Minimum sheet thickness for sheet metal fabrication
For sheet metal fabrication we process sheet from 0.5 mm thickness as standard. Thinner material is possible after engineering review but becomes prone to distortion during bending and welding.
- Below 0.5 mm risk rises quickly: in machining the wall chatters under cutting force, which costs you dimensional accuracy and surface finish. In printing, the chance of warping and breakage during depowdering and post-processing grows.
- Practical rule of thumb: keep the height of a thin wall under roughly 15× its thickness, and distribute material into ribs rather than one tall thin wall. You keep stiffness without driving up price.
- Our automatic DFM check measures this at upload and warns before the quote, not later on the shop floor.
Frequently asked questions
- Can it go thinner than 0.5 mm?
- Often yes, but not as standard. Send your CAD file: we assess the span, height and function of the wall, then confirm whether it is feasible and at what surcharge.
- What happens if my wall is too thin?
- The DFM check flags the part at quote time. We usually propose a local thickening, a rib or a different process — far cheaper than a rejected first batch.