Sheet metal fabrication is the process of transforming sheet metal into finished products ready for sale and use. Fabricating a product from sheet metal requires many processes and pieces of equipment (e.g. cutting sheet metal and sheet metal bending) all coordinated to turn the raw material into a finished product.
What is Sheet Metal Fabrication?
Sheet metal fabrication services are required for nearly all commercial and industrial products. So whether you’re dealing with microwaves, home doors, or yard equipment, it’s likely that sheet metal fab was necessary for at least some part of your product.
This guide will introduce you to the steps and tools used in the sheet metal fabrication process and the types of sheet metals available, so if you’ve been wondering, “What is sheet metal fab?” continue reading to learn more about this exciting field.
Types of Sheet Metal
Before exploring the processes sheet metal fabrication shops use to transform metal sheets into turn-key products, let’s answer these two frequently asked questions:
What is Sheet Metal?
Sheet metal is a type of metal that has been formed into sheets of varying sizes and thicknesses. This makes it ideal for metalworking, as it can be cut, rolled, bent, and formed into any shape.
What Are the Different Types of Sheet Metal Available?
There are many different types of sheet metal, giving you lots of choices when it comes to selecting the ideal material for your sheet metal project.
The most common types of sheet metal are:
- Aluminum; a lightweight and robust metal
- Steel; a heavy but extremely strong metal
- Brass; a lightweight and corrosion-resistant metal
- Copper; an electrically conductive metal
- Magnesium; a metal with low density but high stiffness
Types of Metal Fabrication Processes
A wide variety of sheet metal fabrication tools are necessary to turn a raw sheet of metal into a polished, useable product. To help you understand the spectrum of sheet metal fabrication techniques available, here are four of the most common processes used in our sheet metal workshop:
Cutting Sheet Metal
Cutting is the first step in any metal fabrication process. Metal fabrication shops keep sheet metal on large rolls and large shears are used to section off pieces of metal for fabrication.
Once cut, additional cutting processes like laser cutting, plasma cutting, CNC machining, and water jet cutting are used to turn the sheet metal into individual pieces.
Sheet Metal Bending
Sheet metal bending is a forming process that gives sheet metal parts their 3-D shape. Metal fab companies use press brakes, rollers, stamping tools, hammers and dollies, and many other forming technologies to help sheet-metal achieve its desired shape.
Welding
Once all the pieces of a product have been cut and formed, assembly is necessary to join these together into the completed product. In addition to welding, riveting and brazing are other processes metal fab shops use to assemble sheet metal parts.
A Dependable Sheet Metal Fabrication Shop Near You
Because sheet metal fabrication tools and equipment are quite expensive and require years of training and experience in order to use properly, it’s usually advantageous to partner with a sheet metal fabrication company rather than purchasing these tools yourself.
If you are looking for a sheet metal fabricator near you, contact Evans Manufacturing today. We provide a wide range of sheet metal fabricating services, including cutting, bending, welding, finishing, and much more.
Contact our team today and let us help you turn your metalworking design into reality.
