Sheet metal parts

Electronic Console Front Panel

Sheet Metal Washers

Laser Cut Sheet Metal Filter

Sheet metal generally refers to metal materials in sheet form up to 1/4" thick. Plain steel is more common but sheet metal can also be aluminum, brass, stainless steel, bronze, silver, gold or any other metal.

Sheet metal is one of the most common raw materials in manufacturing for several reasons:

• It can be cut at low cost by many methods including shearing, laser cutting, punching, waterjet, etc.
  
• Parts can be bent into numerous useful configurations
• Minimal material is used in comparison with parts made of block material

Parts that you might otherwise think must be made from block material can often be redesigned to adapt to sheet metal form. Tricks to consider include:

• Bending instead of milling
• Stacking sheets of same shape to achieve the desired thickness.
• Stacking sheets of different shapes to build up the desired 3D shape.
• Bolting multiple sheet parts together.
• Combining sheet metal processes with other processes such as milling a recess in a laser cut sheet.