Replacement parts for obsolete equipment: reverse engineering
How to turn a worn bracket with no drawing into a specification: separating wear from tolerance, recovering the flat pattern, proving material and setting datums.
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Topic hub · 4 guides
Applications and cases
Every industry breaks sheet metal in its own way: a lift shaft corrodes from the inside, a canopy drums at engine frequency, a rack sags under a dense load, a coach panel bows after coating, a tractor bracket fatigues at a weld toe. These guides start from the application and work back to the material, the form and the finish.
Guides in this topic
Application-led problems from lift shafts, genset sites, data halls, railway coaches, farms and warehouses, and how the part is designed around them.
Spare parts and service: fitting the installed base
A replacement panel that will not bolt on is a specification problem, not a manufacturing one. What to dimension on the installed base, and the numbers that decide fit.
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Sheet metal in cold climates: impact, contraction, sealing
Sheet metal in cold climates fails by brittle fracture, contraction and hardened seals. How to pick a grade, size a slot and specify coating for -40 °C.
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Repair versus replace for a damaged sheet metal frame
Measure section loss, bow and crack location before you scrap a frame. The thresholds that separate a repaint, a reinforcement and a replacement.
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