Cutting

Sheet metal cutting creates flat profiles from sheet stock using lasers, plasma, waterjet, or shearing, balancing speed, cost, and edge quality across many materials.

Overview

Cutting in sheet metal fabrication removes material from flat sheet to create 2D profiles, blanks, and features that drive almost every downstream operation. Processes include laser (CO2 and fiber), plasma, waterjet, and mechanical shearing, each trading off speed, cost, thickness range, and edge finish. Cutting is usually the first step before forming, fastening, or welding, so accuracy here controls overall part fit and quality.

Use cutting when you need accurate flat patterns, brackets, panels, or gussets from standard sheet stock, across low to high production volumes. Lasers handle most thin-to-medium gauges with tight tolerances and clean edges; plasma suits thicker, less cosmetic work; waterjet handles very thick or heat‑sensitive materials; shearing excels at straight cuts and simple blanks. Tradeoffs include kerf width, heat‑affected zones for thermal methods, taper on waterjet, and limits on very small features versus punching. Good CAD, realistic minimum feature sizes, and material/thickness choices make cutting fast to quote and reliable to run.

Common Materials

  • Mild steel
  • Stainless steel
  • Aluminum 5052
  • Aluminum 6061
  • Copper
  • Brass

Tolerances

±0.005" to ±0.010"

Applications

  • Enclosure and chassis panels
  • Mounting and adapter plates
  • Brackets and gussets
  • Vent and decorative panels
  • Shim sets and thin spacers
  • Gaskets and non-metallic flat patterns

When to Choose Cutting

Choose cutting when you need accurate 2D profiles from sheet stock as the starting point for brackets, panels, or formed parts. It suits anything from prototypes to production if your design is primarily flat geometry with through-features. Specify it when edge quality, part consistency, and material flexibility matter more than forming complex 3D shapes in one step.

vs Forming

Choose cutting when your main need is accurate flat blanks or profiles, and forming is a secondary operation performed later. Cut first if you have complex internal contours, slots, or perforations that would be difficult or impossible to add after bending or drawing.

vs Punching

Choose cutting when features are varied, non-repetitive, or have complex contours that would require many punch tools. Cutting is also better for small batches or frequent design changes where dedicated punch tooling cost and lead time are hard to justify.

vs Fastening

Choose cutting when you need to create the flat parts, holes, and slots that fasteners will use, not when you are joining already-made parts. Use cutting to integrate tabs, alignment features, and precise hole patterns so downstream fastening is quick and reliable.

vs Welding (Sheet Metal)

Choose cutting when you are defining individual sheet components before assembly and welding. Good cutting allows tight fit-up, precise joints, and integrated tabs/slots, which reduce weld time and distortion compared to trying to compensate for inaccurate profiles during welding.

vs Hydroforming

Choose cutting when your geometry is fundamentally flat or needs simple bends, not deep drawn 3D shapes. Cutting offers lower setup cost and faster iteration for brackets, panels, and gussets, while hydroforming targets high-strength, seamless shells and more complex stamped forms.

Design Considerations

  • Keep minimum hole diameter at least equal to material thickness for most cutting processes, larger if positional accuracy is critical
  • Avoid extremely thin webs and tabs; aim for minimum tab/land widths of 1–1.5x material thickness to prevent heat distortion or part movement
  • Call out tight tolerances only where they matter; standard cutting tolerances are cheaper and faster to achieve on non-critical edges
  • Include clear material, thickness, and grain direction on flat patterns so shops can nest parts and orient them for downstream forming
  • Allow for kerf width and corner radii; avoid sharp inside corners smaller than the process’s practical minimum to reduce dwell and edge defects
  • Provide clean 2D CAD (DXF/DWG) with a single, closed profile per part and clear layer conventions to speed quoting and reduce programming errors