Design
guidelines.

Explore eight bending checks with real tool profiles and Onshape comparisons. Inspect tool access, then see why an overbend opens to the finished angle after springback.

Compare the steel materials in the Xeon NC catalog: A1008, galvanized steel, A36 / A1011, Grade 50, Corten, AR500, and spring steel. Explore their tradeoffs in an interactive radar viewer.

Compare aluminum alloys and tempers with an interactive radar viewer. Explore 1100, 3003, 5052, 6061, 2024, and 7075 through strength, forming, machining, welding, and corrosion.

Use the Xeon Jeep to follow SheetForm from STEP import to tooling, sequence simulation, and the warnings that guide the next revision.

Understand stainless steel grades through corrosion, forming, welding, and load. Compare 304L, 316L, 430, 301, 2205 duplex, and 17-4 PH before specifying sheet metal.

Calculate assembly clearance across formed sheet metal, mating parts, and coatings. A worked tolerance stack, interactive calculator, and inspection checklist.

Choose tapped sheet, self-clinching nuts, rivet nuts, or through-bolts by load path, tool access, service requirements, and finishing sequence.

Design sheet metal for stiffness with clear load cases, section depth, return flanges, shorter spans, and a worked cantilever calculation.

Design sheet metal enclosures around mating datums, coating allowance, cooling paths, cable access, and service sequences. Includes a practical release review.

Turn a successful sheet metal prototype into a controlled repeat order with a release package, revision rules, inspection plan, and downloadable register.

Compare stock formats, understand custom cut-to-length costs, and see how flat-pattern dimensions change material yield.

Understand flat and formed tolerances, see how angle moves a mounting point, and specify a fit each process can verify.

Compare Xeon’s five punches in a live 2D section. Estimate maximum inside box height, understand holder clearance, and check an opposing wall against the tool.

One slab, three products. See what the hot strip mill, the pickling line, and the cold mill each do to the steel, then choose between the A36 / A1011 and A1008 options Xeon stocks.

Decode 5052-H32, 6061-T6, T651, T6511, and more—then see how the complete designation changes bending, machining, welding, ordering, and drawing callouts.

Pick a material and a gauge and get the tab width, tab length, slot size and clearance we recommend — drawn to scale, with press fit, slide fit and our self-fixturing default side by side.

The processing window of our automated deburring line: 2″ minimum, 48″ maximum width, unlimited length, and the thickness range — plus which materials run, which need confirming, and which we exclude outright.

How small and how large a part can be, for all 126 SKUs we stock — with the three limits that decide it, and a checker that tests your flat blank against the whole catalog at once.

Hole size, outer diameter, and part numbers for every self-clinching fastener we stock — nuts, flush nuts, studs, standoffs, blind standoffs. Pick your sheet material and gauge and the whole catalogue marks what will actually clinch.

Outer diameter, through-hole, and cone depth for every 82° inch and 90° metric seat we tool — plus the number no fastener catalogue gives you: the minimum sheet thickness each size needs before the cone leaves a knife edge instead of a seat.

Tap drills, clearance drills, and minor diameters for every inch and metric thread — with a live thread-percentage dial instead of somebody else’s fixed 75% and 50% columns, and a sheet-thickness check that says whether the thread will actually hold.

Every gauge from 3 to 30 in inches and millimeters, for aluminum, mild steel, stainless, and galvanized — with cross-sections drawn to scale, a two-way converter, the thicknesses we stock, and a DFM Preflight on every gauge.

DXF communicates a 2D cutting profile. STEP can carry the finished 3D part. Learn which format gives your fabricator the information needed to quote, validate, and manufacture your design.

A complete guide to STEP and B-rep geometry, AP203, AP214, AP242, export settings, feature recognition, automatic quoting, manufacturing simulation, and validation.

Every warning our instant quote can raise, documented and searchable. Type the code from your quote and get the rule in plain English — what it means, why the process behaves that way, and exactly how to fix it in CAD.

Three Onshape screenshot examples with formed and flat views. Compare obround and rectangular slots, understand width and depth, and inspect a full-width flange.

One 0.125″ 5052 box, six corner reliefs. Formed corner and flat pattern side by side on drawing sheets, what each type is good for, what to watch, and how the demo inputs map to Xeon NC shop numbers.

Check relief-opening size, seam clearance and the forming sequence separately. Start with material-specific corner guidance and current bend data.

When a critical hole cannot move away from a bend, a bow-tie relief can isolate it and a straight slit can redirect the strain. Both strategies can protect the feature. Both reduce local strength.

Two things ruin a hole near a bend: the metal stretching, and the die shoulder sitting under it. The second is usually the bigger number — and you can see it on your own part in the bend simulator.

In air bending the die makes the radius, not the punch. The five radii we actually form, why the 1T rule breaks inside a die band, minimum bend radius by alloy and temper, and everything that moves downstream when the radius changes.

How residual stress, heat, geometry, and cut strategy interact—with a practical risk matrix and interactive warping preflight.

Set the bore, cone, and entry side using Xeon’s tool table. Check the remaining material and create a technical drawing.

A real Onshape bracket: inside radii, formed inspection dimensions, and flat development using Xeon’s 5052 tooling data.

Where you put the datum decides which errors add up. Baseline vs chained dimensions, what to tolerance, and why an angle band becomes a length error at the flange tip.

A production-minded guide to formed STEP files, bend data, minimum flanges, radii, hole spacing, reliefs, channels, tolerance stack-up, and preflight.

How end mills, face mills, drills, ball-nose tools, thread mills, T-slot cutters, dovetail cutters, and lollipop tools create specific CNC features.

How nominal dimensions become acceptance limits — including how ISO 2768 medium tolerances widen as the controlled dimension grows.

A step-by-step walkthrough of the Xeon NC quoting platform — material selection, bend setup, hole processing, finishing options, document upload, and notes for the manufacturer.

Bend allowance calculations, K-factor by material, minimum flange lengths, inside radius selection, and how to design multi-bend parts with accurate flat-blank dimensions.

Internal corner radii, pocket depth ratios, thread call-outs, GD&T callout conventions, and surface finish selection for aluminum, steel, and engineering plastics.

Live cross-section of a countersunk hole: 82° or 90°, outer diameter, through-hole, thickness, remaining land, and top or bottom side — from Xeon NC tooling tables.

When to countersink, mechanical benefits, thin material limits, choosing the correct angle (82°, 90°, etc.), and how to specify countersinks perfectly in CAD.

Laser-cut blanks leave knife edges and needle corners. Recommended edge break and outside-corner radius by material and thickness — mostly so nobody gets cut unpacking the part.

Weber 1350 deburring operations: edge rounding, Scotch-Brite finishing, oxide removal, part size limits, and design rules for through-feed processing.

Accepted file formats (DXF, STEP, STL), step-by-step export guides for SolidWorks, Inventor, and Onshape, plus a pre-flight checklist for every service.

Every click and every setting, with screenshots — which AP version to pick, the units checkbox that silently scales your part by 10×, and why to send the folded model instead of a flat pattern.

A visual AWS-based guide to the arrow, reference line, basic weld symbols, supplementary marks, dimensions, contours, and the five foundational joint arrangements.

Diagnose 12 common weld conditions and design better laser-cut joints with intentional fit-up, assist-gas edge preparation, material selection, distortion control, and inspection access.

Understanding how thermal exposure alters material composition during laser cutting. Learn how thickness, hot spots, and density impact part hardness and warp.

Learn what laser kerf is, why software toolpath offset is critical, and how material thickness directly impacts your minimum allowable cut width and hole sizes.

Explore dry finishing, critical part hanging requirements, and why powder coating severely outperforms wet paint and anodizing in volume manufacturing durability.

Wall thickness minimums, overhang rules, thread insert heat-set best practices, supported vs. unsupported geometry, and material selection guide for FDM and SLA parts.

A step-by-step walkthrough for preparing DXF and STEP files from AutoCAD, Fusion 360, and SolidWorks — ready to submit with zero back-and-forth.

When to specify Type II vs. Type III hardcoat anodize, how anodizing affects dimensional tolerance, color options, masking considerations, and how to call it out on your drawing.

Compare A1008 cold rolled, A1011 hot rolled and HRPO, A36 plate, and coated sheet—then choose the right cut edge, fabrication route, finish, and ordering callout.

What cold rolling changes, how ASTM A1008 designations work, and how to specify thickness, laser cut, bend, weld, coat, and protect carbon steel sheet for U.S. production.

A U.S.-focused guide to 201, 301, 304/304L, 316/316L, 321, 409, 430, and 17-4 PH — specifications, finishes, laser cutting, bending, welding, passivation, and drawing callouts.

A U.S.-focused guide to Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 23 — ASTM and AMS specifications, laser cutting, bending, welding, finishes, safety, certification, and drawing callouts.

How to select and specify C11000, C10100, C10200, and C12200 copper sheet in the U.S. — ASTM product standards, tempers, exact thicknesses, laser cutting, bending, joining, finishes, and drawing callouts.

Choosing between 5052-H32, 6061-T6, A36 HR steel, 304 stainless, and brass for your project — a practical comparison of machinability, corrosion resistance, strength, and cost.

A practical guide to laser cutting tolerance stacks, how we inspect parts, what ±0.005″ really means in production, and when to call out tighter tolerances on your drawing.

Decoding Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing: A complete breakdown of symbols, feature control frames, and how they apply in precision manufacturing.

How to choose the right punch and V-die from material, thickness, and target radius — air bending fundamentals, the V × T rule, the 16% radius rule, tonnage math, and Trumpf / WILA tooling reference.

Every punch and V-die we run, the material thickness each die covers under the 6–12 die-width rule, and full technical data for each WILA OW / EV tool — with a thickness coverage map and per-tool spec cards.

How deformation around the bend radius impacts hole placement, slot positioning, and feature design in sheet metal — with minimum clearance formulas and material-specific rules.

The complete bending vocabulary — bend deduction, bend allowance, K-factor, inside radius, neutral axis, and minimum formed flange — plus a live lookup tool for tooling, K-factor, and bend deduction on every material we run.

Interactive tool: enter your base dimension and return flange height to see whether our punches can reach the bend. Envelopes computed live from the real traced tool profiles.

The interference that only exists mid-stroke. Why springback forces the brake to over-bend past your angle, how far that actually moves a flange, and how much clearance a formed feature needs to survive it — plus two interactive 3D parts you can run through the same press brake stroke, one that collides and one that clears.