Dfm For Sheet Metal

Sheet metal design basics for dfm design for manufacturability is now a common concept in many industries including the sheet metal design sector.

Dfm for sheet metal.

Avoid large sheet metal parts with small bent flanges. 7 sheet metalworking analysis dfma dfm concurrent costing boothroyd dewhurst inc. Design for manufacturing dfm is a philosophy used to create viable designs that are easy to manufacture. Sheet metal design basic fundamentals make manufacturing a sure thing instead of crossing your fingers that everything will turn out ok.

These trends are rising creating a knowledge gap that results in sheet metal components that companies find increasingly difficult to manufacture. Engineers designing sheet metal enclosures and assemblies often end up redesigning them so they can be manufactured. While today s mechanical engineering programs produce engineers with high aptitudes typically the programs neglect to teach sheet metal design for manufacturability altogether. This is an example of dfm guidelines for sheetmetal fabrication.

Basic dfm guidelines for sheet metal most dfm guidelines are intended to keep the sheet metal from warping tearing or cracking. It is always better to specify hole diameters that are greater than the sheet s. Design for manufacturability sheet metal guidelines bends for the ease of manufacturing multiple bends on the same plane should occur in the same direction. Dfmpro for sheet metal dfmpro provides pre configured design guidelines dfm best practices which helps to develop better quality parts at reduced cost.

The compound die stamping process is highlighted on the process chart. Bends should be toleranced plus or minus one half degree at a location adjacent to the bends. This can happen either during the manufacturing process or when the product is in use. Dfm is particularly important for sheet metal fabrication where small design flaws could result in cracks tears or unwanted bends in the metal.

In general leave enough space between design features so that slight variations in the metal will not impact the final structure. Avoid large sheet metal parts with small bent flanges. The separate bend forming setup is s ll needed and there is now an addi onal power shearing setup for cu ng the sheet into strips for processing. For the ease of manufacturing multiple bends on the same plane should occur in the same direction.

There are three setups now. In low carbon steel sheet metal the minimum radius of a bend should be one half the material thickness or 0 80 mm.