| Sheet Metal is a flat shaped product made from | | | | snips can be extremely tricky - even frustrating to |
| metal that can vary in thickness between 0.015cm | | | | use, especially when the sheet curves. The use of |
| and 6.32cm. Very thin pieces would be considered foil | | | | computer controlled laser cutting allows for greater |
| leaf pieces while thicker pieces are called plates. | | | | accuracy while at the same time reducing the amount |
| The reason why sheet metal is widely used is | | | | of waste. |
| because it can be easily changed in to a variety of | | | | Laser cutting involves focusing a beam of laser light |
| shapes. Through a wide variety of processes sheet | | | | over the sheer metal heating and subsequently |
| metal machinery and tools are used to do this. | | | | burning the metal. The edge of the sheet will be very |
| Stretching | | | | smooth. Old Trumpf equipment laser cutters can be |
| Sheet metal can be straightened by using a grip at | | | | used to get a precision of around 0.01mm. |
| either side of the sheet and stretching it. The sheet | | | | Bending |
| metal machinery and tools used to do this are able to | | | | Bending can be carried out by sheet metal machinery |
| pull the sheet metal beyond its elastic limit allowing it | | | | and tools and is done to shape the sheet into various |
| to come out flat. The affect of the stretching is that | | | | forms. A pressbrake is used to bend the metal into a |
| its temper will be slightly raised. | | | | shape that is determined by its die set. |
| Stamping | | | | Shearing |
| This is a process that may involve one or more | | | | When the sheet metal is too big for use, then the |
| stamping stations to perform various actions on a | | | | sheet needs to be cut to size. This process is called |
| metal sheet to create a final workpiece. As the metal | | | | shearing. This step needs to be carried out before |
| sheet is passed through the work stations each one | | | | any stamping can be started. Sheet metal machinery |
| alters the shape by cutting, forming or drawing the | | | | and tools 'shear' the sheet metal until the desired size |
| piece. Each stamping station contributes to the final | | | | has been achieved. |
| piece. | | | | Deep Drawing |
| Cutting | | | | The deep drawing process involves sheet metal |
| There are a number of ways that Sheet metal can | | | | machinery and tools 'punching' blank sheet metal into |
| be cut, ranging from manually cutting the sheet using | | | | a die set. It thus involves a transformation of the |
| tin snips to using computer aided laser cutting. Tin | | | | sheet metal into a desired shape. |