Sheet Metal Fabrication Services
Cut, bent, welded —
just as drawn.
Production-grade sheet metal from prototype enclosures to ten-thousand-piece runs. Laser-cut, brake-bent, welded, and finished in one shop — your part ships door-ready, hardware installed.
Veteran program leads
Programs run by engineers who have shipped real parts at production scale.
Quoted in hours
Every quote comes with engineer review and DFM notes — not just a price.
FAI on every order
Every order ships with a full first-article report checked against your CAD.
Direct engineer access
Email, call, or video — talk straight to the person running your job.
At a glance
- How parts are made
- US engineering front end (quoting, DFM review, program management, quality review) with a vetted ISO 9001 partner network in the US, Canada, Mexico and Asia; FABDIGIT INC. is the contracting party on every order
- Quoting
- Instant quote from CAD (STEP, SLDPRT, IGES, X_T; DXF for flat patterns) with an engineer DFM review on every quote
- Minimum order
- No minimum — single prototypes to 10,000+ parts
- Lead time
- From 3 business days; expedite on request
- Tolerance
- ±0.1 mm / ±0.5° bends; ±0.05 mm cut edges
- Sheet envelope
- Up to 3,000 × 1,500 mm; 0.5–12 mm gauge; laser cutting, press-brake bending, TIG/MIG welding, PEM hardware
- Materials
- Mild and galvanized steel, stainless, aluminum, copper and brass — 15+ stocked grades
- Certifications
- Production partners hold ISO 9001:2015 (verified at onboarding); AS9100 / IATF 16949 work placed only with partners certified to that standard; FABDIGIT INC. itself is not ISO-certified
- Quality documents
- A FabDigit engineer reviews DFM on every quote before it is released — not an automated flag list, and not only on request
- Ships to
- United States; international orders accepted (customer is importer of record, Terms §11.4)
Cut, form, join, install — under one roof.
From a single-bend bracket on the laser to a 50-piece welded enclosure with PEM hardware and powder coat — we run the full chain in-house and through coordinated finishing partners.
Fiber laser cutting
Up to 25 mm carbon steel, 20 mm stainless, 12 mm aluminium.
± 0.1 mm
Turret punching
Hole patterns, louvers, dimples and form-ups in one pass.
± 0.05 mm
Press brake forming
Air, bottom, and coining bends down to 1× thickness inside radius.
± 0.1 mm · ± 0.5°
TIG welding
Precision welds on stainless and aluminium — cosmetic-grade beads.
AWS D1.2 / D1.6
MIG welding
Production-rate carbon-steel structural welds and weldments.
AWS D1.1
Hardware insertion
PEM nuts, standoffs, studs, and threaded inserts pressed in-line.
PEM® / PennEngThe full envelope.
Max sheet size
3,000 × 1,500 mmLarger panels routed in two pieces and seam-welded; tell us the final outline and we will split the nest.
Gauge range
0.5 mm → 12 mmCarbon steel + stainless. Aluminium up to 12 mm; copper / brass up to 6 mm.
Bend tolerance
± 0.1 mm / ± 0.5°Per-feature on profiled-air bending. Coining drops the angular tolerance to ± 0.25°.
Cut-edge tolerance
± 0.05 mmFiber laser cut; tighter on punching for round holes; ± 0.15 mm on plasma > 12 mm.
Waterjet cutting
Cold cut, no heat-affected zoneFor thick stainless and titanium plate and parts that must not see heat. The quote picks laser, waterjet or plasma from material and thickness.
Lead time
As fast as 3 business daysStandard 5–7 working days including finishing. Same-week turn on simple prototypes.
Inspection
First-piece on every orderDimensional and CMM reports available on request. Weld inspections, dye-penetrant testing on request.
Materials
15+ stocked gradesMild steel, stainless, aluminium, copper, brass, galvanised, pre-finished, specialty alloys.
Eight gauges. Which one is yours?
"Twenty gauge" sounds like a precise spec until you realise it does not match between US, UK, and metric standards. Below: the eight thicknesses we stock most often, drawn to scale against a 1/4″ plate.
Four rules that decide if your part can be bent.
Where your features sit relative to the bend line is the difference between a part that comes off the brake clean and one we have to re-quote. Mark these tolerances on the drawing — or let our DFM review catch them before we even start.
Minimum flange height
4 × T + R
Shorter flanges fold inconsistently — the press brake cannot register a stable bend line.
Hole-to-bend distance
2 × T + R
Closer to the bend, the hole distorts into an oval as the metal stretches.
Hole-to-edge distance
≥ 2 × T
Closer to the edge, the laser cut blows out or the punch tears a corner.
Standard inside radius
1 × T (mild steel)
Tighter radii crack the outside fibre. We can coin to 0.5 × T on aluminium with prior approval.
T = material thickness · R = inside bend radius. Hard rules above are conservative; ask us about coining, mini-bend tooling, and tab-cut- relief tricks when your geometry forces tighter dimensions.
A curated showcase. Our catalogue runs 560+ sheet-metal grades deep.
The cards below are our most-requested grades — kept on the shelf for fast turnaround. Specialty alloys (Hastelloy, Inconel, titanium, tooling steels) on request. Material certifications (MTRs) included with every order.
Need a grade not shown above? Our catalogue is 560+ sheet-metal grades deep — name it, spec it, or send a supplier datasheet and we will source it.
Finished to spec.
A showcase of our most-requested finishes — eight of 30+ supported across paint, plating, anodising, and texturing. All coordinated through our finishing partners so your parts ship complete in one box.
Need a specific RAL / Pantone colour or a supplier-specified finish chemistry not pictured? Name it, spec it, or send a finish standard — our partner network covers the long tail of cosmetic and functional finishes.
526 grades priced instantly.
Every grade below has a datasheet — composition, mechanical and thermal properties, machinability, compatible finishes — and a price in the configurator. Families first, most-quoted grades in each. All 526 grades for sheet metal fabrication →
Steel238
- 1018The standard machining steel
- 1045High-strength shafting steel
- 4140Versatile alloy
- A36Cheapest structural steel
- 8620Best carburizing steel
Aluminum117
- 6061The go-to general purpose
- 7075Ultimate strength
- 5052Marine grade
- 2024High fatigue resistance
- 5083Tough marine alloy
Stainless Steel69
- 304Most common stainless steel
- 316LWeldable marine grade
- 17-4 PHStandard aerospace PH
- 410Hardening general purpose
- 2205Acid-proof duplex stainless
Copper Alloy24
- C11000Industrial standard pure copper
- C26000Easy machining brass
- C51000Best spring-tempered bronze
- C17200Highest strength copper alloy
- C63000Extremely tough bronze
78 finishes, each with its datasheet.
Thickness, hardness, salt-spray life, the governing specification, the drawing call-out and which material families take it — one page per finish, and an A-vs-B comparison for the pairs engineers weigh against each other. All surface finishes →
Anodizing, conversion & passivation17
- Anodizing Type II$$
- Black Oxide$
- Chemical Conversion Coating$
- Electropolishing$$$
- Hard Anodizing Type III$$$
- Hard Anodizing Type III With PTFE$$$
Plating & metallizing17
- Copper Plating$$
- Decorative Nickel-Chrome Plating$$$
- Electroless Nickel Plating$$$
- Electrolytic Nickel Plating$$
- Gold Plating$$$$
- Hot-Dip Galvanizing$$
Paint, powder & polymer coatings8
- Cerakote$$$
- Electrophoretic Coating$$
- Epoxy Coating$$$
- Powder Coating$$
- PTFE Dry-Film Coating$$$
- Wet Painting$$
PVD, CVD & thermal spray15
- Aluminum Chromium Nitride PVD$$$$
- Aluminum Titanium Nitride PVD$$$$
- Chromium Nitride PVD$$$$
- CVD Titanium Carbonitride$$$$
- CVD Titanium Nitride$$$$
- Diamond-Like Carbon Coating$$$$
Design rules for sheet metal fabrication live in the engineering guides; the instant quote prices any grade-and-finish combination above on upload.
CAD to door, in four steps.
The same engineer reviews your quote, watches over cut + bend + weld, and signs off on the inspection report — so nothing falls between shop floor stations.
Upload your CAD
STEP, SLDPRT, DXF or flat-pattern PDF. Drop it on the page or email us.
Quote in hours
An engineer reviews for bend access, weld fit-up, and DFM, then prices the job.
We make it
First piece is measured and gauge-checked before the rest of the batch runs.
Door delivery
We ship complete — hardware installed, finish cured, inspection report attached.
What is always included
- DFM review with every quote
- First-piece inspection on every order
- Material certifications on request
- NDA before file upload — on request
- Production from 1 to 10,000+ parts
- PEM hardware installed in-line
- Finishing coordinated through partners
- Direct engineer access — email, call, or video
CAD to door, day by day.
A typical 50-piece prototype run on a brake-bent, welded, powder- coated enclosure. Real schedules vary by finish chemistry, weld length, and partner-shop calendar — but this is the shape of a standard programme.
Quote
Day 0 · same dayDFM review
Day 0 → 1Laser + bend
Day 1 → 3Weld + hardware
Day 3 → 5Finishing
Day 5 → 7Ship
Day 7 → 8Need parts faster? Bare cut-and-bend prototypes (no welding, no finish) can turn in 3 days. Multi-layer finishes (e-coat + paint, zinc + powder) add 2–3 working days to the finishing phase.
Answers, on the record.
Engineers wrote these. If yours is not here, emailengineering@fabdigit.com — typical reply within 4 business hours.
STEP (.step / .stp), SOLIDWORKS (.sldprt), DXF flat patterns, IGES, and 3D PDF for marketing-only review.
For sheet metal we prefer either the 3D solid model (so we can pull our own flat pattern, bend lines, and K-factor against our brake) or a fully-dimensioned DXF + 3D PDF pair.
Cut-and-bend parts are priced instantly on upload. Complex multi-bend weldments with finishing that the engine cannot price automatically come back from engineering the same business day. Engineer review is included on every quote — you get DFM notes, not just a price.
Five business days is our standard for stocked materials including finishing. Bare cut-and-bend prototype turnaround can be three days. Powder-coat or zinc-plate adds 1–2 days because the finisher batches our jobs alongside others.
Yes. Waterjet is a cold abrasive cut, so the edge has no heat-affected zone and no hardening — the right choice for thick stainless and titanium plate and for parts that must not see heat. Upload your CAD as usual: the quote routes each part to laser, waterjet or plasma based on material and thickness, and an engineer reviews that choice with every quote.
Yes — both TIG and MIG, in-house or through partners depending on volume. TIG for cosmetic stainless or aluminium beads, MIG for production-rate carbon-steel structures. Weld callouts use AWS D1.1 / D1.2 / D1.6 nomenclature on the drawing and we follow the symbol exactly.
Yes — PEM® and PennEngineering threaded inserts (nuts, studs, standoffs, captive screws) are pressed in-line on a fluid-press station, included in the per-part price. Just call them out on the drawing or send the SKU list and we will source them.
Yes — laser cut, brake bent, welded, hardware installed, finished, and packed. Many customers ship us only the CAD and a packaging spec; we deliver completed enclosures palletised and ready to receive PCBs or sub-assemblies.
3,000 × 1,500 mm is the largest panel we can lay out on a single nest. Panels larger than that we split, cut individually, and seam-weld back together — tell us the final outline and we coordinate the split for you.
No. We quote single prototypes the same way we quote 10,000-piece production runs — the price-per-piece just changes.
Yes. Mill test reports (MTRs) and certificates of conformance from the raw stock supplier ship with the order when requested at quote time. Sheet metal certifications generally cover yield strength, chemistry, and surface coating thickness.
Every quote includes a free DFM review. The engineer flags bend-access, weld fit-up, hole-to-bend, and tolerance-stack issues before quoting, and suggests changes that reduce cost or improve manufacturability.
Upload a CAD file. Get a quote in hours.
No order minimums. No long sign-up flow. Just sheet metal, made right.