycle again and again to create identical components following the dimensions of the customers drawings. For more information on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes please follow the link to our plant page.

Sheet metal work

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Sheet metal work being bent on a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake

Fast Tube by Casper

Nearly all of our smaller sheet metal work is bent up on our 2 Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. We do have 2 larger 2.5M long CNC press brakes for longer sheet metal profiles and 2 smaller Guifil 600mm CNC press brakes for small simple angle brackets. They all have their place within our workshop but the Trumpf 7036 machines really take pride of place. With their simple programming controllers, 3D graphics, fast change CNC top and bottom tooling and very fast back stops the Trumpf 7036 machines are perfect for 1 off prototypes, small repeat batches and volume production. Whether its simple mild steel angle brackets, aluminium chassis or stainless steel trays the Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes take it all in their stride.

Please take a look at the specific plant pages for all 3 CNC press brakes with lots of examples of bent up sheet metal work. We also have more examples of sheet metal work on our galley pages to give you a taster of the range of sheet metal work that we bend up every day of the week.

Sheet Metal Fabrication

Monday, March 11th, 2013

Sheet Metal Fabrication

Fast Tube by Casper

From our sheet metal fabrication factory in Fareham, Hampshire we fabricate a hugh range of components and assemblies. This video shows an operator using a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake to bend up a sheet metal fabrication used in the assembly of a light fitting gear box. For information on the fabrications we manufacture please take a look at our plant list pages and our gallery pages.

If you have a specific sheet metal fabrication that you want us to quote for please call us on (01489) 577786 or e-mail us through the website with your drawings.

Get a Quote