JCL's sheet metal fabrication is a significant part of our business, aside from stamping. We offer more flexible metal sheet processing services. As a trusted supplier in the industry, we have served hundreds of customers globally over the years. Our product range spans from consumer electronics, household appliances, communication products to automotive components. Customers only need to provide original drawings, and we conduct immediate analysis, design, and evaluation for the prototype. We establish customized plans tailored to each project. With our array of equipment, we ensure high-speed production of materials and processes specified by customers, meeting various needs from testing samples to large-scale production.
JCL has a comprehensive processing system with dozens of processing technologies. Common processes include sheet metal bending, sheet metal cutting, extrusion forming, surface finishing, and welding process. With these equipment and technologies, we can meet the sampling and production needs of most customers. Some technologies can independently complete a project, while others require the combination of different equipment and technologies to assemble various parts and the overall project. Our engineers will select the optimal solution based on your requirements and product design, including drawing evaluation, sample manufacturing and testing, tool design, production trial run, quality planning, and formal production.
We own the facility of various cutting technologies such as laser cutting, waterjet cutting, and plasma cutting. Our cutting services deliver high precision with the help of advanced machinery. We handle the calibration of these machines, ensuring each cut meets your tolerances requirements.
Laser cutting is the most frequent technology of all the cutting we own, while we have experienced engineers for fine tuning the parameters such as focus condition, power and wavelength, route and beam angles etc.
Waterjet cutting is often used in cutting thick objects, such as metal blocks, stones or wood stock, because of its relatively low cost and energy consumption. JCL is good at creating clean and smooth waterjet cutting parts by our specialize machine and self-owned abrasives.
Plasma cutting is a very good alternative to laser and waterjet cutting, especially when you need a fast and low cost cutting service for large size metal pieces. It generates much higher power and removal rate than laser, enabling the fast turnaround for sheet metal blanks and extra material removal.
JCL owns more than 5 sets of press brakes in different tonnage, working length and stroke length. We can create a maximum 3000*6000mm size sheet metal part in our biggest machine and no more than 8mm thick blank with our largest tonnage machine.We recognize that bending sheet metal is as much about understanding material properties, we own our knowledge of producing multiple materials including types of steel, stainless steels. Aluminum, copper and brass, you can designate your special materials and our material expert is going to have a full data to analyze its properties and forming behaviors. In other words, our design engineer is familiar with the basic principles of metal bending, we can determine important parameters and specifications such as bending corner radius, bending directions, position alignments and blank sheet profiles etc.We will work with our customers closely to clear all the nuance for a simple and understandable design report. An ultimate precision with an acceptable cost and lead time is always our final goal. We guarantee a 7 days analysis report and minimum 15 days shipment with finest +/-0.1mm tolerances with our full support.
Aluminum extrusion is a very common forming technology for applications like machine customization, automotive components, construction and building and automation systems. Usually we need to design an extrusion die based on customers' drawings. This die is manufactured with a cross section profile, which basically is the design drawing, by wire cutting. JCL is able to take care of these tasks in house and machine the die with best tolerance with our machines. When the die is done, we need to install the die into an extrusion machine, where the aluminum ingot is going to be heated and pressed through the die to form the profile we want. JCL owns a full capacity of extrusion production with our partners and we also take care of post-processing of your parts such as features and end machining, surface finishing and packaging and so on.
JCL understands that our customers prefer to receive the final product with one stop service. Therefore, we have invested in complementary surface treatment equipment and collaborated with professional partners to establish a metal surface treatment processing line. With this setup, customers don't need to deal with multiple suppliers simultaneously. They can complete both the shaping and surface treatment of metal sheets in one place, significantly saving communication time and operational costs.
We employ a range of finishing techniques from sandblasting to remove surface imperfections to vibratory finishing for smoother surfaces. Moreover, our high-precision grinding and polishing machines provide a consistent and mirror-like finish. We offer a comprehensive range of coating solutions. Whether you require an anti-corrosion layer, a decorative finish, or a protective shield against wear and tear, we've got you covered. These technologies are painting, powder coating, plating, passivation, anodizing and vacuum coatings, we ensure each component receives a durable, uniform, and high-quality coat.
Welding is the inevitable way of sheet metal constructions in JCL, it's an expertise we are eager to serve for you. Our welders are adept at a variety of welding techniques, including laser, MIG, TIG, spot, flux and arc welding, ensuring we can tackle a broad spectrum of materials and project complexities. Generally, the cost ranking of all the welding technologies are spot, MIG, flux-cored, Arc, TIG and laser welding, but you need JCL advice to choose the best fitting one for your parts. Usually we need to know some basic information such as material, joining area, strength requirement and cosmetic specifications to make a decision. For example, laser welding is considered one of the strongest joining techniques for its high heat input and precision and spot weld is relatively weak, so we are leaning to choose laser welding for parts on automotive and aerospace but spot weld for connectivity of consumer products. However, we are guaranteed to use high-quality filler materials and the latest welding equipment, familiar with the surface treatment before and after the weld. Our post-weld inspections guarantee that each joint is not only strong but also free of defects.
With rich experience in all the spoken techniques, we summarize the design tips from our past experiences in over hundreds of projects. Here you can find some brief items when we are designing your sheet metal products or what needs to be reviewed with your sheet metal suppliers.
Dimension and Tolerancing
Engineering designers put a lot of time in specifying the callouts on their drawing. In addition to the labeling work on paper, they also need to have a deep understanding of the processing capabilities of different techniques and the repeatability of different equipment. These factors have the most significant impact on product dimensions and tolerances. A high-precision machine can produce products over 10 times more precisely than a relatively poor one. Moreover, different precision annotations directly affect the cost of the product. Indicating a precision that is challenging to achieve can lead to a geometric increase in product costs, which is a risk designers need to avoid.
Structures and shapes
There are common principles in sheet metal fabrication, designers should be aware of some vital structures that would deeply affect the quality and cost of final parts. They are distance such as bending radius, bending direction, bent relief, spacing and distance between tabs and notches, holes and slots, flanges and chamfers, also the size of embossed and countersink features is another important shape that needs to be taken care of. If you are familiar with different design specifications and annotation methods, it will greatly speeds up the design process, reducing your potential errors and repetitions.
Materials and Finishes:
There are thousands of different materials on the market. We need to consider the product's requirements, starting from the basic properties of the material, combining its processability, availability, and unit cost for comprehensive considerations. Additionally, different specifications for materials can greatly affect costs. Different countries often have different specifications, and designers need to understand different country systems to make the most suitable choices based on their location, reducing the difficulty of obtaining materials.
Quality and Testing:
Finally, designers need to consider a comprehensive quality control plan. Don't think this is the job of quality engineers; designers also need to consider this aspect during the design phase. Especially in setting up the testing content, a well-established testing plan during the initial sampling stage can significantly reduce product risks, ensuring stable performance after large-scale production. These testing plans often include environmental testing, strength testing, performance testing, fatigue testing, and more.
JCL offers a variety of materials both in standard grades and customized specifications. We have a comprehensive category of materials information in our database, that helps us target the right option in very short of time and provide a quote and solution to our customers. Some frequently used material sheet in JCL are
Aluminum Alloys
Grades: 1100, 3003, 5052, 6061, 6063, 7075
Specs: Gauge 8-22, thickness from 3.3 to 0.6mm
Brass
Grades: Alloy 260, Alloy 280, Alloy 360, C272, C353
Specs: Gauge 11-30, thickness from 2.3 to 0.25mm
Copper
Grades: C10100, C10200, C10300, C10500, C11000
Specs: Gauge 10-36, thickness from 3.17 to 1.27mm
Stainless Steel
Grades: 304L, 316/L, 321, 409, 430, 434, 410, 420, 440A/B/C
Specs: Gauge 7-28, thickness from 4.75 to 0.38mm
Galvanized Steel
Grades: G-60, G-90, A60, Z275, Z180
Specs: Gauge 11-30, thickness from 2.3 to 0.25mm
Please find the common finishes and their description in a table, you can choose suitable surface conditions and request samples from JCL team
Techniques | Finishs | Color | Tolerance |
As Machined | Cutting Marks | N/A | Machined to Nominal |
Polishing | Mirror Finishs | N/A | Reached after Polished |
Blasting | Satin or Matte | N/A | Not Affected |
Brushing | Brush Lines | N/A | Reached after Brushed |
Anodizing | Satin or Matte | Colors Availble | Reached after Anodized |
Black Oxidation | Not Acceptable | Black | Reached after Coated |
Electroplating | Fine & Smooth | Metallic | Reached after Coated |
Powder Coating | Satin or Matte | Colors Availble | Reached after Coated |
Process | Types | XYZ Operation Area (mm) | Working Precision / Repeatability (mm) | Axis | Model | Sets |
Punch Laser | CO2 Punch Laser | 2000 X 1500 X 8 | ±0.05 | 3 | Amada (1/2) | 2 |
Punch Laser | CO2 Punch Laser | 2000 X 1500 X 8 | ±0.05 | 3 | Amada (2/2) | 1 |
Punch Laser | CO2 Punch Laser | 2500 X 1500 X 300 | ±0.0004" / 20" | 3 | Amada | 1 |
Bending | Bending Press Stroke | 6000 X 8.5 Roll Length & Dia.:100 & 20 Fix Adjustment:Standard | ±0.01 | - | Rogos MGII8025 | 5 |
Laser Cutting | 1500W Power | 600 X 450 X 200 | ±0.01 | 3 | Quick Laser | 3 |
Laser Cutting | 3000W Power | 600 X 450 X 200 | ±0.01 | 3 | Quick Laser | 2 |
Waterjet Cutting | Gantry Series | 6000 X 3000 X 300 | ±0.05 | 3 | Dardi | 1 |
Plasma Cutting | Gantry Series | 3000 X 2500 X 600 | ±0.05 | Hans | ||
Welding | Arc, MIG, TIG, Laser, Spot | / | ±0.05 | / | HG / MZ / YLF | 12 |
We are excited to collaborate with you!
If you have any questions about our products or require custom machining services, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to assist you and provide the solutions you need.