There is much more to sheet metal fabrication than just assembling, cutting and galvanising. Here is a short glossary of processes that go through sheet metal fabrication for your product.

Assembling: Is a process done by welding. It binds with adhesives and bends in the form of a crimped seam.

Bending: Involves hammering or press brakes.

Blanking: In this, a part of the sheet metal is cut out and the material around it is removed.

Cutting: A process of sawing, shearing, or chiselling with manual and power tools or torching with handheld plasma torches that uses computer numerical computer (CNC) cutters like lasers.

Die-cutting: A process that cuts metal pieces without the formation of chips by burning and melting – also known as shearing.

Fastening: Using a self-clinching tool like nuts, studs, access hardware or cable tie mounts, spacers, and hooks to provide torque resistance in applications where the sheet metal is so thin that other methods cannot secure it.

Finishing: A completed metal project’s surface is altered to achieve a certain property, including improved appearance, solderability, corrosion, adhesion or wettability, tarnish chemical, or wear resistance, hardness, surface friction control, electrical conductivity, and blemish removal.

Galvanising: A process of applying a protective zinc coating on steel or iron to prevent rusting.

Glazing: Here, two metals slide against each other to create a shiny, wear-protective layer of oxide.

Hydroforming: A forming and fabricating process that uses a specialised type of die moulding that uses highly pressurised fluid to shape metals.

Metal punching: A process where metal fabrication equipment punches holes, or a predetermined shape out of sheet metal.

Milling: Rotary cutters are used to remove material from a metal piece that advances in a direction at an angle.

Oxy-acetylene welding: A tank of oxygen and acetylene combine with an adjustable torch for a precise, controlled flame to heat metal.

Roll forming: A continuous bending process in which sheet metal, coil, bar, or strips of metal pass through rolls that form the metal.

Shrinking: To remove small dents where the direct damage isn’t severely torn or stretched and the hardness of the buckles isn’t severe.

Spinning: Here, a disc or tube of metal rotates at high speed to form into an axially symmetric part using a CNC lathe or by hand.

Stamping: A production process in which single or multiple punches, bends, and embossing perform simultaneously or in a progressive die.

Stretching: A process to pull metal apart, using a hammer and dolly, a stretcher, or an English wheel.

Tucking: A method of shrinking metal by bunching it together by force using a crevice and spade hammer or a folding technique where the metal is bent at the edges with a homemade tucking fork.

Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding: A two-handed arc welding process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld.