Choosing Steel For Sheet Metal Bending

If you try to bend it when it s hardened it ll probably snap.

Choosing steel for sheet metal bending.

Bending is a stamping process that uses pressure to force the material to plastically deform. When folding sheet metal if the resulting radius is less than the thickness we are bending then the extra material must go somewhere and can cause an undesirable deformation. It is possible to choose other bends but tooling charges may apply. Depending on the cut shape you ll use left cut right cut or straight snips typically indicated by the handle color.

The sheet metal bending height should be at least 2 times the thickness of the sheet metal plus the bending radius that is h 2t r. Choose a bend radius that matches your minimum bend. For most projects steel stainless steel aluminum and copper have a good range of properties and are easily available at a reasonable price. Very bendable when fully annealed.

Austenitic stainless is a non magnetic any of the 300 series steel that contains high levels of chromium and nickel and low levels of carbon. A cutout or the edge of your flange to your bend. Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations. To use the tables below.

It is very important that you are using the correct product to optimize efficiency and functionality. Red for left green for right and yellow for straight. Stainless steel there are a number of grades to choose from for the purpose of this white paper we will focus on the top three found in precision sheet metal fabrication. A radius that is larger than the thickness of the material has no aesthetical issues.

Grade 410 offers less corrosion resistance but is heat treatable. This is very malleable and you should be able to bend it cold without problem. Building with metal is great it s strong versatile and looks cool. Determine your minimum bend by measuring the distance from your closest feature i e.

Standard type magnetic stainless for sheet metal fabrication is the 400 series. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape. Commonly known as aviation snips or tinsnips these scissor like tools are great for cutting soft sheet metals such as tin aluminum brass and thin gauge 24 gauge or thinner steel.

This is choosing the right thickness or gauge of sheet metal. Thereby forming a certain angle and curvature shape. The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation. When you re getting started on a metal project the first step is determining what type of material will work best.

Now moving into something that will be more specific to each customer and each sheet metal project. When bending steel no material is lost and no material is gained.