The precision fabrication of metal sheeting is a process often referred to as metal forming. Metal forming machines make parts and products for aerospace, communications, defense, medical, renewable energy, and other industries. These processes produce an array of different geometries by applying force to metal sheets. Forming machines fabricate precision components from sheet metal to make them more durable and reliable. Understanding how some standard techniques for custom metal forming work to create metal parts and products enables manufacturers to choose methods that best suit their applications.
Using Custom Metal Forming in Manufacturing
The precision fabrication of metal sheeting often involves shaping the sheet into a finished component or product. Custom metal forming techniques can instead entail making many smaller workpieces from the sheeting. When working with sheet metal, various forming machines, including those utilizing computer numerical control (CNC) technology, are used to create precision parts.
Precision in the custom metal forming process is especially important when producing components for aircraft or the military. Even minor geometry deviations can compromise the end product’s functionality and structural integrity. As with any other manufacturing method, quality control requires following specific protocols to prevent variation. Material selection of sheeting also plays a vital role in quality.
Sheeting can be made from metals and alloys that include:
- Aluminum
- Brass
- Copper
- Gold
- Nickel
- Platinum
- Silver
- Steel
- Tin
- Titanium
Though sheeting made from precious metals like gold, platinum, and silver is mainly used for decoration, custom metal forming is generally used to enhance the durability and performance of the final product. For example, parts made from cold-rolled steel offer superior strength and smoother finishes, often used for vehicle bodies and other structural components. In aerospace and consumer electronics, aluminum sheeting is used due to its lower density and resistance to corrosion. Stainless steel sheeting is used for medical equipment and kitchen appliances because of its corrosion resistance and durability.
Types of Custom Metal Forming Techniques
Numerous methods exist for making parts and products from sheet metal. Forming machines differ according to the technique, from simple bending machines to complex stamping systems. The exact custom metal forming technique type depends on the application and industry. Some standard methods for forming metal include bending, drawing, extrusion, forging, rolling, and stamping.
Bending
The most common custom metal forming method, bending, involves deforming sheeting along a straight axis. Metal forming machines like tube benders, roll benders, or press brakes are usually used to make angles or curves on a workpiece.
Applications for metal bending methods include:
- Appliances like microwaves, refrigerators, and washing machines
- Automotive frames and body panels
- Electrical components
- Hull sections of ships
- Large, curved beams
- Piping used in construction
Bending sheet metal is far faster and more efficient than machining when fabricating thinner parts or products, and it is much less expensive. However, bending has its drawbacks, as it causes certain metals to deform or even crack, and operators of metal forming machines for bending must also have sufficient skill to ensure a quality job.
Drawing
Producing lightweight and precise components, drawing is a custom metal forming technique that entails pulling metal sheeting through a die cavity to shape it. This method produces assemblies and parts with finer details. The drawing process compresses certain metal sheet areas to form intricate, shell-shaped components. There are variations of the drawing process, including deep and shallow drawing. These two forms of drawing use the same basic types of metal forming machines but use more or less force, depending on the exact method.
Typical components made via metal drawing techniques include:
- Bodies of motor vehicles
- Enclosures with complicated geometries
- Fuselages for airplanes
- Medical equipment
- Metal culverts
- Tin mugs
Metal drawing allows manufacturers to mass-produce complex parts with smooth surfaces. While the process provides a means to control a component’s dimensions more accurately, the process is limited to smaller-sized parts and materials with higher tensile strength.
Extrusion
With the extrusion of metal, forming machines push heated material through the opening of a die. These metal-forming machines use a hydraulic ram to force the heat-softened material through the die cavity under pressure. As the metal is pushed through the opening, it stretches, shaping the workpiece as it exits the die before hardening into its desired form. This custom metal forming technique creates long, uniform cross-sections like bars and tubing.
Typical applications that involve extruding metal include:
- Bar stocks and rods
- Customized structural forms
- Frames for aluminum doors and windows
- Metal tubing, piping, and channels
Metal extrusion techniques allow for a wide range of geometries, superior strength-to-weight ratios, and quick production times for many metal products. Forming machines used for extrusion processes have simpler designs and more economical tooling than other custom metal forming equipment. However, intricately shaped workpieces are more prone to surface defects when using this process, while extrusion is also limited by a metal’s or alloy’s ductility.
Forging
By localizing pressure through repeated impact, this custom metal forming method deforms raw workpieces mechanically to augment the strength of finished components. Forging involves pressing metal between two dies using compression force applied to the pliable workpiece to shape its geometry.
Commonly, metal forging involves the fabrication of components like:
- Cutting tools
- Larger types of bearings
- Parts for engines
- Transmission components that need to handle higher loads
Metal forging increases the strength of metal components and doesn’t affect the material’s integrity while allowing for very precise workpieces. Though able to create complex geometries that aren’t possible with other custom metal forming techniques, the process’s high cost and the tooling and design restrictions make forging unsuitable for specific applications.
Rolling
Metal forming machines used for rolling consist of two cylinders that rotate in opposite directions to reduce and standardize sheeting thickness. The machine’s rollers rotate to shape the workpiece and compress the metal. Forming machines make metal sheeting flatter, thinner, and lengthier while cleaning and smoothing the surface. This technique makes it relatively easy to adjust the thickness of the metal sheeting. The configuration of metal forming machines can then be made to lengthen or shorten the distance between the rollers, affecting the workpiece’s thickness.
Rolling metal techniques are used for applications that include:
- Custom metal forming of steel rails for railroad tracks and other structural steel
- Fabricating foils, plates, or strips
- Manufacturing metal pipes, rods, wiring, and other cylindric sections
- Sheet metal production
Custom metal forming techniques like rolling are advantageous due to their lower costs and higher production rates. They also achieve smoother surfaces and tight tolerances. However, the use of metal forming machines for rolling has its downsides. The process limits the complexity of shapes and can only be used for cross-sections requiring uniformity.
Stamping
The stamping process involves sandwiching sheeting between blanks with a metal forming machine called a stamping press. Metal stamping can be used to make both complex and simple parts with varying geometries. This custom metal forming process also requires a system to handle and feed the sheet, after which it’s positioned between the dies. The stamping press then cuts and forms the metal sheet into its final shape.
Applications involving metal stamping include:
- Aircraft parts
- Appliances
- Enclosures for electronic devices
- Medical devices
- Paneling for vehicles
This custom metal forming method can produce precision metal parts with smooth surfaces en masse. However, this method limits the size of the part and requires that the sheet be made from a metal or alloy with significant tensile strength.
Custom Metal Forming by Arthur Harris
Arthur Harris & Company specializes in two custom metal forming techniques: deep drawing and fine blanking. Deep drawing combines compressive and tensile forces that allow the fabrication of more complex geometries, which is advantageous when making precision parts with tighter tolerances. A type of stamping, fine blanking uses metal forming machines for precision shearing to fabricate components with tight tolerances, smooth edges, and intricate shapes.
Arthur Harris performs custom metal forming on nickel and its alloys, along with all types of stainless steel. Besides custom metal forming, our capabilities include annealing, bead blasting, brazing and soldering, cleaning, CNC machining, computer-aided design and manufacturing, finishing, heat treating, lapping, laser machining, marking products, pad printing, powder coating, silk-screening, and welding. Contact Arthur Harris today to learn more about our custom metal forming methods and our other products and services.