Designing for Sheet

Metal Fabrication

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Xometry for Engineering and Sourcing Professionals
4 Xometry Partner Network
5 Xometry Platform
6 Manufacturing Capabilities
8 Why Use Sheet Metal?
9 How it works
10 Material Stock and Sizes
11 Flat Pattern Preparation
12 Brake, Punches, and other forming tools
13 Your Flat Pattern
14 General Sheet Metal Tolerancing
16 Designing Bends
17 Minimum Flange Lengths
18 Best Practices for Holes and Slots
19 Relief Cuts and Corner Fillets
20 Utilizing Inserts
21 Welds or Rivets
22 Formed or Stamped Features
23 Sheet Metal Surface Finishing Options
24 FAQ/Live Engineering Support

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Xometry for Engineering
and Sourcing Professionals
Our instant quoting platform and massive
network of machine shops is transforming custom
manufacturing. We make it easy for all customers
— from startups to Fortune 500 companies — to
access manufacturing on demand by providing the
most efficient way to source high-quality parts.

• Automated RFQ
• Expert Engineering Support Team
• Best Pricing Quality and Lead Times

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Xometry Partner Network of
over 3,000+ Machine Shops
and 3D Printing Bureaus
Xometry’s U.S.-based manufacturing partners form
the backbone of our cutting-edge manufacturing
on demand platform. Our production-as-a-service
offering leverages an extensive network of over
3,000 highly-vetted local manufacturing shops
from across the country including ITAR-qualified,
AS9100D, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485, and NADCAP
facilities, with over 13 million combined
available.

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 Xometry
Platform
Xometry’s Proprietary
AI-Powered Manufacturing Platform
Xometry is tapping into the power of Deep Learning to
effect a step change in how custom manufacturing gets
done. We built a proprietary platform to enable engineers
and product designers to instantly access the capacity of a
nationwide network of world-class manufacturing facilities
and receive instant DFM feedback, lead times, and pricing
on their custom manufacturing jobs.

• Instant pricing and quoting

• Manufacturability analysis
• Dynamic pricing and lead times
• Guaranteed high-quality parts

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XOMETRY
MANUFACTURING
CAPABILITIES
Capabilities for all of your custom
manufacturing applications from
prototype to production
Injection Molding
Combines the latest injection
molding processes with
proprietary technology and an
experienced team to deliver
high-quality parts
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CNC Machining
Combines the latest
precision CNC milling and
turning processes with
proprietary technology
Metal 3D Printing Urethane Casting
Builds parts from ground Utilizing a temporary silicone
up, allowing for the mold to create end-use
production of parts with parts in rigid and rubber-like
very complex geometries urethanes or silicones
Sheet Metal Fabrication
Xometry offers punching,
laser cutting, waterjet cutting,
stamping, and bending sheet
metal services
Plastic 3D Printing
Plastic 3D Printing is one of
the fastest and most cost-
efficient methods available
for the iterative design,
prototyping, and production
of custom parts
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Sheet Metal
Fabrication

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Why use sheet metal?
• Often cheaper than milling
• Scales in volume production
• High strength-to-weight ratio
• Effective for large parts

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How it Works
1. Stock is from common flat sheet

2. The profile of the unfolded

part is cut (aka blanking)

• The “flat pattern”

3. The part is formed

4. The part can be finished with:

• Inserts

• Welding

• Surface treatments

• Part marking

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 Material Stock
and Sizes
Common materials:
- Aluminum
- Steel
- Stainless
- Brass / Bronze
- Copper

• Cutting platforms typically up

to 10’ for flat patterns
- Below 4’ x 10’ recommended

• Standard gauges

• Typically shy on foils (0.002” - 0.012”)

- This would be a manual review

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 Water jet:
• Good accuracy
• Slower
• Thicker gauges
• Cuts anything

Flat Pattern Laser cutting:

Preparation • High accuracy
• High speed
Waterjet, Laser, and Plasma • Thinner gauges
• Best for metals

Plasma cutting:
• Good accuracy
• High speed
• Thicker gauges
• Metals only

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Brakes, Punches, and
Other Forming Tools
• Shears
- Linear cuts,
- Material preparation

• Brakes
- Used for angular
bending or creasing

• Punch press
- Can rapidly form features like
corners, holes, slots
- Also can be used for blanking
- In-sheet formed features

• Forming tools
- Combines flat sheet with a
contoured punch and die to
imprint a raised featurereview

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 Your Flat Pattern
(Alone) is… WRONG
• 3D CAD of the final part is paramount

• Flat patterns often assume:

- Generic bend radii

- Generic K-factor

• Modern manufacturing software can

“unfold” parts and better compute outcomes

- Gauge + Material + Radii

- K-factor

- Feature-to-feature post-bending

• CAD + drawing ensures we build parts

that fit your application

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General Tolerances
for Sheet Metal

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General Tolerancing
If a drawing or specification sheet has not been provided by
the customer, Xometry will manufacture the product from
the model to the specifications listed below:

• Forming and bending: +/- 0.020”

• Bend to hole or feature: +/- 0.010”
• Linear dimensions excluding locations to bends: +/- 0.005”
• Diameters with inserts: +0.003”/-0.000”
• Angularity: +/- 2 degrees
• Surface roughness (blank material): Ra 125 uin max
• Surface roughness (timesave): Ra 100 uin max
• Sharp edges will be broken and deburred by default
• Critical edges that must be left sharp should be noted and
specified on a print

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 Designing Bends
• Formed using a brake
• Radii is measured from internal
-1/32” under material
thickness minimum
-1:1 material thickness
recommended
• Bending in the same
direction saves operations
- Avoid bends that interfere
with the brake
TIP: For lugs and flanges, - Consistent radii =
consider calling out grain consistent tooling
direction to be
• Be mindful of material:
perpendicular to
the feature. - Aluminum 5052 is ductile
- Aluminum 6061 is brittle

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Minimum Flange Length
Short flanges may not be able to be
produced in a press brake. It may be
pulled vs. bent. Typically should be >
3x material thickness to resolve.
Flange width should be at least 4x
material thickness.

This is not just a factor in

manufacturability, but a factor in
safety for the operators.

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 Best Practices for
Holes and Slots

Countersinks
- OK. Typically done by hand
- No more than 0.6x material
thickness deep

Counterbores
- AVOID. This adds CNC operations

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Relief Cuts
Fillets:
and Corner Fillets Recommend 0.5x
material thickness

TIP: Relief cuts can

also be used when
holes are too
close to a bend.
Relief cuts:
Relieve stress at a
bend and maintain
edges (> 1 MT)

Relief cuts:
Notches or circular
cuts to relieve
bulging on side.

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Utilizing Inserts
• PEM ® Fasteners are most common

• Guarantee and standardize features:

- Nuts
- Pins and studs
- Standoffs
- Cable-tie mounts
- Captive hardware

• Inserts are press or crimped into a

design (similar to a rivet)

• Be sure to note install direction!

image source: pemnet.com

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 Welds or Rivets

• Welding
- Two edges meet
- Will show a seam
- Best strength
- High heat may distort
TIP: Designing in
delicate features
tabs and slots - Can be specified for a seal
helps mechanically
align walls
- Cost is in specialized labor
for consistent
results
• Rivets
- Requires overlaps
- Benefits larger pieces
- Benefits consistency and workcells

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Formed or
Stamped Features

• All require manual review

• Readily available:
- Louvers (locker vents)
- Gussets (90° rib)
- Joggle (offset bend)
- Curls (piano hinge)
- Hems (fold-back)
• Custom:
- Multi-contours
- Stamping and cut dies
- External curves
- Forming wraps

Tip: Angular features are cheaper!

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 Sheet Metal Surface
Finishing Options
• Surface finishes: • Part marking:
- Chem Film - Silkscreen
Clear or yellow - Laser Mark
- Plating - Stamping
Nickel, Gold, etc. • Common multi-finish
- Anodize - Chem film + powder
Type II, Type III - Anodize + part marking
Black, clear, or color
• Passivate
• Powder Coat
- Custom color
• Custom

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 EDT

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 Your One-Stop Shop
for Manufacturing on
Demand

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