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 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.
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.
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
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.