Blog - Page 15 of 17 -

Sheet metal fixing plate

Monday, July 30th, 2012

Sheet metal fixing plate with M10 hank bush

Sheet metal fixing plates are often used inside larger sheet metal enclosures, wooden cabinets or plastic mouldings. They are usually used to help reinforce an anchour point in a material that cannot take a full load without distortion or shearing. In this case this small sheet metal fixing plate is manufactured from Zintec mild steel with a captive M10 threaded bush inserted on one face. We produce many thousands of these plates by simply CNC punching the holes and profile, barrel de-burring and inserting the bush on one of our hydraulic fly presses. The M10 bush is zinc plated and the Zintec sheet metal gives some corrosion protection to this little sheet metal component. The fixing plate is screwed inside a wooden cabinet and acts as a screw point when the cabinet is fixed to the wall or mounting brackets. paint

Sheet metal fabrication, aluminium display board backs

Monday, July 16th, 2012

Sheet metal fabricated aluminium enclosures with welded and cleaned off corner joints

Sheet metal fabrications
These aluminium display board backs have been manufactured from 2mm thick aluminium sheet material. They are typical of the mid range size sheet metal fabrications that we often manufacture in various batches sizes from just 1 offs to many hundred. We manufacture a range of display board back types which are all similar in design varying in size and holes layout. With our Radan software we can take an existing sheet metal design and easily modify it to create a new design. This enables us to provide designs that may be just for one special installation at a competitive price. These fabricated enclosures as well as being CNC punched and CNC bent have a range of studs, bushes and standoffs inserted into the sheet metal aluminium sides and back. This process is carried out on our Haeger bush / stud inserter.

You can see from the images here the corners have been welded up and then cleaned off using various hand held grinding equipment. Once the sheet metal fabrication is finished we have the display board backs powder coated and then they are ready for our customer to assembly with his electronics. These particular units have LED displays which allow moving information to be displayed at sport grounds.

As well as aluminium fabrications we are happy to manufacture enclosures in mild steel and stainless steel.

Sheet metal fabricated aluminium enclosures with welded corner joints

Sheet metal work inserts – bushes and studs

Monday, July 9th, 2012

Here we have collected together a few recent examples of bushes and studs used in a variety of sheet metal work for our customers in the UK. These simple techniques can really aid a sheet metal component design and it’s always worth considering these inserts when thinking about a new design. Most of the fixings that we insert into our sheet metal work are inserted using our Haegar bush / stud inserter but we also use a range of flypresses to compliment this machine enabling us to access almost any “tricky” position within our sheet metal components.

If you have a requirement to fix a component in place and not sure which insert option would be best for you please contact us and our design team will be happy to advise you and provide samples if needed so you get the best design for you needs.

If you click on the images you can see each insert example in more detail with some notes describing the uses of the insert and its main features.

Stainless steel playground apparatus brackets

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

Stainless steel brackets manufactured in sheet metal for playground apparatus

Stainless steel brackets for playground apparatus

When a fixing bracket is needed which will be out in all weathers and often by the seaside, stainless steel is the only way to go. We have manufactured several batches of stainless steel brackets which are used to fix together playground equipment for schools and general playground areas. The brackets are CNC punched and then barrel de-burred to remove all possible sharpe edges before finally forming the curved shapes needed to match the tubular sections of the equipment frames.

These brackets are typical of the vast range of brackets we manufacture in our sheet metal work factories in Fareham, Hampshire every day of the week.

CAD/CAM software for working with sheet metal CNC punch presses

Monday, June 25th, 2012

Radan 2012 R2 CAD/CAM software is perfect for working with sheet metal components that are going to be manufactured on CNC punch presses.

We have been using Radan software for many years now to drive our CNC punch presses and always upgrade to the latest verision to enable use to have the most efficient software tools available in the sheet metal industry. We can read our customers 2D (DXF and DWG) files and 3D (STEP and SAT) files enabling quick and accurate communications with our customers when receiving data and when helping them with their designs.

For more information on Radan software please take a look at our web pages Radan and Box Fabrication

Zinc plated sheet metal brackets

Monday, June 18th, 2012

Simple sheet metal brackets manufactured from mild steel

Zinc plated sheet metal brackets with threaded inserts

Sheet metal work can come in all shapes and sizes from large enclosures, oil tanks, electronics housings right down to small clips and earth tags. These zinc plated mild steel brackets are just typical of the smaller items that we are often asked to manufacture for our customers here in Fareham, Hampshire. Although they might seem unimportant in themselves they are still essential for a customer’s product to function correctly. Care and attention is given to manufacturing the component to the drawing dimensions, the correct finish quality and any treatment or finishes.

To see more sheet metal brackets and angles please take a look at our gallery page.

CNC bending sheet metal with CNC press brakes

Monday, June 11th, 2012

CNC bending sheet metal components with Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes

The majority of our small sheet metal work projects are bent on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. Once we have programmed the specific sheet metal component shape into the machine we can decide which tooling to use, the bend radius, any special forms, safe edges, multi-bend generated curves etc in mild steel, stainless steel or aluminium alloys. Here is a quick tour around one our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes in the middle of bending a set of aluminium brackets.

For more images of CNC bending and videos please take a look at our website page:

Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake

We can do so much with these machines that it’s always worth calling us if you have a sheet metal work project and you are not sure whether it can be bent of formed.

CNC punching pre-coated mild steel sheet metal enclosure

Monday, June 4th, 2012

CNC punching and CNC bending pre-coated mild steel

We have manufactured this simple sheet metal enclosure by CNC punching it from 0.7mm thick pre-coated white mild steel sheet. Some bends have been formed using our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes, the enclosure is then shipped to our customer as the first image. They can then insert a small plastic moulded lighting sensor in place and wrap the sheet metal enclosure around the sensor. It’s a simple idea but enables the sensor to be trapped in the sheet metal enclosure once it’s screwed into place the sensor cannot move. This method of assemble is quick and easy for our customer as they don’t need any special tooling and the enclosures will be the same size every time as we have pre-defined the size with the CNC punching of slots.

I posted an article in February on the same “easy-bend” technique but then it was being used to reduce space for a customer who was manufacturing lighting gear trays and wanted to store the sheet metal in a flat pack form until they were ready for assembly. If you can think of a sheet metal component that you are currently having made but may benefit from this CNC punching approach please give us a call and we will be happy to take a look for you.

CNC punching and CNC bending pre-coated mild steel - folded by hand

Sheet metal profiles in galvanised steel manufactured in Hampshire

Monday, May 28th, 2012

Sheet metal profiles in galvanised steel manufactured in Hampshire

Sheet metal profiles in galvanised steel

If we are asked to manufacture simple sections and profiles without any holes or cut outs we can simply guillotine them to size and then bend them. For us the bending operations are always carried out with CNC press brakes enabling us to program the exact lengths and angles of each bend. These CNC programs can be easily saved and used again and again to maintain profile sizes over different batches.

When the sheet metal profiles are more complicated we will create a CNC punch press program and CNC punch all the holes, cutouts and physical sizes before CNC bending. Again as with the CNC bending programs we can save them and call them up whenever we need to run the same sheet metal components again.

Sheet metal profiles in galvanised steel created by CNC bending

Perhaps you have a sheet metal profile that you need manufacturing and want a price for a batch. Why not send us a drawing and let us see what we can do you for.

Sheet metal mild steel welded covers

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Sheet metal mild steel weld covers

Sheet metal mild steel Tig welded covers

Small fabricated sheet metal covers have been manufactured from mild steel with separate rolled ends sections and seam TiG welded joints. Once the seam welded joints have been cleaned back to the original paraent sheet metal and powder coated they look as though they were made as one and not from several separate sheets. This is the most effective method of manufacturing metal covers for small to medium quantities. These particular covers have been manufacted in batches of 50 off but similar parts have been made in smaller batched up to 100’s off.

Zinc plated sheet metal plates

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Zinc plated sheet metal plates

Zinc plated sheet metal plates are typical at V and F Sheet Metal

No job is too small at V and F Sheet Metal. These little sheet metal plates are typical components that we manufacture every week of the year. They have been CNC punched, de-burred and have threaded bushes inserted before being zinc plated and clear passivated.

CNC punching sheet metal with CNC punch presses

Friday, May 11th, 2012

CNC punching sheet metal with a Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press

The majority of our sheet metal work projects start off as flat sheet metal. Once we have programmed the specific component part we produce the flat punched parts through our Trumpf 200 and Trumpf 3000 CNC punch presses whether it’s mild steel, stainless steel or aluminium alloys. Here is a quick tour around our Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press with a job being run.

For more images of CNC punching and videos please take a look at our website page:

Trumpf 200/3000 CNC punch press

We can do so much with this machine that it’s always worth calling us if you have a sheet metal work project and you are not sure whether it might be suitable for punching.

Zintec hanging brackets for track light fittings

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Zintec hanging brackets for track light fittings

Support brackets manufactured from Zintec mild steel ready for hanging light fittings

Not all lighting installations are permanent. A lighting scheme is often used for only a short length of time and then needs to be removed or reconfigured to suit a new layout. This can be the case where an exhibition stand needs lighting for just a few days and then needs to be quickly removed or perhaps in a museum exhibition where specific points of light are needed for just a few weeks. Lighting is often changed in retail outlets where different displays are created as the seasons change.

One solution for this requirement for flexibility is to install lighting tracks where the individual light fittings can be moved along the track to any given point and angled to highlight any object. Hanging brackets such as those shown here can be used to support the runs of tracking from a ceiling of frame work structure simply and cheaply. These particular brackets are manufactured from Zintec and can be powder coated to suit any installation colour. The hoop has been formed on a CNC press brake and the joint has been tack welded shut to maintain its shape and increase its strength.

This type of bracket work is typical of the sheet metal work that we are often called upon to manufacture and help design. Perhaps you have an idea for a supporting bracket or angle and need a little help to finalise your design or advice on materials, please give us a call and we will be happy to discuss it with you.

Sheet metal suppliers in Hampshire

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

Sheet metal suppliers and sheet metal fabrications

Sheet metal suppliers of CNC punched and CNC bent components

We have been supplying sheet metal components and welded fabrications to the UK market and increasing to Europe since the mid 1980s and we are still working on new designs for sheet metal components every day of the week. Over the years we have seen a general shift from product designs that have a life cycle of several years and remain relatively stable to sheet metal work that almost changes with every batch. With our investment in Radan sheet metal design software we can play a big part in helping our customers with their designs and converting their ideas from CAD to CAM and into working CNC programs to quickly drive production.

Sheet metal suppliers

We have also seen the reduction in batch size from hundreds and thousands at a time to smaller quantities which has been met with our investment in Trumpf CNC punching and CNC bending machines. These sheet metal processing machines enable us to change from job to job very quickly when we are supplying sheet metal products to so many different people. We can be CNC punching electronics chassis housings like these shown here and minutes later we will be punching lighting reflectors or stainless steel angle brackets such is the variety of sheet metal work we are involved with.

The range of products we manufacture enables us to keep in touch with many people and pass on tips for designs when they have a problem and are not quite sure how to solve it with sheet metal. Why not give us a call today to discuss your new designs and see if we can suggest a way to reduce your costs in manufacturing.

Stainless steel welded enclosures

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

Stainless steel welded enclosures for exterior use

Sheet metal stainless steel enclosures fabircated and polished

When manufacturing sheet metal housings that need to survive for many years outside there is only one real cost effective soultion and it’s stainless steel. When you add in the agressive environment of being fixed to a lorry with salt spray and oil contamination it’s a must. Stainless steel can be worked in the same way as mild steel but it does have a higher wear rate of cutting tooling due to its increased hardness. Fabricating stainless steel enclosures using TiG welding techniques is easy and the quality of the weld is superb. These particular boxes have all the corners seam welded up so that they are water tight. The welds are cleaned back to the original parent sheet and then the whole enclosure is polished to give a pleasing finish.

Sheet metal electronics chassis plate production

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

Sheet metal electronics chassis 3D CAD model

Most of the sheet metal work projects that we get involved with here in Fareham, Hampshire start off with a 3D model or 3D assembly created in Radan CAD/CAM software. These models may come directly from our customer via a SAT or STEP file or we may generate them ourselves from their drawings, the model shown here was generated by V&F Sheet Metal from PDF files. It gives us a really good start in fully understanding the sheet metal work design and how we can best go about manufacturing it before we commit to CNC punching any materials in production. The 3D model also enables us to feedback design ideas directly to our customers as we put the virtual parts together and identify any problems or opportunities to save money in manufacturing.

Sheet metal chassis plate unfolded from 3D model

Once the 3D model is complete it can be used to produce a flat developed sheet metal blank. This is the correctly calculated shape and size of sheet metal needed to produce the final bent up part taking into account the material type, thickness (gauge) and bend radii. Any problems with sheet metal faces clashing can be spotted at this stage and referred back to the original design for amendment before proceeding further with any production.

CNC punched tooled sheet metal chassis plate

Once the developed blank has been cleaned up and any amendments made the CNC part can be tooled. This is an automatic operation with CNC tooling being applied to the component’s outer profile and any internal cut outs and holes. There is often the need to improve the automatic selection of CNC tools within the software to ensure the optimum CNC punching path to help reduce production time and tool wear. All these small improvements help to maintain a competitive sheet metal component price.

Layout of CNC punched chassis plates on a 2m x 1m sheet of aluminium

Once the single sheet metal component has been sucessfully CNC tooled it can be applied to a full sheet of metal. The sheet maybe a standard industry size for volumes or parts of sheets for small quantities. The best fit can be achieved using software tools to automatically try different orientations of the components with grain direction taken into account where necessary. As we use Trumpf CNC punch presses we are not contrained to the orientation of the parts on the sheet as we can rotate all the tools in the punch head enabling us to get the best use of material per part.

Sheet metal chassis plate with engraving produced on a Trumpf 3000 CNC punch press

This chassis plate needed to have the customer’s part number engraved into it for traceability, something that was easy to achieve with our Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press. The engraving is carried out with a hardened stylus which can be used to produce a continualy line if needed but in this case a simple number pattern was acceptable and more cost effective.

Finished black anodised sheet metal chassis with inserts

The final completed chassis plate with all the features CNC punched and CNC bent. The aluminium has been black anodised and has zinc plated bushes and captive thumb screws inserted ready for use by the customer.
This is just one of hundreds of different components we are manufacturing every month, if you have something you need manufacturing in sheet metal please give us a call or e-mail your drawings and we will be happy to help you.

Connector panels with captive thumb screws

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

Connector panels with captive thumb screws

Sheet metal connector panels with captive thumb screws.
Simple solution saves plenty of time in service. Have you ever unscrewed a rear panel from some equipment to drop the screws inside, not any more with this simple engineering solution. We can manufacture your sheet metal panels and then insert captive spring loaded thumb screws ready for you to use. They can be done up tight with a screw driver or simply tightened with finger pressure if needed. The example shown here has been pressed into mild steel sheet metal and will be powder coated black. The captive thumb screws can be inserted after painting or plating / anodising if required making it a very versatile solution.

For more details please contact us and we can look at your sheet metal design and see where we can help.

Professional audio equipment chassis

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Audio chassis assembly

Professional audio equipment chassis

We are really excited to be able to help our customer develop a new range of high end hifi and studio audio equipment. The entire range has been developed over the last 2 years and is growing thanks in a small part to the flexibility of manufacturing with sheet metal. We have been able to offer advice on the most efficient design for manufacturing with sheet metal and swap data in 2D and 3D. All the chassis parts, front panels and covers have been produced in relatively small numbers so far but when the quantities grow we will easily be able to expand our production with the same CNC driven manufacturing equipment. This flexibility has proven invaluable to several of our customers when prototyping new product ranges and then running in larger volumes.

Audio front panels

If you have a new project that needs sheet metal components and you want some advice on the best manufacturing option or a design that needs refining to cut costs, please give us a call or e-mail a drawing for review.

Stainless steel sheet metal brackets after CNC bending

Monday, April 9th, 2012

Stainless steel sheet metal brackets after CNC bending

Here’s an interesting collection of 304 stainless steel brackets stacked in a tin in our factory. The spiral pattern looks similar to that found in a sea shell. Each stainless steel bracket has been CNC punched, de-burred and then CNC bent to complete the sheet metal parts to drawing. Sheet metal brackets such as these are produced every day of the week here at V and F Sheet Metal in our factories in Fareham, Hampshire. These particular brackets are used to support cable runs around marina board walks where boats plug in their batteries to re-charge.

If you have a design requirement for stainless steel brackets or any other sheet metal material please give us a call and we will be happy to quote you for production.

Wall mounted uplighters for cathedral ceilings

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

Modern illumination of medieval ceiling

This lighting project was truly a mixture of the old and the new. The aluminium sheet metal wall mounted uplighters shown here were used to illuminate the vaulted ceiling of part of Chichester Cathedral. The sheet metal housings were quite simple with tack welded end plates but the performance comes from the reflector helping to boost the light output and throw it up over the vaulted ceiling.
The lighting effect really lifts the ceiling and makes it seem to float on the stone pillars. As well as aluminium lighting products we are happy to manufacture in mild steel and stainless steel to suit more environmentally challenging applications.

Stainless steel sheet metal press work

Monday, March 26th, 2012

Stainless steel sheet metal press work

If you want to see production in action, take a look at our fly press plant page where we have a video of these stainless steel housings being formed on a press tool die set. These stainless steel housings have been CNC punched to produce an accurate blank and then had the end bends bent up in a Trumpf 7036 CNC press brake. The video shows the circular plunges being formed in the base and the sides being formed up. The final operation is to weld the tubes in place before being sent to the customer for assembly into their product.

CNC punching of sheet metal mild steel brackets for pump housings

Monday, March 19th, 2012

CNC punching of sheet metal mild steel brackets for pump housings

These mild steel plates will be bent up and have a formed hook on them before being zinc plated and clear passivated to protect them from rusting. They have been manufactured by CNC punching on our Trumpf 3000R CNC punch press with a special shaped single hit tool. The window in the middle of the plate is a special shape designed to fit around the front of a pump and allow the drive shaft to fit through. For small batches the window profile was produce with a series of overlapping standard CNC punch tools which worked fine. When the batch quantities increased a time study was undertaken for the customer and it was cost effective to invest in a single hit tool to produce the window much quicker and with the added benefit of a cleaner hole at the same time.

If you have a sheet metal component that you are looking to reduce the cost of we are always happy to look at simple tooling options to help you, please give us a call on 01489 577786.

LED display boards for car parking

Monday, March 12th, 2012

LED display boards with mild steel sheet metal housings

Sheet metal fabricated LED display boards for car parking signage

Sheet metal work can be so versatile with today’s powerful CNC manufacturing equipment. We have produced a series of sheet metal mild steel housings, covers and LED chassis plates in various sizes for LED signs. These particular signs have been used to indicate empty spaces in multi-storey car parks in a range of countries in Europe and further afield. Once a basic design format has been established and proven different lengths and widths of housing and associated parts can easily be manufactured from existing developed blank data within our Radan software. This offers the advantage of mixing some standard units and special sizes together in manufacturing without stopping the flow of work and maintaining the lowest cost price per part.

With any bespoke manufacturing project work the emphasis has to be on flexibility and for us this means the ability to change from one sheet metal part to another with little machine setting up time in between. With the design of the Trumpf CNC punch press single head design system we can change from job to job in minutes enabling us to punch out sheet metal prototypes within the mix of standard production work without any appreciable delay.

Zinc plated and colour passivated sheet metal brackets

Monday, March 5th, 2012

Zinc plated and colour passivated sheet metal brackets

Sheet metal work manufactured from aluminium and stainless steel alloys can be treated and finished with a range of processes but are often left just material self colour due to their corrosion resistance. If they need to have different colours then obviously they can be powder coated or stove enamelled RAL colours with texture or smooth finished in a range of gloss levels. Mild steel however will need some sort of protection if it is to be used in any environment where there is any risk of moisture. For external use zinc galvanised treatments are often specified if no further finishing is to be carried out. If the mild steel components are for interior use or they are external components and are to have a powder coated finish then zinc plating with a passivated finish can be specified.
The brackets illustrated here have been zinc plated and colour passivated to produce a golden colour. This is quite acceptable for mild steel sheet metal brackets that will not have any further protection and be used in interior designs e.g. housing brackets, alarm box fixing points, light fitting stirrups, motor pumps etc.

If you have sheet metal components and you are not sure which treatment or finish to specify please give us a call and we will be happy to guide you.

Sheet metal work, sheet metal brackets

Monday, February 27th, 2012

Sheet metal mild steel Zintec brackets after CNC bending

Sheet metal work, sheet metal brackets and angles

Sheet metal bracket and angles are used in most engineering fabrication assemblies. They come in so many different styles from simple 90 degree angle section cut to length; CNC punched sheet metal right up to cast, machined or forged brackets for heavier duty needs. They all perform the same task of joining 2 on more components together where a design need cannot be satisfied by a single component. It’s often the case that 2 materials need to be brought together such as glass window and an aluminium section or a plastic cover and stainless steel housing or perhaps simply the need to have a light weight enclosure with thicker anchor points. All these applications would call for the use of some form of bracket or angle. The sheet metal brackets shown here are typical Zintec brackets CNC punched and bent from a thin gauge material. They have holes for riveting to a larger sheet metal section and a small hexagonal hole for a threaded bush to be inserted.

So many of the sheet metal brackets and angles that we manufacture are never seen by the final customer as they are hidden away inside the final assembled product but carry out an important task never the less. If you have the need for sheet metal brackets or angles in any sheet metal materials please give us a call and we will be happy to put together some price options for you.

Mild steel enclosures after CNC punching and CNC bending

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Mild steel trays after CNC punching and CNC bending

Mild steel sheet metal electronics enclosures come in so many shapes and sizes. These enclosures are fairly simples being CNC punched from 0.9mm CR4 mild steel as a developed cross shape in one of our Trumpf CNC punch presses. They have been edge de-burred to remove any sharp edges and blunted on the corners where the components have tags from being held within the CNC punched sheet nest. The shape was created in our Edwards Pearson PR6 CNC press brake with 8 x 90 degree bends. You can see that the corners are not yet welded at this stage but they will be by TiG welding and then finally cleaned off smooth back to the original parent sheet metal. These particular enclosures were then powder coated matt black.

We manufacture enclosures from sheet metal which may be simple one part boxes to complex assemblies with many fabricated and welded components. If you have a project that needs sheet metal enclosures why not give us a go and see what we can do you for.

3mm thick sheet metal material after CNC bending

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

3mm thick sheet metal material after CNC bending

Sheet metal angles manufactured in our sheet metal workshops here in Fareham, Hampshire.

These sheet metal angle brackets are typical of the work we manufacture using our Trumpf CNC punching and CNC bending machines. These brackets have been CNC punched from 3mm mild steel and clearly show the CNC tooling marks on the end of each component. These angle brackets were then de-burred using our vertical belt de-burring machines to remove the sharpness of the sheet metal edge and the CNC punch tool witnesses. These particular components were then powder coated so there was no evidence of the CNC punching process for the customer.

If you want to know more about the options you have when having sheet metal work cleaned up please contact us and we can explore your sheet metal projects and the best solution for you.

Rolling sheet metal tubes in thin gauge material

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Rolling sheet metal tubes in thin gauge material

When round sheet metal components are needed in a sheet metal design there are several ways of achieving this shape. Firstly, if a standard round tube can be used in the design with a suitable diameter and wall size it’s easy to saw the tube to length and drill holes or weld it into a fabricated assembly. This cannot always be achieved with standard tube so then the tube would need to be created by rolling a sheet metal blank into a tube. This may be fully seam welded along the closing joint and then cleaned off smooth or sometimes just tack welded together at the sheet joint. This method does allow holes to be CNC punched first if a little distortion when being rolled up into a circular tube is not a problem in the final design. If a part circle is needed, say a semi-circle, the process of multi-bending on one of our CNC press brakes can be used. This consists of CNC punching the initial flat shape and then creating the curved form with a series of small bends at an angle to each other to create the flats at a tangent to the desired circumference. This manufacturing process can be very effective and with no special tooling cost effective for small batch work. The final method is to make up special form tooling to enable the sheet metal blanks to be pressed between top (punch) and bottom (die) tooling to create the curve in 1 or more hits.

With all sheet metal work designs it’s always worth a quick call to see which method would best suit depending on material, gauge, size and volume.

Sheet metal copper angle brackets

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Copper sheet metal brackets

Years ago copper was used on many industrial and domestic metal products due to its natural thermal and electrical properties. It could be copper pipes, electrical switch gear, buzz bars, roof tiles, saucepan bottoms the list goes on and on. Today due to its cost, currently at over £6,000 per tonne its uses can be limited to those that really need its electrical and thermal conductivity properties.

These small brackets and the larger sheet metal copper angle brackets are used in electrical component applications. They have simply been CNC punched, barrel (rumble) de-burred and CNC bent on our Trumpf 7036 CNC press brakes. These small, thin gauge sheet metal angle brackets are typical of the sheet metal work that these CNC machines are perfectly designed for. With batch sizes of just dozens to many hundreds or thousands press tooling is not required. If however, the volumes start to rise further we would investigate press tooling to help reduce the price as long as the design has been fixed and design changes are not needed.

Copper sheet metal angle brackets

If you have copper or brass sheet metal brackets, angles, plates or panels that need manufacturing please contact us and we will be happy to provide you with a price.

LED display boards with sheet metal enclosures

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Sheet metal LED display board housing

When manufacturing bespoke LED display boards where the length, width, height and LED PCB layouts can change from project to project CNC punched sheet metal work is the way to go. With the ability to take previous CNC programs and adapt them to suit using parametric programming techniques new sheet metal fabrication projects can be created quickly with the knowledge that past cut sizes which have been proven to be correct can be retained as the basis for each new project. Our customer often has little time to get the initial order, write the software, design the LED PCBs and the mechanical parts for their LED display projects so knowing that the sheet metal work is sorted easily is a great help. Our relationship with the customer is such that the detailed drawings are given to us as DXF files with no dimensions and we are left to work from previous proven examples and take what data we need from the DXF. This saves our customer lots of time and enables us to solve our own problems using their DXF for sizes.

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