# Welding Guidelines

Welding guidelines for single bent sheet metal parts, including supported materials, maximum thickness, and weld types.

::warning
**Assembly welding is not supported yet. Coming soon.** Welding is available for single bent sheet
metal parts only, welded along the part's own seams. We can't weld two or more parts together yet,
and tube welding will come with assembly welding.
::

[Welding](/services/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](/resources/guidelines/bending) 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"
- **Maximum size:** the [bending](/resources/guidelines/bending) limits. A welded part bigger than 95" x 47" x 47" is quoted for local pickup; see [maximum part size](/resources/guidelines/max-part-size).

::warning
Galvanized steel is not supported for welding.
::

For available thicknesses by material, see the [materials pages](/resources/materials/sheet/aluminum).

## 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, and leave a gap between the flanges:

| Material thickness | Corner setup     | Gap between flanges |
| ------------------ | ---------------- | ------------------- |
| 0.032" to 0.063"   | Full overlap     | 0.010" to 0.020"    |
| 0.074" to 0.135"   | Half overlap     | 0.010" to 0.030"    |
| 0.160" to 0.250"   | Corner to corner | 0.010" to 0.050"    |

- **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.

:weld-corner-setup

Keep the gap near the low end of the range on thin material, where a wide gap is hard to bridge
without burning through. Thicker material can take a wider gap.

## 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.