Recommended minimum flange length and inside radius
Depending on the thickness of the plate, the bending of the plate requires the appropriate inner radius and flange length.
Here you can clearly see that it is not possible to bend the part on the right. The flange is too short.
The work on the right cannot be carried out. The inner radius is too small compared to the thickness of the material.
Chamfered Flange
If the flange has a notch, the shortest side should be taken as the flange length. See metal folding diagram. The danger of such parts is that the shorter part of the flange deforms during bending.
Hole Distance
Holes close to the curve can be deformed. Holes should be longer than the minimum recommended flange length. See metal folding diagram.
The flange on the left is designed according to the rules in the bending table. This ensures that the hole is sufficiently far from the bend for optimum results. The part on the right has the hole too close to the bend and will deform.
Successive Bends
When you have successive bends, the minimum distance is the minimum flange length. See metal folding diagram.
Bend Relief
Use cut-outs next to the flanges to prevent tearing of the material during bending.
Maximum sheet dimensions - 2990 x 1490 mm
Although the standard sheet size is 3000 × 1500 mm, we need to cut the edges to ensure the correct positioning of the cut-outs.
Tolerances in a separate PDF
Cutting letters and characters
Variants of the letter "O". Version 3 will end as version 1. It just has an unnecessary extra cut.
The interior of the letters will fall out if it is not related to the work. This is a common mistake we see.
Cut to "normal"
When making cuts in a sheet metal environment, use the cut for normal operation.
Distance between holes
2 mm sheet - the distance between cuts must be equal to or greater than the thickness of the material.
Size of holes
Hole size in 2 mm sheet metal. It is recommended that the holes are equal to or larger than the thickness of the material.
With new fibre laser technology, we can cut holes smaller than the thickness of the material!
Add a radius to the pipe
All rectangular tubes must have an inner and outer radius, just like in real life.
General rules for the radius:
- Radius measurements of corners of rectangular and square hollow section (SHS, RHS).
- Radius dimensions for hot and cold rolled rectangular (RHS) and square hollow section (SHS) tubes are hidden in their respective BS EN dimensional and tolerance standards.
Maximum pipe dimensions
The maximum length for cutting pipes is 4500 mm.
No holes in the radius of the pipe
Avoid holes that extend beyond the radius at the edges, as these would conflict with cutting through the rectangular thickness on the boxed part.
DXF files
Scale 1:1
All drawings must be 1:1. Copying the dimensions will not help.
Create your drawing from scratch
“Save as” files often bring with them unnecessary hidden layers or unnoticeable views from a distance. Create a new drawing instead of using the old one as a template.
One piece per drawing
Cutting lines only
There must be nothing in the cutting file other than the cutting lines: no address block, dimensions, tolerances, centrelines, bend lines, hatching or thread marks.
Breaking views
Connected Lines - Connect the lines
Avoid "Splines"
"Splines" can cause a lot of problems. Laser cutters have their own software that interprets splines in a way that gives an unsatisfactory result. Use arcs and lines instead. They are easily readable by laser cutting software.
No overlapping lines
They may be hard to see with the human eye, but the computer recognises them and cuts them out as additional cuts.
