Advantages and Characteristics
Making prototype sheet metal fabrication is a key step in quickly turning customer design drawings into real parts or samples. It is mostly used for making new products, testing their functions, checking their assembly, and making them available for market testing. Prototype manufacturing has the following benefits over regular large-scale sheet metal production:
Fast delivery: The sample can usually be finished in 3–7 days because there is no need to open the mold. Advanced methods including laser cutting, CNC stamping, bending, welding, and others are employed.
High-precision machining: When used with CNC machines and testing tools, the dimensional accuracy can approach ± 0.1mm, making sure that the product matches the height shown in the drawing.
Flexible customisation: allows for customization of a single piece or a small batch, makes it easy to make changes to the design several times, and lowers the risks of research and development.
A lot of different materials to choose from: Common materials include stainless steel, cold-rolled steel plate, aluminum plate, galvanized plate, and others that can be used in a variety of situations.
Controllable costs: Avoiding mold costs, which is especially helpful during the R&D stage, can help lower upfront investment costs.
Production Process Flow
The main steps in rapid sheet metal prototyping are usually as follows:
Customers give engineers CAD or STEP designs, and the engineers look at them to see if they are possible and recommend ways to make the process better.
Laser cutting or CNC stamping: Cutting or stamping the sheet metal to match the drawing so that the shape is correct.
Bending forming: Using a CNC bending machine to shape and angle the sheet metal the way you want it.
Welding and riveting: To make sure the construction is strong, weld or rivet the parts that need to be put together.
Polishing and deburring: Make sure the corners and welds are smooth.
According to the needs, surface treatment might include spray coating, electroplating, anodizing, wire drawing, polishing, and other operations.
Testing and Confirmation: Make sure that the product matches the design by checking its size and testing its functions.
Quality Control
We think the quality of every rapid prototyping sheet metal metal product is very important:
Control of raw materials: All of the sheet metal materials originate from legal vendors and come with reports on their quality.
Monitoring the production process: Using the ISO quality management system to tightly regulate every step.
Testing equipment guarantee: Use coordinate measuring instruments, hardness testers, and other tools to make sure that the size and performance satisfy the specifications.
A combination of complete inspection and sampling inspection is used in sample and small batch production to make sure that defective items don't get into the hands of customers.
Customer feedback loop: Use feedback from customers to keep making processes and quality control procedures better.
FAQ
Q: How many sheets of metal do you need to order to make a prototype?
A: Supports sampling of single pieces without a minimum order quantity, which is great for the research and development stage.
Q: How long does it take to deliver?
A: Regular samples can be sent out in 3 to 7 business days, small batch orders can be sent out in 7 to 15 business days, and large-scale manufacturing needs more discussion.
Q: How precise can the machining be?
A: In general, it can be managed to within ± 0.1mm, and complex structural parts can be changed to meet the needs of the customer.
Q: Do you offer surface treatment?
A: Yes, the answer is yes. Some common ways to do this are spraying, drawing, anodizing, electroplating, polishing, and so on.
Q: How do you make sure the quality of the product?
A: We closely follow the ISO quality management method and give testing reports to make sure that the goods meet the design criteria.
Hot Tags: prototype sheet metal fabrication, China prototype sheet metal fabrication manufacturers, suppliers, factory
