Welding Guidelines
Welding closes up the corners and seams of a single part so it ships as one rigid piece instead of a formed blank with open edges. It is a common finishing step for enclosures, boxes, brackets, and any part where the seams need to be sealed or stiffened.
Welding is only available for single bent sheet metal parts. Every welded part has to meet the bending guidelines first, so check your flanges, bend angles, and feature placement there before setting up welds.
Welds are added in the quote, directly on the 3D preview of your part. Choose a weld type for each seam and the price updates with the rest of your order.
Welding Capabilities
Material Range
- Materials: Aluminum, Steel, Stainless Steel
- Maximum thickness: 0.250"
For available thicknesses by material, see the materials pages.
Setting Up Bent Parts for Welding
How the flanges meet at a corner decides how well it welds. Set up each welded corner in your model based on the material thickness:
| Material thickness | Corner setup |
|---|---|
| 0.032" to 0.063" | Full overlap |
| 0.074" to 0.135" | Half overlap |
| 0.160" to 0.250" | Corner to corner |
- Full overlap: One flange extends past the other by the full material thickness, so it covers the edge of the adjoining flange completely.
- Half overlap: One flange extends past the other by half the material thickness.
- Corner to corner: The flanges meet at their outside corners with no overlap, leaving a V at the seam for the weld to fill.
Leave a 0.010" gap between the flanges at every welded corner.
Weld Types
Each seam can be welded one of four ways:
- Full: A continuous weld along the entire seam
- Stitch: Short welds with gaps between them, 0.5" long with 1" gaps by default. Both are adjustable.
- Tack: Small spot welds that hold the seam together without running a bead along it
- Manual: Drag along a seam to place weld segments exactly where you want them
Stitch welds put less heat into the part than a full weld, which helps limit distortion on thin sheet. Any weld can also be ground to smooth the bead after welding.
What We Can't Weld
- Assemblies of two or more parts (coming soon)
- Tube parts (coming with assembly welding)
- Galvanized steel
- Flat sheet metal parts
- Material thicker than 0.250"
Not sure if your part can be welded? Upload your STEP file and our software checks it in seconds.