- Send a flat DXF plus a folded drawing, not a pretty picture of the part.
- The first-off is the check. A batch without one is a guess.
- Holes near a bend need a decision, not a surprise.
Precision cutting and bending is the trade work behind almost every other job we do in Moorebank: brackets, trays, covers, plinth returns, hood skins, the parts a kitchen or a frame is made from. It is also the work other trades across Sydney, Canberra and interstate send us when they need fifty of something and they need the fiftieth to match the first.
A shear or a laser will give you a blank. A press brake will give you a shape. Whether that shape is the one on your drawing depends on bend allowance, inside radius, springback and grain. We have written the numbers elsewhere. This is when you should care.
When precision is the point
- Repeat parts: brackets, clips, trays, guards, anything that has to nest or stack.
- Assemblies that bolt together. If the holes do not land, the job becomes a file.
- Visible returns on architectural or kitchen work, where a 2mm miss reads as a taper.
- Parts that have to clear a hinge, a door or a certified opening.
What we need on the file
A developed flat as DXF, and a PDF of the folded part with material, thickness, finish and which face is visible. A STEP model is better: we will develop the blank to our tooling. What we cannot use is a folded outline with the bend allowance already cooked in by someone else's die.
The first part is not the batch
Stainless springs back. The exact angle depends on the coil, the thickness and the tool. We fold one, check it, adjust, then run the rest. If you need twenty covers on Thursday, tell us that on Monday so the first-off has a day to be wrong.
| Ask for | Why |
|---|---|
| Material and thickness on the drawing | 1.2mm and 1.5mm do not fold the same |
| Visible face and grain | Tool marks and brush should land on the back |
| Hole-to-bend clearance | Holes in the radius ovalise unless drilled after |
| Quantity and a first-off | So the check is paid for, not hidden in the batch |
Anyone can cut a rectangle. The question is whether twenty of them still go together after the brake.
What to send
DXF or STEP, a dimensioned fold, material, quantity and the date you need them on site in Sydney or elsewhere in Australia. If you are not sure the blank is developed correctly, send the folded model and we will do that part.