Sheetmetal forming refers to various processes used to convert sheetmetal into different shapes for a large variety of finished parts such as automobile body panels.
Its ductility is the key to the formability of sheetmetal, so choosing a suitable material is vital. Sheet of 1mm mild steel was therefore selected as the material so as to lessen weight of the car.

Sheetmetal being cut into a desired shape

Shape of components were designed and drawn with Inventor 8 first. The files of each component were then saved in the form of dxf (Data Exchange File).

DXF possesses features of supporting all PC-based CAD products and two-dimensional graphics file format. However, it should be noted that we needed to choose AutoCAD R12 format during the saving process. Then AutoCAD R12 files were imported into the CAM software Teksoft 2D, which was used to set paths of the press tools.

Paths of the press tools were converted into the program code of the CNC Turret Press machine. CNC Turret Press Machine was turned on and our product was fabricated.

Shape edges of the sheetmetal were removed and the sheets were bent by using Folding Machine into desired shapes.

We should take heed of types of tool we used and sequences of cutting path, or else it might cause damage to the cutting tools.
For instance, circle-shaped cutting tool was used to punch holes and cut curves. While square-shaped and rectangular-shaped cutting tools were used to cut vertical and horizontal lines respectively.
Moreover, we should take notice of the last tool path. Overlapping with the first path was needed so as to protect the cutting tools from being damaged.

Mistakes were easily generated when we did not plan the procedure of folding. This was due to the fact that folding was an irreversible process.
Furthermore, the folding machine was operated manually, and errors were therefore easily made. With an unaided eye, it was hard to judge whether the sheet metal was bent to 90 degree or not.
Thus, the folding angle of the machine should be set manually. This was our own adjustment that die was raised to the folding line marked previously.

Since errors were made in previously steps, there was no exception for the assembly part.
It was found that nail could not fit into 2 different sheet metals no matter how hard we adjusted the position.
We were suggested to drill hole through the sheet metals directly after fabrication. Nail could thus be got through.