Metal work
Metal work
service
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LASER CUT
WATER JET CUT
OXY CUT
FOLDING
BENDING
WELDING
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LASER CUT
WATER JET CUT
OXY CUT
FOLDING
BENDING
WELDING
Turnkey metal
work service
From start to finish, we offer an integral service to provide
the customer with a completely finished product
START
Material cutting
FINISHES
Surface treatments
TRANSFORMING
Auxiliary operations
MOUNTING
Assembly of parts
metal work service at Dekide
Do you need any of them?
Competitive prices
Short lead times
From prototypes to series
work
What is metalworking?
Metalworking is the generic term used to encompass all manufacturing processes involved in making metal parts, normally starting with sheets or even structural steel profiles and tubes. Starting with the raw material in sheets (in most cases), different manufacturing processes are applied to produce the desired part. Finally, most of the parts are coated with a surface treatment, giving them the necessary characteristics to ensure that they will last over time. Most of these treatments are intended to prevent corrosion, but they can also be designed to improve the appearance of a part.
Metal fabrication processes
available at Dekide
about the different processes
of metal cutting and transformation
Laser cutting
Laser cutting refers to a procedure used to cut through metal materials of different thicknesses by means of a laser beam which is guided, formed and bundled. When the beam strikes the workpiece, it heats the material to the extent that it either melts or vaporises. The full strength of the laser beam concentrates in a point with a diameter often smaller than half a millimetre. When the heat concentrated in this area is more than can be dissipated by means of heat conduction, the laser completely pierces the material, starting the cutting process. While other processes involve the use of large-scale tools that apply enormous strength to the sheet metal, the laser beam completes its task with no contact whatsoever. This means that the tool suffers no wear, while the workpiece suffers no deformities or damage. Out of the main thermal cutting methods, laser technology offers the highest cutting quality and performance in the majority of materials, whether metal or non-metal.
Laser can conduct the widest variety of cutting applications, from precision-cut grooves to the quality cutting of steel sheet with thicknesses of up to 25 mm. This makes laser the most effective method for cutting thinner pieces. When it comes to finer sheets, laser cutting offers a wide variety of advantages compared to other cutting processes:
SPECIFICATIONS
Advantages:
- > Minimal thermal stress on the affected area.
- > Good to excellent dimensional accuracy in more intricate cuts.
- > Higher quality results than oxy cutting for surface finishes.
- > Very fast on thinner material and slower on thicker materials.
- > Can cut a wide variety of materials.
- > Laser is the best option for cutting fine carbon steel.
- > A single movement can produce final cuts in both directions, thereby reducing or eliminating the waste parts left over from metal sheets after cutting.
- > Easily automated process.
FEATURES
- MAXIMUM DIMENSIONS
- L: 6000mm x B: 2000mm
- SHEET THICKNESS
- From 0.1mm to 25mm:
- -Carbon steel, up to a thickness of 25mm
- -Stainless steel, up to a thickness of 20mm
- -Aluminium up to a thickness of 10mm
- TOLERANCE
- ± 0,2mm
- QUANTITY
- From one-offs to long runs
Water jet cutting
This is a high-quality, fine-precision technology used to obtain perfectly finished workpieces. It enables the cutting of materials with absolutely no change in their properties, eliminating the stress generated by other types of heat cutting methods.
Water jet technology is a cold cutting process whereby a supersonic jet of either pure water, or water containing abrasive matter, cuts away the material. The water jet reaches very high pressure which comes out through a tiny-bore nozzle at great speed. To increase the cutting power, the supersonic water jet expels abrasive materials.
This technology can cut a very wide range of materials, from metals to plastics. The enormous options of materials and thicknesses offered by water jet cutting makes this a highly versatile technology.
Where laser technology starts to fall down, water jet cutting stands out both in quality and precision.
SPECIFICATIONS
- > Cold cutting.
- > No material deformation.
- > Cuts all types of materials.
- > Very little material waste.
- > Clean and environment-friendly production.
FEATURES
- MAXIMUM THICKNESS
- Up to 200mm
- POSITIONING ACCURACY
- +/-0,15 mm
- GENERAL TOLERANCES
- From +/-0.12mm to +/-0.30mm depending on the thickness and type of material.
Oxy cutting
This is a technique widely used to cut metal parts. The method consists of a thermal cutting process during which a jet of oxygen is applied to the metal object after heating, producing oxidation.
Oxy cutting involves two stages:
> In the first, the steel is heated to high temperature (900º) by means of the flame produced by the oxygen and a combustible gas.
> In the second, an oxygen jet cuts the metal and eliminates the resulting iron oxides. This is why the process is called oxy cutting, given that oxygen is the element that finally produces the cut.
FEATURES
- > This is a cheaper method, particularly when working with very thick sheets.
- > Oxy cutting produces clean cuts.
- > It is recommendable for extensive projects involving myriad different parts.
- > Possibility of large formats.
- > It can also be used to prepare the edges of parts to be welded when they are of considerable thickness.
- > Lower cutting quality in thinner sheets.
- > Deformation of materials in finer thicknesses.
- > The strong heat applied affects a large area.
Folding
Once a sheet has been cut, either by laser or oxy cutting, it can be folded into the desired shape.
Folding metal plate is a process whereby the workpiece is shaped by the force applied using a specialised machine to produce a plastic deformation and thereby obtain the desired geometric shape.
The folding process basically occurs when the punch pushes down into the «V-shape» die to fold the sheet placed between both parts.
For the best sheet folding results, a number of factors must be taken into account, such as the elasticity coefficient of the sheet to be folded, the tools or the pressure to be applied. Otherwise the end result will bear very little resemblance to the one required. The maximum thickness that can be folded is mainly limited by the power of the machine.
Bending
Bending is an operation whereby a piece of sheet metal is shaped by applying strength of a certain intensity. The sheet is curved by means of flection on passing it through rollers to obtain a permanent shape corresponding to the desired radius. Depending on this radius, we will either use different kinds of rollers or will adjust the machine parameters.
A number of factors must be taken into very careful account when proceeding with the bending process, such as the elasticity of the material, the bending radius and the direction of the fibres, to ensure that the procedure is a success.
Welding
In most cases, laser or oxy cut sheets require a welding process to join them together.
Welding is a process whereby two or more metal sheets are joined to one another either by applying heat or by adding a filler to create a pool of melted material. That material solidifies when cold, thereby creating a more resistant joint than the base material.
While the above process is the most common, different kinds of welding exist depending on the desired result and the material to be joined.
The most commonly used welding methods are:
MIG-MAG
MIG-MAG welding refers to Metal Inert Gas or Metal Active Gas and is also known as gas-shielded metal arc welding using consumable wire electrode. The arc is produced by a continuous wire electrode and the workpieces are protected by inert or active gas, hence its name.
This is a highly productive process, making it the option most widely used by industry. utstanding as well as its production rate is the possibility of welding from fine sheets to somewhat thicker workpieces.
TIG
Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding uses the heat generated by an electrical arc formed between the tungsten electrode and the workpiece. This allows the metal to fuse in the joint area. The work can be conducted without a filler metal or by adding one in the shape of a consumable rod.
TIG welding offers very high quality results and can be used on a wide variety of materials with thicknesses ranging from 8 to 10 millimetres; it is particularly suitable for thinner sheet metal.
ARC / ELECTRODE WELDING
Arc welding is the most basic of all welding types and is the easiest to learn.
This type of welding can be used for manufacturing, construction and some repairs. Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) is useful for metals with a thickness of 4 millimetres and over. For thinner sheets, MIG welding is generally used.
SAW / SUBMERGED ARC WELDING
Submerged arc welding (SAW) is an electric arc welding process whereby the arc and the molten weld are covered, or submerged, by a granulated flux blanket. This means that here you cannot see the welding arc burning between the electrode and the workpiece.
This is a high-performance procedure, outstanding for its deposition rate. It is a process widely used to weld very thick workpieces generally requiring a large-sized weld bead.
Materials, treatments
and tolerances
Available materials
for CNC machining
These are the most common CNC machining materials at Dekide. If you want to find out more about their characteristics, go to our materials section.
Treatments and
surface finisihes
Surface treatments and finishes are applied after machining and can change the appearance, surface roughness, hardness and chemical resistance of the parts produced.
Tolerances for
CNC machining
Success stories
Success story 1
Mechanically welded parts
Customer AN ENGINEERING
Sector RAILWAY
Quantity 3 UNITS
Material STEEL
THE CASE
An engineering company had designed hoisting equipment for a customer in the rail sector. These are mechanically welded parts for use in the handling of heavy parts, meaning that they have high quality requirements.
Their usual manufacturing supplier had too much work and was therefore unable to complete the job in the time needed by the engineering company In addition, this was a part requiring several manufacturing processes (laser, oxy cutting, welding, machining and painting).
THE SOLUTION
Dekide succeeded in supplying the parts completely finished and at a highly competitive price in only a month.
Success story 2
Bushing
Customer STEELWORKS
Sector METALLURGY
Quantity 500 UNITS
Material BRONZE
THE CASE
A steelworks located in Northern Spain very regularly subcontracts the manufacturing of bronze bushings. These are parts that wear down frequently, meaning that they repeatedly purchase them in batches of 500 units. Given the high consumption of this kind of parts, the Purchasing Department decided to try and find a cheaper supplier and sent a request for quote to Dekide.
THE SOLUTION
After analysing the parts, Dekide offered a price 20% lower than normally paid for the part by the steelworks. Dekide has its own warehouse, meaning that it offered to keep a buffer stock at its facilities to guarantee an unbroken stock flow.
Success story 3
Precision part
Customer TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
Sector EDUCATION
Quantity 1 UNIT
Material ALLOY STEEL (F-1252)
THE CASE
A group of engineering professors and students had conducted a project to design a part in alloy steel to be exposed to very demanding work stress. In order to study its viability they wanted to start by building a prototype on which to run a number of mechanical tests. This is a part of complex geometry and precision. Its production can only be guaranteed by a supplier with special equipment and experience in precision machining.
THE SOLUTION
One of the students discovered Dekide through social media and requested a quote on our website. They received a quote in less than 48 hours and 14 working days later the part was in the university. After running the test and making a few tweaks to the design, the university team decided to make another 5 units.
From prototypes
to mass
production
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