Metalworking refers to the production activity involving the application of various processes to metal materials for manufacturing required parts, production line components, or large-scale structures. This article aims to provide an introduction to metalworking, which can be broadly categorized into three main processes: metal forming, metal cutting, and metal joining. This article will introduce you to these three types of processing, so that you can better understand the production process of hardware parts and your procurement costs.

Forming process

1. Stamping

Stamping is a process that uses dies and stamping equipment to apply pressure to metal sheets to separate or plastically deform them.

It is characterized by rapid molding through molds, suitable for mass production, and low unit cost.This process is suitable for electrical housings, metal fasteners, automotive chassis brackets, automotive covers and decorative panels

2.Casting

Casting is the process of pouring molten metal into a prefabricated mold and cooling and solidifying it to form a workpiece of the desired shape.Its characteristic is that it can form complex shapes that are difficult to cut, but the precision is low.

When producing automobile engine blocks, aluminum alloy wheels, metal handrails, and bathroom accessories, casting technology is generally used.

3.Forging

Forging is a process that applies pressure to metal to deform it plastically, thereby obtaining the desired shape and properties.

It improves the mechanical properties of materials (for example, aluminum alloy forgings are 20%-30% stronger than castings), but requires a high temperature environment.

It is often used to produce bolts, electronic components, automotive crankshafts, connecting rods and gears.

Cutting process

1. CNC machining

CNC (Computer Numerical Control) is a manufacturing process that uses programming to control machine tools to achieve precision cutting, and is a subtractive processing method.

Programming can achieve precision processing, has high flexibility, can process complex geometric shapes, reduces manual intervention, and is suitable for mass production.

It is suitable for high-precision complex parts, such as medical equipment and aviation components.

2.Turning/Milling

Turning is the process of cutting rotating parts on a lathe by combining the rotation of the workpiece with the linear/curvilinear motion of the tool. Milling is the process of cutting fixed workpieces using a rotating multi-blade tool. Material removal is achieved through the multi-axis relative motion of the tool and the workpiece.It is suitable for rotating parts (shafts, threaded parts) or flat/curved parts.

Special processing

1.Laser Cutting

Laser cutting is a process that uses a high-energy laser beam to melt, vaporize or ignite the material, and blows away the slag with an auxiliary gas to achieve precision cutting. Its core advantages include non-contact cutting, accuracy of ±0.1mm, and low heat impact. Applicable parts: Precision thin plate parts.

2. Electrical discharge machining

Electrospark machining (EDM) is a non-contact machining technology that uses heat energy generated by discharge to remove metal. It is suitable for the precision manufacturing of high-hardness and complex-shaped parts.

We recommend:

For small batches: CNC or laser processing is preferred to avoid mold costs;

For large batches: stamping or die casting to dilute mold costs.