Sheet metal fabrication for enclosures, brackets and panels

Fewer bends in fewer setups, less welding, and a part that unfolds into one flat pattern. Keep the inside bend radius at or above the material thickness. Keep holes and forms away from bends. Use tabs, clinches or fasteners where you could weld. Each choice makes the part cheaper and easier to repeat.

These are the checks the free engineering review runs on every sheet metal order. On an engineering project, our engineers apply them while the enclosure is still in CAD, as part of the DFM services for the whole product, so the board, the enclosure and the box build agree before anything is cut.

Three examples show the difference. A box with four welded corners becomes a box with tabs and slots, and the welding disappears. A bracket with a hole too close to its bend becomes one with the hole moved a few millimeters, and the hole stops distorting. A cover with two bend radii becomes one with a single radius, and the press brake needs one setup instead of two.

Cut length, bend count and weld length, all declared with the order. Cutting is priced by how far the beam travels, which is why a part covered in small holes costs more than its area suggests. Bending is priced per bend and per setup. Welding costs most, because it is manual and needs dressing afterward.

A design that clinches, tabs or fastens where it could have welded is the cheaper and more repeatable design. Finish and appearance grade add cost too: a cosmetic grade changes how the part is handled at every step, from the first cut to packing.

The configurator accepts a declared sheet thickness from 0.3 to 25 mm. Formability at both ends is confirmed against your material in the free engineering review. Thin sheet bends easily and tears at a tight radius. Thick sheet needs more force and springs back more, so the bend allowance matters more as thickness rises.

Where a flat pattern already exists, declare it. The configurator has a field for it, and supplying yours removes an assumption from the price. If ours and yours differ, the review reconciles them before production, not after.

Tolerances deserve the same care. Laser-cut features hold tighter tolerances than bent ones, because every bend adds the variation of the material and the brake. Put the tight tolerance on features in one flat face where you can, and dimension bent features from the bend that locates them. Declare general, controlled or critical tolerance per order, and mark the critical dimensions on the drawing.

Aluminum for low weight and for anything that will be anodized. Mild steel for strength per dollar, where powder coat protects it. Stainless for wet, chemical or hygienic places, and for parts that must not be coated. Copper and brass for conductivity or appearance, not for structure. The finish is a separate decision.

The finish interacts with the material. Anodizing applies only to aluminum. Powder coat hides more than brushing does. Brushed stainless shows every handling mark made after brushing.

Three things beyond fit. Seams that close tightly enough to keep electromagnetic noise in, so the product passes its emissions tests. Ventilation placed where the heat actually is. And mounting points that hold boards, batteries and connectors where the layout expects them, within the tolerance the box build needs.

Those three are where enclosure and electronics meet, and where separate suppliers lose time. When the board and the enclosure are designed and built by one team, the seam contact, the airflow and the standoffs are checked against each other in the same DFM review.