Thanks to the variety of metal processing machines now we have a big number of objects that are an inevitable part of our lives. We got so used to them that we rarely ask ourselves how exactly these items appeared.
In fact, the metal products we often use in our daily lives have passed through several metal processing stages before they reach the end user.
Sheet metal materials are made with punching. It’s a method for processing sheet material at cold temperatures by different shape-changing and punching operations.
The processing and cutting of sheet metal with punching is a popular method for processing a large number of metal products and punching sheet metal products - perforated sheet iron. Thanks to the use of different machines and equipment we can manufacture a variety of metal products.
Products made from sheet metal
Wardrobes, standard, metal cupboards and metal cupboards designed for coffee machines, electrical elements, metal boxes for electronics, cupboards for tools, front panels for professional speakers, fireplaces, burners, barbeques, control panels, doors and lids for machines and vacuum cleaners, store equipment, lamps, cabinets for guns and documents, stands for air conditioners and umbrellas, hydraulic tanks, excavator access ladders, punching details with a width of up to 6 mm.
Which machines make sheet metal?
Different types of equipment are needed for the production of sheet metal and its delivery to the end user.
Which technological operations are used in the production of sheet metal?
Laser cutting, twisting, hole punching, cold sheet metal stamping, spot welding, automated MIG-MAG welding, TIG welding, powder dyeing.
Cold sheet metal stamping
One of the most popular methods for sheet metal processing is cold sheet metal punching. Metal punching is commonly used for processing large batches of products in a very efficient and cost-effective way. The method includes cold plastic material deformation.
Cutting sheet metal with punching is one of the most preferred methods in the prefabrication of different metals. During this operation the metal undergoes cold plastic deformation and as a result, the material changes into different shapes. This processing method offers many advantages.
Cold sheet metal punching is widely used in different industry spheres such as machine production, car production and it has become popular in exterior and interior architectural design. For example, perforated sheet iron that is made on the basis of aluminum sheets or steel galvanized sheets is a high-demand raw material in the construction sphere and machine production.
Stamping is a type of method for processing metal sheets with a standard width. The maximum width of the processed materials is usually 3- 4 mm. The end result of the metal prefabrication process done by plastic deformation is a precisely-made product in which there aren’t considerable changes in terms of its quality and characteristics.
If we add shape-changing and twisting operations to the stamping process we can increase furthermore the mechanical characteristics of the end product.
The products that are manufactured with stamping need subsequent metal processing operations. Some of them are twisting, welding, powder dyeing, and galvanization.
Advantages of cold sheet metal stamping
With this method, we can achieve high efficiency in mass production of different flat and complex three-dimensional details.
With stamping, we can process materials with standard width in the form of bands, sheets, and stripes. Because this method offers high efficiency and its manufacturing cost is low it’s no wonder that cutting sheet metal with stamping is a preferred method for manufacturing perforated sheet iron.
The processing of sheet metal requires a high number of technological operations. Some of them are for example cutting and punching, twisting, pulling, planning and calibration. The use of more modern highly technological machines and tools has become popular in this type of metal processing.This helps us achieve maximum efficiency, high precision, high quality, and high speed. 
Stamping
The punching process includes two types of operations - separating and forming. During them, the sheet material undergoes various manipulations.
Dividing operations
Dividing operations include complete or partial division of the material. In separation operations, complete or partial separation of the material is performed. Similar operations are cutting, cutting, drilling and others.
Shape-changing
In the shape-changing operations, the shape of the sheet metal is changed by elastic or plastic deformation without the risk of damage to the material. These operations include different methods such as bending, twisting, deep metal pulling, cold metal casting, and others.
Thanks to the modern complex highly technological machines for sheet metal products manufacturing we can use one for combining several operations such as cutting, bending, pulling, punching, and other combinations.
Dividing operations for processing sheet metal
The processes of metal sheet cutting and punching are similar to one another. For their completion we need a swage and a matrix which are used for cutting the initial billet following closed contour lines. The resulting parts are called a detail and a waste.
When the billet’s external part is categorized as waste and the internal part of the resulting profile is the detail or the product, the process is called cutting. And during the punching process, the exterior part of the product is the detail and the billet’s internal part is the waste.
Some variations of these operations are used In the production sphere depending on the desired end product and the level of quality we want to achieve. Some of them are cutting and punching, hewing, burnishing, and edging.
Shape-changing operations
The modern methods for processing different sheet metal details include changing the shape of the initial billet by elastic or plastic deformation. Material bending and pulling are some of the most commonly used operations performed by different types of machine equipment.
Bending is a process that involves plastic deformation of areas of a flat billet and the result is a large-size detail. The inner layers of the detail’s material shrink in size and the exterior layers extend. This method is applied for flat billets and also pipes and profiles of different geometries.
During the pulling process flat billets of different sizes are transformed into hollow large-size details, details with an axis of symmetry, boxes, unusually shaped products, and others. The difference between the process of pulling with thinning and pulling without thinning is in the width of the walls of the ready product and the original width of the billet.
Sheet metal product production includes the use of other types of machine operations such as trimming, texture forming, planning or straightening, and calibration.
Types of machines for sheet metal production
Stamping presses
Sheet-bending presses
Guillotine machines
Eccentric and hydraulic presses
Bending machines
Sheet metal straightening machine
Laser cutting machines
Sheet metal bending machines
Sheet bending presses are some of the most widely used machines for bending sheet metal in the sphere in the engineering industry. They allow multi-stage bending of metal and non-metal billets for single and mass production of products and profiles with a simple or complex shape and geometry. Depending on the applied bending method, sheet bending presses are divided into different types: sheet bending machines with electric aprons and sheet bending machines offering air bending.
There is a variety of stationary, mobile electromechanical, pneumatic, and hydraulic sheet bending presses of different sizes and with different features on the market. Some highly technological machines offer bending in combination with punching, cutting, stamping, and other.
Cutting machines
The production of different flat and large-size products involves sheet metal cutting up. It’s done by different machines such as mechanical scissors and guillotine machines and different mechanical systems that offer a variety of technologies: plasma cutting, oxy-fuel cutting, laser cutting, water cutting and others.
The improved control and automatization systems achieve better quality and characteristics of the end product. They also guarantee a better production speed, good work efficiency, and reduced production cost.
Machines for plasma cutting
Different plasma cutting operations are used during sheet metal processing. Standard plasma cutting includes plasma jet made of cutting gas and also a double jet (cutting and protective gas). Other methods for achieving efficiency are applied. These are air cutting, plasma cutting with a water shield, water injection plasma cutting.
Plasma-cutting machines can be manual, compact, and also an entire mechanized systems. Portal or console CNC machines are used for mass production. They work with CAM/CAD software and a high automation level.
Machines for oxy-fuel cutting
Oxy-fuel cutting is one of the cheapest sheet metal cutting methods. The modern machines designed for oxy-fuel cutting use an automated gas and oxygen pressure control as well as automated control of the work process. They offer thermal oxy-fuel cutting of sheet metal. CNC portal machines and multi-cutter machines are also used.
Water cutting machines
Water cutting is a method for metal processing that offers precision and high quality processing of sheet metal and more specifically materials that require high-temperature processing. This method doesn’t include harmful liquids or gasses.
This cutting method helps us create products with complex shapes as well as 3D products. There are two types of water cutting machines: abrasive water cutting and cutting with a pure water jet. The machines for abrasive water cuttingoffer high efficiency in processing compact or hard materials, metals, stones, bulletproof glass, and ceramics.
Laser cutting machines
Laser cutting machines are some of the most effective and multifunctional as they offer quick and precise cutting and they also offer sheet metal cutting up. We can use them to create all types of всякакъв contours, shapes, and levels of complexity. Depending on the model laser cutting machines work with solid-state, gas, and semiconductor lasers.
One alternative to solid-state lasers are optic fiber lasers whose popularity on the market is increasing due to their compact size and economic energy use. One of their advantages is their extremely precise positioning. With the development of laser machine software technologies, we can achieve 3D programming and high precision processing.
