Sheet metal forming process

Generally speaking, the basic equipment of sheet metal technology includes shearing machine, CNC punch/laser, plasma, water jet cutting machine, bending machine, and drilling machine. And various auxiliary equipment such as: decoiler, leveling machine, deburring machine, spot welding machine, etc.

Generally, the four most important steps of sheet metal processing are shearing, punching/cutting, folding/rolling, welding, surface treatment, etc.
Sheet metal is sometimes used as a pull metal. The word comes from the English platemetal. Generally, some metal sheets are plastically deformed by hand or die stamping to form the desired shape and size. And it can be further welded or a small amount of mechanical processing to form more complex parts, such as chimneys, iron stoves, and car shells commonly used in households are all sheet metal parts.

The processing of sheet metal is called sheet metal processing. Specific examples include making chimneys, iron barrels, oil tanks, ventilation pipes, elbows, elbows, and funnels from plates. The main processes are cutting, bending, bending, forming, welding, riveting, etc., which require certain geometric knowledge.

Sheet metal parts are thin sheet metal parts, which are parts that can be processed by stamping, bending, and stretching. A general definition is:

Parts with constant thickness during processing. Corresponding to castings, forgings, machining parts, etc., for example, the outer iron shell of a car is sheet metal, and some kitchen utensils made of stainless steel are also sheet metal.

Modern sheet metal technology includes: Filament power supply winding machining, Laser cutting, heavy processing, metal bonding, metal drawing, plasma cutting, precision welding, roll forming, sheet metal bending, die forging, water jet cutting, precision welding, etc.

The surface treatment of sheet metal parts is also a very important part of the sheet metal processing process, because it has the functions of preventing parts from rusting and beautifying the appearance of products. The main function of the surface pretreatment of sheet metal parts is to remove oil stains, oxide scales, rust and so on.

It prepares for the surface post-treatment, and the post-treatment is mainly spray (baking) paint, plastic spray and anti-rust coating, etc.

In 3D software, SolidWorks, UG, Pro/E, SolidEdge, TopSolid, CATIA, etc. all have a design of sheet metal parts. It is mainly through the editing of 3D graphics to obtain the data required for sheet metal processing (such as unfolded drawings, bending lines, etc.). And provide data for CNC punch/laser, plasma, water jet cutting machine/composite machine and CNC bending machine, etc.