Design review checklist for sheet metal: what to check
A design review checklist for sheet metal: the eight checks that decide whether a drawing can be made, with the limits we hold in the shop.
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Topic hub · 44 guides
Design and CAD
A drawing is a contract. These guides cover the design decisions that survive the shop floor: bend relief and corner relief, hole-to-edge distance, tab and slot, datum strategy, tolerance stack-up, STEP and DXF hand-off, drawing notes, revision control and design for coating, assembly and transport. Written for design engineers who would rather fix it in CAD than in a concession.
Guides in this topic
Design rules, CAD hand-off, bend allowances, tolerance stacks and the drawing notes that decide whether a part is made right first time.
Prototype versus production design: what tooling changes
What changes in a sheet metal design when a prototype becomes a production part: radii, hole strategy, tolerances, flat pattern and feature count.
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Grain direction for sheet metal: when rolling direction matters
Bend lines that run along the rolling direction crack at radii that work fine across it. The limits by material, and how to call the direction out.
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Design for transport: packing and stacking sheet metal
How to detail a sheet metal part so it survives the truck: dunnage pitch, pack mass, container envelope, fretting and the note block that fixes all three.
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Datum strategy for sheet metal: what to dimension from
Datum strategy for sheet metal: mount face and hole pattern datums, the 0.87 mm bend error nobody budgets for, and which dimensions to leave as reference.
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Coating build in holes and threads: the fit allowance a drawing needs
An 80 µm powder coat shrinks a bore by 0.16 mm and an M8 thread by 0.185 mm on pitch diameter. The allowance, the masking callouts and the features to leave bare.
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DXF files for sheet metal: layers, scale and closed contours
DXF files for sheet metal: the layer split, unit and scale checks, contour closure tolerance and entity faults that stop a laser nesting the part.
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PEM inserts for sheet metal: hole size, push-out and coating
An M4 clinch insert needs a 6.4 mm hole, not a 4 mm one, and it needs it before the coating. Hole size, push-out and coating order, with numbers.
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Drawing notes for sheet metal: ten notes that stop rework
The ten drawing notes for sheet metal that decide whether a part is made right first time, with the number each one holds and the failure it prevents.
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