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Tutorials on Sheet Metal Fabrication

A range of tutorials for sheet metal and fabrication techniques. If you have tutorials that you would like to submit please use the form on the Contact Us page and we will be happy to include them, along with a link back to your site.

Making your laser fly: How fly cutting and other software applied techniques can significantly improve throughout

The purchase of a new fiber laser is not an insignificant one. Yet often companies will overlook the relatively inexpensive cost of appropriate CAM and nesting software that could get significantly better performance out of their investment. Martin Bailey, General Manager of JETCAM explains techniques that can squeeze more performance out of your CNC laser.

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Choosing the right Mag Drill

Nathan Ford, Area Sales Manager for Fein Power Tools in the UK, discusses what you should look for when purchasing a mag drill, the applications some can now achieve, and the kind of accessories available in the market. Not only that, but he provides some further information on health and safety features, and concludes by briefly covering cordless/compact mag drills, new into the UK market.

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Buying the right angle grinder

Here Paul Kitchin, National Applications Manager at FEIN gives a practical guide on features to look out for when buying an angle grinder

Angle grinders are a staple of the UK tradesperson’s tool collection across a wide range of disciplines and they are extremely useful to have to cut, polish and grind a wide variety of materials. However, finding the best one for your requirements can be difficult, as there appears to be almost infinite variations available.

angle, grinder

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Change elbow 60 degrees

These change elbow fittings will save time, space and material. It will also give you a more professional look on the completed job. We show this fitting 60 Degrees but use the same method for any angle and size. The inside throat radius is 2", however we do show the same fitting near the end with a 1 to 1 radius to width ratio.

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Create sheet metal offsets

As in all fittings you need to establish a starting point, so draw a horizontal line on the paper, somewhere near the bottom (A,C) now draw a line perpendicular to line A,C. and establish one end of the fittings, line A, B. , The fitting in the illustration is 18" long (But this could be any length) so we need to make a mark 18" on line A,C and draw another line perpendicular to A,C (line C,D) to establish the length of the fitting. Being that lines A,B and C,D are reference lines you will want to lightly extend these up a ways until you establish the other points. Our fitting is going to be 12" in height and 18" long, so mark the reference line for the height of the fitting (3) at 12" up from line A,C and on line C,D

Read more: Create sheet metal offsets