Sheet metal processing is a process of forming a metal plate into the desired shape using different manufacturing methods, including cutting, bending, surface treatment, assembly, and many other steps.

The process from sheet metal to metal products starts with CAD drawing. After the drawing is completed, various parts are made through the sheet metal manufacturing process. The most common processing methods are:

Thermal cutting

Laser cutting is the first choice for cutting plates. This is a very fast and precise cutting method that ensures good results.

For thicker materials, plasma cutting can also be used, but laser cutting quality is better.

Mechanical cutting

Shearing or die-cutting refers to the process of cutting sheet metal without burning or melting it and is essentially not much different from cutting clothes with scissors.

In the cutting process, the punch presses the workpiece on the fixed die or the blade, and the gap between the two makes the workpiece unable to pass, thus completing the cutting.

Stamping

Punching is another method of cutting holes in the plate. Metal punches are used to punch the plate. It is suitable for large-scale production and is not very cost-effective for small-batch production.

Bend

Due to the complexity of some bending, this may be the most difficult step in metal manufacturing, and engineers must be very familiar with the bending properties of the metal.

Assemble

Assembly is usually the last or penultimate step of product completion. If the assembly includes a welding process, it must be ensured that the parts are clean. If the parts have been powder coated, they are usually assembled using other methods such as riveting and bolting.

Powder coating

Powder spraying is the process of applying electrostatic powder to charged metal parts. When there are no special requirements (such as an acidic environment), it is the preferred surface treatment method.