Protolabs Sheet Metal Design

Specialized design elements might look great and sometimes there are good reasons for them but taking them out of your models and aiming for simplicity is good practice.

Protolabs sheet metal design.

Determining material compatibility of sheet metal and hardware. Protolabs is the world s fastest source for custom prototypes and low volume production parts. This guide will help you improve manufacturability of your design by providing best practices for hems countersink holes slots bends and more. Get an interactive quote with free design analysis within hours.

This is probably the easiest and most obvious of the tips to help you cut costs on sheet metal parts. Sheet metal thickness ranges from 0 024 in. Our digital approach to manufacturing lets us ship sheet metal prototypes and production components to you within days. Depending on the part geometry a sheet metal punch 2 can form additional features.

Factors affecting tolerances include material thickness machines used and number of steps in part production. During the sheet metal fabrication process thin sheet metal stock is placed on a flat bed where a laser cutter 1 draws programmed part patterns. 0 609mm to 0 138 in. Because sheet metal parts are manufactured from a single sheet of metal the part must maintain uniform wall thickness.

How to reduce sheet metal design risks and production costs. A press brake creates a bend by pressing sheet metal into a die with a linear punch so design does not allow the creation of closed geometry. Sheet metal fabrication need a crash course in sheet metal part design. With our online quoting platform and.

Erapid is a solidworks add in developed by protolabs that provides instant pricing and design for manufacturability dfm feedback for sheet metal parts. In this webinar we ll show you which part features increase production risks and how to reduce that risk through design iteration. Avoid elaborate design elements for sheet metal fabrication. You re bound to encounter a few twists and turns when designing parts for sheet metal fabrication.

Once the parts are deburred they move to the press brake 3 where they are formed into the final geometries.