Sheet Metal Punching Service with Mastars
Achieve scalable manufacturing and tailored design with our punched components and assemblies, with lead times as fast as 3 days.
Our online sheet metal punching service provides fast delivery of functional end-use parts. Enjoy free DFM insights, expert support, and a wide array of finishing options to fulfill your design requirements.
Punching is frequently used for:
✔️ Functional prototyping
✔️ Product testing and qualification
✔️ End use production parts
✔️ Bridge production or pilot runs
What is Punching?
Sheet metal punching is a precision metal fabrication process that uses a punch press to form and cut material. By applying force between a punch and die set, it creates precise profiles, holes, and complex geometries in sheet metal.
The punch cleanly shears the metal against the die in a rapid, repeatable motion, producing accurate features and cutouts with high efficiency.
Features achievable through our sheet metal punching process include:
✔️ Countersinks
✔️ Part profiles/perimeters
✔️ Hole features
✔️ Perforation patterns
✔️ Formed features (e.g. ribs, dimples)
Advantages of Punching with Mastars
Choosing Mastars for your sheet metal punching needs delivers key advantages for your next component or assembly project:
✔️ Rapid Turnaround: Punched parts delivered in as fast as 3 days.
✔️ Design Flexibility: Custom punch-formed features with in-house and custom tooling options.
✔️ Expert Technical Support: Dedicated applications engineers ensure your project meets all specifications.
✔️ Scalable Production Capacity: Thousands of unique geometries monthly, supporting orders from 1 to 1,000+ pieces.
Materials for Punching
Most sheet metal materials can be processed using either punching or laser cutting, though each method supports different thickness ranges. Please refer to the list below for eligible material thickness specifications:
· Aluminum 5052-H32: thicknesses from 0.040 in.-0.250 in. (1.016mm-6.35mm)
· Aluminum 6061-T651: thicknesses from 0.040 in.-0.250 in. (1.016mm-6.35mm)
· Low Carbon Steel CR 1008: thicknesses from 0.036 in.-0.119 in. (0.914mm- 3.023mm)
· CR Galvanized: thicknesses from 0.036 in.-0.119 in. (0.914mm- 3.023mm)
· Copper C101, C110: thicknesses from 0.040 in.-0.125 in. (1.016mm-3.175mm)
· Brass C260: thicknesses from 0.040 in.-0.125 in. (1.016mm-3.175mm)
· Stainless Steel 304/304L, 316/316L: thicknesses from 0.036 in.-0.074 in. (0.914mm-1.88mm)
Design Guidelines
Designing punched sheet metal parts can be intricate. To simplify your next project, we've compiled key manufacturability guidelines to consider during the design phase. Following these tips helps control costs and ensures the production of high-quality components.
✔️Hole Spacing: Position holes at least 1.5x the material thickness apart. Cluster tools allow spacing of 1x material thickness, while single-hit tools require more space to maintain quality.
✔️Minimum Hole Size: Design your smallest holes to be at least 1.2x the material thickness.
✔️Feature Standardization: Minimize unique punch feature sizes and shapes. Using consistent dimensions reduces setup time and potential tooling costs.
✔️Tolerance Specifications: Standard punch features typically hold tolerances of ±0.005 inches (±0.127 mm). Note that flat-state tolerances differ from formed-state tolerances; consult our tolerance guide for cross-bend feature guidelines.
✔️Progressive Feature Length: Consider the length of progressive features (ribs, louvers, etc.). Excessively long features may cause quality issues like warping.
✔️Form Direction: Maintain a uniform direction for all formed features. Designs with mixed form-up and form-down features risk quality inconsistencies.
The additional punching design guidelines below can be a useful resource in achieving dimensionally accurate and quality punched parts.
✔️Maximum formed feature height: 4x material thickness.
✔️The diameter of the tool station directly dictates the recommended spacing between punch-formed features. For optimal spacing, we advise using 50% of the tool station diameter.
Our Ideas Have Helped Clients Bring Hundreds Of Products To Market
Assembly
Sheet metal designs with punched features can function as standalone components, but are more frequently integrated into assemblies, sub-assemblies, or weldments.
We provide a comprehensive range of assembly services, ensuring your finished project arrives ready for immediate installation and use:
✔️ Hardware insertion
✔️ Welding (single and multiple component)
✔️ Riveting
Lead time: Assembly lead time adds 1-3 days (based on the number of components).
Finishing Options
Beyond custom features and geometries, our finishing services for punched components and assemblies let you tailor the aesthetic appearance to your exact requirements. Our available finishing options include:
✔️ Plating
✔️ Powder coating
✔️ Wet paint
✔️ Masking
✔️ Part marking
✔️ Metal surface finishing
Lead time: Most finishing options add 1-2 days per finish. Our finishing options page offers more details.
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