Sheet Metal Bending and Forming Guidelines

We’ve covered everything you need to know about bending your laser-cut metal parts from SendCutSend. You should also check out our Designing for Metal Bending page.

Bending Services

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Setup and Cost

Bending your metal parts adds a $19.00 minimum to your order, per design. Pricing starts at $5 per part, once you’ve met the minimum charge. See our handy chart below for examples.

# of Parts	Total Cost	The Math
1	$19.00	$5 per part x 1 = $5. $19.00 minimum used
2	$19.00	$4 per part x 2 = $8. $19.00 minimum used
10	$35.50	$3.55 per part x 10 = $35.55 total (29% discount)
30	$90.00	$3.00 per part x 30 = $90.00 total (40% discount)

For shipping, please allow for an additional 3-5 business days (100 pieces or more may require additional time). Most bent parts will ship ground as they will exceed 2″ in height when packed

Service and Metal Limitations

Before you start dreaming up your next project, you’ll need to know some of the limitations to metal bending.

Maximum of 3 bends per part — Need more? Request a quote.
Maximum flat size 30″ x 30″ in most materials. Bending limits.
Maximum thickness of .250”, depending on flange length.

While we’re happy to bend your parts to your hearts’ desire, there are some bends we don’t offer:

No acute angles greater than 130°
No joggle/offset bends
No curl, bump, or roll forming
No coining
No window bends
No hemming

Materials Available for Bending

Material Limits

0.030” – 0.250” thickness
Minimum flat size 1.5” x 1.5”
Max bend length 30” (Possibly less depending on material thickness)
No 6061 Aluminum
No Titanium
No AR400/AR500

Die Line Considerations

While our effective bend radius for our materials ranges from .024″ – .250″, the dies we use will span at least .472″ -1.575″ across the bend line. We cannot offer cosmetic protections along the die lines, so holes, edges, and other cutouts are subject to distorting in the bend process. Check out each material page to see what die we will use for your material of choice, and make sure your cut features are at least half the die’s width away from the bend line.

File Setup

Here are the basics you’ll need to know before you send us your first file for bending. If you have any questions, feel free to contact support.

Files Accepted by Our Instant Quote System:

SOFTWARE	FORMAT	BEND LINE
Fusion360	.dxf	Solid line (default)
Adobe Illustrator	.ai	Solid, separate color from cut lines
Solidworks	.dxf	Dashed line (default)
AutoCAD	.dxf	Dashed line
CorelDraw	.eps	Solid, separate color from cut lines
Inkscape	.eps	Solid, separate color from cut lines

Please upload a “flat” .DXF, .AI or EPS as you normally would. We do not require a 3D file for bending, although you are encouraged to attach a PDF or image preview to your order to help us understand your project.

If you design your parts in non-CAD software (Adobe Illustrator), please send us the original (native) ai file. We’ll take care of the conversion on our end. While we accept .AI and .EPS files, it’s critical that your bend lines are parallel when uploaded from these softwares or the file will delay our process.

For the fastest turnaround on your order, we recommend designing your parts in a CAD software.

To learn more about design guidelines for laser-cutting, please see our Laser Cutting Guidelines.

Flange and Base

Before we begin, some basic terms you’ll need to know are base and flange. The flange is the edge you will be bending.

Minimum and Maximum Flange Length

The minimum and maximum flange length will change depending on what material and thickness you use. Please reference your chosen material in our materials directory to see the correct dimensions.

The example here is the bending information for .040″ 5052 Aluminum.

Maximum Flat Size

Maximum flat size is 30″. Flat size is the total of your base and flanges.

Bend Lines

We will use the flat DXF (or .ai file if you use Adobe Illustrator) for cutting and bending, so please indicate your bend locations in your drawing using a line. During the ordering process, you’ll be able to specify bend angles for each line.

Use any color you wish, line colors are ignored by our system.
Do not use layers for bends.
If using Adobe Illustrator, DO NOT use dashed lines and make sure your lines are parallel to one flat edge.

Bend Deduction

Bend Deduction is used to counteract material stretch caused by forming. This is unique to each material type, thickness, and bend angle. We’ve created a calculator to help you make your measurements spot on.

Advanced-user note: All calculations should be for air bending, not coining.

Once you have your new measurements from the bend calculator, you’ll want to adjust your file accordingly. You will be reducing the length of your base and flange to accommodate the length of the bend itself, aka the bend deduction. See the illustration below for an example. The green line indicates where the bends will occur.

Acute and Obtuse Bends

The bend angle is measured on the outside of the bend. In the illustration below, you will see that the acute bend is being called out as 130°. Note: the bend radius for your part can be found on the material page or the bending calculator. We do not offer a custom bend radius.

C-Channel or U-Channel Bends

For these bends, the base must be at least 2 times wider than the flange length. For example, a 1” flange on two sides requires a minimum 2” base (base is the remaining material, or the “bottom of the U”). The base can be greater than 2:1. For example, a 5” base with 1” flanges is fine (that would be a 5:1 ratio).

Bend Relief Notches

To reduce bulging in the corners of your bent parts and prevent tearing, you can incorporate bend relief notches into your design. Bend relief notches are just narrow notches or circles put into the corners of your design. These notches should be at least 50% of the material’s thickness in width and the depth should equal to Bend radius + Material thickness +.020”. These notches allow for less stress on the inner radii of the flanges, and will help keep the corners of the bends from interfering with the base material. Check out our guide to designing bend reliefs.

Odd Flange Shape

While we do allow for irregular shapes for your flange, we will need a flat piece to bend. To do this, add tabs to make a flat surface parallel to the bend.

Take a look at the example below. The irregular shape is still attached to the flat area and will be removed upon receiving parts.

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What to Expect

Simple, single bend parts will have a +/- 0.015” tolerance, bend to edge
Multi bend parts +/- 0.030” Bend to edge. Each bend adds at least .015” tolerance
+/- 1-degree tolerance on all bend angles.
Witness marks from the bending process will be visible. These can become deeper and more noticeable depending on the material.
We do not offer special protection available for cosmetic parts at this time.
Some bulging at the ends of the bend will be expected .

You’re Ready to Bend

Although metal forming is a deeply complex process, we here at SendCutSend aim to make part bending as easy as possible. Questions? Email us anytime: support@sendcutsend.com

Happy bending!

Pre-flight Checklist

Before you upload your design files, be sure to go through our pre-flight checklist:

File is a two-dimensional vector format file.
All holes and cutouts are at least 50% material thickness (no less than .063" for waterjet cut parts)
File is built at a 1:1 scale, preferably in inch or mm units
All objects are on the same layer
All stray points, duplicate lines, empty objects and text areas have been removed
No shapes have open contours
All shapes have been united, combined or merged
All text has been converted to outlines or paths
Cut-out text (reversed text) has bridges or has been stencilized

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