OEM Sheet Metal Fabrication
OEM sheet metal fabrication cuts, forms, welds, finishes, and assembles brackets, panels, frames, and subassemblies to a released drawing, the work called build to print, and repeats the part on that drawing as the order returns. K-Display does this in Chicago.
What OEM sheet metal fabrication supplies
OEM parts leave cut and formed, welded, powder coated, fitted with hardware, or built up into a subassembly, in carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, galvanized steel, or galvanneal.
Short-run production sets up each batch on its own, with the press brake and any fixtures arranged for that run, which suits a design that is still changing. Single-source metal fabrication carries one order through every process a finished unit needs, from the first cut to the packed carton.
Each order of this part number is built to the revision on the released drawing. A repeat order at that revision runs on the same laser program and press-brake setup as the first.
Parts we make from a released drawing
OEM fabrication suits a part whose drawing is released and will be ordered again. Choose short-run production while the design is still changing, and single-source fabrication when one order needs several processes.
- Brackets that locate a component, cut and formed with the hole pattern their mating plate carries.
- Covers and panels that close a product, powder coated in the finish the product drawing names.
- Welded frames that carry a product, supplied with their hardware installed.
- Subassemblies that reach the line on one part number, with their purchased components already mounted.
- Materials
- Carbon steel, Galvanized steel, Galvanneal, Stainless steel, Aluminum
From released drawing to repeat order
The released drawing you send for each part number is the one the laser program and the press-brake setup are made from.
Cut and form
We cut the flat parts for each drawing on the laser or the punch and form them on the press brake.
Weld, hardware, and coat
We weld the frames, press in the threaded hardware, and then powder coat the parts that ship coated.
Build up the subassemblies
We fasten the formed and welded parts to their purchased components under one part number.
Build the repeat order
We cut, form, weld, and finish a repeat order from the released drawing you send for that part number.
Ship the part
Each part number leaves in one state: formed, welded, powder coated, hardware installed, or assembled.
Design for repeat production
Two parts that bolt together are drawn on two sheets, and when each measures its holes from a different edge, the two patterns meet only by chance. Dimension both patterns from the edge the assembly drawing uses, and we cut both parts from that edge, so the bracket foot and the plate under it bolt up.
One part number that covers two supplied states, bare for one line and coated for another, ships mixed. Give each supplied state its own part number, and we build and pack each number in one state.
Each bracket foot lands on the base plate at the orange contact area, and every hole pair shares one axis with its screw and nut.
What to send for an OEM fabrication quote
- Released drawings
- Part drawings, assembly model, and bill of materials at one revision.
- Planned changes
- Any change already scheduled for a later order.
- Material
- Grade and thickness of every part in the assembly.
- Finish and hardware
- Coating, marking, hardware, and supplied components.
- Critical features
- Mating features and the tolerances that decide fit.
- Order quantities
- First order, expected repeat demand, and delivery targets.