Short-Run & Low-Volume Metal Fabrication
Low-volume sheet metal fabrication cuts, forms, welds, and finishes a prototype, a replacement part, or a bridge run, a batch that keeps a line supplied until production tooling is ready. K-Display builds each batch in Chicago to the drawing revision you send.
What prototype and low-volume fabrication supplies
A prototype or low-volume batch of brackets, panels, or enclosures arrives cut, formed, welded, powder coated, fitted with hardware, or assembled, in steel, stainless steel, or aluminum. The press brake, the welding fixtures, and the cutting program are set for that batch and built to the revision sent with it.
OEM Sheet Metal Fabrication holds a released drawing for the repeat orders that follow, which suits a part whose design has stopped changing.
Every flat piece in the batch takes the same midpoint bend, so each finished bracket has one hole in each leg.
Parts we build in low volume
Low-volume runs suit parts that are new, changing, or needed once. When the drawing is released and orders start to repeat, the same part moves to OEM sheet metal fabrication.
- First-article brackets and enclosures built to the current revision, so a fit can be checked before the design is released.
- Bridge runs of a panel or bracket that keep a line supplied until production tooling is ready.
- Replacement covers and panels for equipment in service, cut to the mounting pattern of the part they replace.
- High-mix sets of related brackets and plates, several variants ordered together, each built to its own drawing.
- Materials
- Carbon steel, Galvanized steel, Galvanneal, Stainless steel, Aluminum
- Production fit
- Prototypes, bridge production, replacement runs, and low-volume, high-mix programs.
How a low-volume batch is built
A laser needs no dedicated cutting tool, so a design that changes between batches goes straight from the new drawing to the cut.
Cut the parts
We laser cut the flat pieces for every part and variant in the batch.
Form the parts
We form the flat pieces on the press brake, and set a fixture for the geometry that needs one.
Weld and coat
We weld the batch and powder coat it, pressing in the threaded hardware before the coat.
Ship the batch
The batch leaves bare, powder coated, hardware installed, or assembled.
Design for a short run
A replacement cover fits the enclosure it goes on, not its own outline, so its holes come from that enclosure's mounting pattern; with only the outer dimensions, the holes land wrong. We cut the holes to the pattern on the drawing of that enclosure.
A tolerance called on every dimension gives a mating hole and a free edge the same weight, so nothing marks which features decide the fit. Call the tolerance on the mating holes and bends that decide it; we form and cut those to the callout and the rest to the drawing's general note.
The flanges face inward from the enclosure walls, which puts the four holes inboard of the cover's edge where its outline alone would not place them.
What to send for a short-run quote
- Drawings
- Models, drawings, and the features that control fit, at the current revision.
- Mating part
- Mounting pattern of the part a replacement fits, or the part itself.
- Material
- Grade and thickness of each part or variant.
- Finish and hardware
- Coating, marking, hardware, and protected surfaces.
- Quantity and timing
- Current batch, repeat demand, and delivery target.