Sheet Metal Fabrication

Sheet metal fabrication turns flat metal sheet into lightweight enclosures and brackets through cutting and forming, with fast lead times and scalable production volumes.

Overview

Sheet metal fabrication builds parts from flat sheet using cutting (laser, waterjet, shear), punching, forming (press brake), fastening, welding, and specialty forming like hydroforming. It excels at thin-wall structures where stiffness comes from bends, hems, ribs, and flanges rather than thick material.

Choose it for brackets, panels, chassis, and enclosures when you need good strength-to-weight, fast iteration, and economical low-to-medium volume production that can scale. Tradeoffs: geometry is constrained by bend radii, tool access, and grain direction; tight flatness and cosmetic requirements drive cost; welded assemblies add distortion risk and post-finish work. Cost is dominated by material utilization, number of setups (programs, tools, bends), tolerance stack-up across formed and welded features, and secondary ops like PEM insertion, hardware, and finishing.

Common Materials

  • Aluminum 5052
  • Aluminum 6061
  • Steel CRS
  • Stainless Steel 304
  • Galvanized Steel
  • Steel HRPO

Tolerances

±0.010" to ±0.030"

Applications

  • Electronics enclosures
  • Control panels
  • Machine guards
  • Mounting brackets
  • Server racks and cabinets
  • HVAC ductwork and plenums

When to Choose Sheet Metal Fabrication

Choose sheet metal fabrication for parts primarily defined by wall thickness, bends, and flanges, where low mass and high stiffness matter. It fits prototypes through medium volumes, especially when you want quick revisions without hard tooling. It’s a strong choice when your design can be built from a flat pattern plus a small number of formed or joined operations.

vs CNC machining

Choose sheet metal fabrication when the part is fundamentally a thin-wall structure and you can get stiffness from formed features instead of thick stock. It typically reduces material waste and weight, and it scales better for brackets, panels, and enclosures.

vs 3D printing (metal or polymer)

Choose sheet metal fabrication when you need predictable mechanical properties, good surface finish, and repeatable production at lower unit cost beyond a few parts. It also avoids long build times and post-processing variability common in additive for larger thin-wall components.

vs Die casting

Choose sheet metal fabrication when you want fast iteration, lower upfront cost, and multiple size variants without dedicated molds. It’s often better for larger enclosures and panels where casting would be heavy, expensive, or limited by tool size.

vs Injection molding

Choose sheet metal fabrication when the design needs metal strength, temperature resistance, grounding/EMI performance, or low-to-medium volume economics. It avoids high tooling cost and long lead times for molded parts.

vs Extrusion (aluminum extrusion)

Choose sheet metal fabrication when the geometry changes along the length, needs cutouts on multiple faces, or must integrate complex flanges, louvers, or formed details. It’s also preferable when you don’t want to be locked into a single constant cross-section.

Design Considerations

  • Use inside bend radii compatible with standard tooling (often ~1× material thickness) and keep bend direction consistent when possible
  • Keep hole-to-bend distance and edge margins sufficient to prevent distortion; place critical holes on flat faces away from bends
  • Minimize unique bends, bend angles, and setups; repeated features and common angles reduce brake time and scrap risk
  • Specify realistic tolerances and datums for formed parts; tight location tolerances across multiple bends drive rework and fixtures
  • Design for hardware insertion and tool access (PEM clearance, wrench access, spot-weld gun reach) before locking the layout
  • Provide a complete print package: material/thickness, finish, grain direction if critical, weld symbols, and a flat pattern or bend table for quoting