Sheet Metal Stiffening Features

How large of a bend you put in the metal depends on the application and fitment of the piece.

Sheet metal stiffening features.

This feature is added by offsetting the plane of the sheet in a local area. The most simplest way is to bend the boundary of the sheet slightly in an l shape wherever possible. Wire edging is a process in which the edge of the sheet metal is rolled over on a metal wire giving the sheet strong edges. Ideally effective innovative and creative sheet metal design ideas come early in the product design phase because those ideas will influence the entire project from the point of manufacturing to the product s end use.

Hems are most often used to remove a sharp untreated edge and make it safe for handling. The metal in the areas where holes and slots are punched gets stretched and become more tensile which gives more structural rigidity to the sheet metal. Sheet metal features other than the recognized ones. Folding over the edge of a piece of sheet metal will give the metal instant structural integrity.

These should be one material thick or wider and extend no more than five times the slot width into the workpiece. Smacna sheet metal standards deem that ductwork of various gauges should be put through a stiffening process and with good reason. Since we re talking about constant or near constant air flow through these parts the material needs to be durable enough to handle the pressure and temperature changes. In sheet metal hems are used to create folds in sheet metal in order to stiffen edges and create an edge safe to touch.

Hems are commonly used to hide imperfections and provide a generally safer edge to handle. This form is simple part of the bend that is not complete and is achieved by having a gap in the cnc bending blade and a point below deforming the sheet metal during the standard bending process. Sheet metal edge bending. Avoid large sheet metal parts with small bent flanges.

Sheet metal parts often require notches to accommodate a screw or other fastener. The bend allowance being used to unfold the part and the bend corner relief affect all features and therefore can be edited even for recognized features. These methods will give sheet metal the rigidity you need to use it in a structural or semi structural application. In low carbon steel sheet metal the minimum radius of a bend should be one half the material thickness or 0 80 mm.

This is also like flanging but then instead of an l its more like a u. The simplest and cheapest option is to cnc bend the sheet metal component with a stiffening form.