Add Strength to Your Sheet Metal Part

By its nature, sheet metal is thin and can therefore be flimsy – so it’s logical you would want to strengthen sheet metal. When it comes to custom sheet metal parts and enclosures, you need to ensure the metal you choose will be strong enough to match your requirements. While increasing metal thickness is one way to increase a part’s strength, it is not by any means your only option. This blog will cover some key tips for adding strength to your sheet-metal parts and enclosures.

Add Strength to Sheet Metal Part with Hem Bends

One of the best methods to add strength to your sheet metal is by adding hem bends to the edges of your parts. You will often notice that a cut edge of sheet metal won’t have much strength, especially in the higher gauges (remember: the higher the gauge, the thinner the metal).

If the material is thin and you have a lot of weight bearing on it, the cut edges might twist and get damaged. To avoid this, we recommend adding a hem bend to your sheet metal.

A hem bend is essentially a piece of material that is folded over 180° on top of itself. The cut edge by itself may be easily twisted, but sandwiching two pieces on top of each other doubles up the strength and helps prevent that twisting motion.

Hem bands can especially be useful if you’re worried about parts of your sheet metal being unstable or slack. This process helps the edges remain straight and will reduce flexing.

While creating hem bands, you should ensure that you have a minimum hem bend length of 0.5″ so that the material can flatten on top of itself. Also, make certain that hem bends are placed in accessible areas and not where it will be impeded by any surrounding geometry.

Watch our video to learn more about hem bends.

Add Strength to Sheet Metal Part with Angle Bends

If you do not want a 180° bend, you can add an angle bend to add strength to your sheet metal. This simple act of bending will help prevent that part from twisting out of shape.

Add Strength to Sheet Metal Part with Welding

Adding welding into your design can be beneficial in adding strength to your material in a few different scenarios.

For one, if your part’s material is too thick for a hem bend, you can opt for a thin strip of the metal to be cut and spot welded it to the edge of a part. Think of it as a welded hem.

Another option: a welded gusset. While gussets can be any profile or shape, they are most typically triangular. Gussets are welded into the seam of an enclosure or part, most often plug welded to both faces. This can ensure that your underside of your part or enclosure’s bend has that extra bit of support to prevent it from bending further.

Pay attention to your design

Apart from various bending and welding methods, an easy and effective way to ensure your sheet metal is strong is by being thoughtful and paying close attention to your design. A lot of the time, your product will contain multiple parts and it is vital that you ensure all loose edges or flanges of a part are secure and stable within your assembly.

When working on your design, make sure that you closely focus on the weight and dimension of each component – accuracy in these aspects can go a long way in ensuring that your product is strong and durable.

Conclusion

These are a few methods using which you can ensure that your sheet metal doesn’t bend out of shape. Using these methods, you can make sure that your final product has the strength that you are looking for.

To see these tips in action, watch our Proto Tech Tip.

If you have any questions about your sheet-metal design, or want to discuss your organization’s needs, contact us. We are here to help revolutionize your workflow by eliminating long lead times!