Stiffening Sheet Metal

Sheet metal with structural grooved seams.

Stiffening sheet metal.

Since we re talking about constant or near constant air flow through these parts the material needs to be durable enough to handle the pressure and temperature changes. The simplest and cheapest option is to cnc bend the sheet metal component with a stiffening form. Use the pro e form tool within the sheet metal module. Each groove bead or line will compound the strength and can also add a design to the panel.

Crowning the deflection along a bend due to the tooling or brake not being able to apply equal tonnage along the bend. It may not unbend or it may simply ignore that feature. Cross break light bends added to sheet metal in order to stiffen its surface. Pressing grooves ribs or designs into a piece of sheet metal will greatly increase the strength.

The stretched metal in those areas will hold tension in the panel and give it structural rigidity. Crowning is controlled on modern brakes with internal hydraulic systems which can help equalize pressure. The cost is minimal only a little extra set up time. I don t recall how it handles the feature when you do an unbend all.

If it s the latter that s o k since in reality you don t add any.