How many of the items you use or look at in your home or out and about every day are made of metal? Have you ever stopped to think about how they are made? Products as diverse as the check out in the supermarket, to your plasma tv bracket to a metal cash box at the car park are all made by the same process – metal laser cutting. This is not as simple a process as it sounds, and there is a lot of state of the art equipment used in the modern metal cutting industry. Laser cutting is a very accurate technique that can be used for a range of metals such as stainless steel, aluminium and brass. In some cases it can cut through metal up to 20 mm thick and is also excellent for cutting through tubing as well as sheet metal – all as accurate as possible. It works by producing laser gas in a turbine, which is pushed through a discharge tube at high speed under pressure. The discharge tube has electrodes inside that stimulate the mixture between two mirrors to produce a laser beam. It is this beam that ensures that all metal cutting is as perfect as you want it to be.
Sheet metal fabrication is a general term used for the process of making a product out of sheet metal. In theory any metal can be used but the most popular are stainless steel and aluminium. There are a number of processes that can be used to produce whatever product you require. Folding the metal is a very simple procedure, which is done by placing the sheet metal in between a punch (top tool) and a ‘V`- shaped die on a raised bed (bottom tool) chosen to suit your individual needs. The punch is hydraulically forced down pressing the sheet metal into the die and this produces the fold that you need. This procedure gives you pressure-mark-free processing without refinishing. Sheet metal fabrication also involves Metal Inert Gas welding – commonly known as MIG. This involves metal wire being continuously fed from a spool over the pieces of metal being joined together as a high frequency electrical current is fed to it. An electric arc is formed when this electric current passes between the metal wire and the metal to be welded. The heat that is generated in the arc melts the metal away and forms a molten pool which then cools, fusing the metals together leaving a strong welded join.
Sheet metal work is a product that can be used to produce a huge variety of products through a number of simple processes. Laser cutting, forming, welding, and punching can all be used to make a massive range of products from decorative fire surrounds, to mounting brackets for vehicles and everything in between. The thicknesses of the sheet metal work you want to use can vary from as thin as 5 mm up to 20 mm thick. There are many metals that can be formed into the sheet required, but he main ones used are aluminium and stainless steel. These materials can be folded in a forming machine to create the basic shape required. They can be welded using a process called Metal Inert Gas welding to give your material a strong join. Sheet metal work can be cut using the highest precision laser cutters to give you the shape you require more accurately than ever before, or it can have any accurate and intricate design you want punched into the sheet. Any product you need can be produced using one or more of the processes above to give you a high quality product for the best possible price.
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