Sheet Metal Box Design Guide

Sheet metal boxes are two part enclosures made by cutting metal sheets and then bending the resulting parts using a press brake to form a box.

Sheet metal box design guide.

Following all sheet metal design guidelines is very difficult in the complex part. Sheet metal materials are the most commonly used materials in the structural design of communication products. In the workspace add desired custom features as needed. Similarly the more complicated the sheet metal bending process the more material waste may be caused.

Therefore exceptions can be there for complex features design. Sheet metal fabrication is the process of forming parts from a metal sheet by punching cutting stamping and bending. The most common sheet metal form is a bend. 3d cad files are converted into machine code which controls a machine to precisely cut and form the sheets into the final part.

The v die is usually selected to be 5x to 8x the workpiece thickness. Sheet metal fabrication our basic guidelines for sheet metal fabrication include important design considerations to help improve part manufacturability enhance cosmetic appearance and reduce overall production time. Bends in the same plane should be designed in the same direction. Since sheet metal cannot be bent to a 90 degree position without breaking at sharp corners all bends will have an acceptable bend radius.

Focus on the flange depth in the fab shop the v die width in the press brake limits the size of the flange that can be bent. Bends can give strength and shape to a part and are formed in a machine using bend brakes. If you can t visualize how the flat pattern for a box should look with sheet metal find an old shoe box or cereal box and unfold it. During bending the sheet metal must bridge fully across the v die see figure 2.

From the list select sheet metal box. The box i have my students create in class ends up being 5 5 x 2 x 3 5. In the improved design the sheet metal only needs one bending process to complete the bending of the two sides at the same time. They start out flat.

Selection principle of sheet metal materials. The patterns for a cardboard box will look very similar to what you need to plan out for the sheet metal box. In the original design sheet metal requires two bending processes. Understanding the comprehensive performance of materials and the correct material selection have an important impact on product cost product performance product quality and processability.

Consider material and finishing options along with design elements like bends reliefs holes and slots when developing sheet metal components before diving into the details of sheet metal fabrication recognize a basic fact of all sheet metal parts.