Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering
Hole-to-Edge and Hole-to-Bend Distance in Sheet Metal: DFM Minimums
How far should a hole sit from an edge or a bend? The DFM minimums that keep holes from tearing out or distorting, with tables and diagrams.
Read MoreSheet Metal Bend Radius Guide: Minimum Bend Radius by Material and Thickness
How tight can you bend sheet metal before it cracks? A practical minimum-bend-radius guide by material and thickness, with grain direction, springback, and DFM rules.
Read MoreGalvanized vs Galvannealed vs Pre-Painted Steel: When to Use Each
Same substrate, three coating philosophies. The right pick depends on what touches the part next: paint, weather, a welder, or the customer’s hand.
Read MoreAluminum for Sheet Metal: 5052 vs 6061 vs 3003 (When to Use Each)
5052, 6061, and 3003 are not interchangeable. A practical guide to picking the right aluminum alloy for a sheet metal part, by formability, strength, welding, and finish.
Read MoreMaterial Substitution: A Lower-Risk Way to Upgrade Sheet Metal Part Performance
Same part, two materials. Material substitution upgrades the alloy or coating in an existing sheet metal part without redesigning the geometry, preserving the tooling and most of the validation work. Run through a DFM lens, it is often the lowest-risk, fastest way to fix corrosion, strength, weight, finish, or supply problems.
Read MoreStainless Steel for Sheet Metal: A Practical Guide to 304, 316, and 430
Three identical panels, three different stainless grades. Picking the right one is rarely about the part — it’s about the environment, the budget, and how the part gets made. Welcome to Atlas Tech Talks, a series dedicated to sharing insights, best practices, and technical know-how from the world of sheet metal fabrication. In each post,…
Read MoreAtlas Takes the Spotlight: Our Journey with Returnable Packaging Featured in The Fabricator Magazine
We’re thrilled to announce that our innovative approach to returnable packaging has been featured in the latest issue of The Fabricator Magazine! This exciting article, titled A Metal Fabricator’s Relationship with Returnable Packaging, shines a light on how our commitment to safer, more efficient shipping solutions is transforming the way metal fabricators do business. Celebrating…
Read MoreAtlas in Space – Supporting Supercomputing and Advanced Testing
Space exploration and testing demand components that are both precise and durable. At Atlas Manufacturing, we are proud to support that work with high-precision parts for aerospace applications. From components for pre-launch acoustic testing to enclosures for supercomputing systems in space, our work helps make these technologies possible. Supercomputing Enclosures for Space Atlas fabricates enclosures…
Read MorePioneering Supercomputing in Space
Atlas Manufacturing and the Spaceborne Computer Atlas Manufacturing supports supercomputing in space through our work on the Spaceborne Computer program. Atlas built the housing for the Spaceborne Computer, which has orbited the Earth more than 8,900 times aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Atlas In Orbit Our hands touched hardware that went farther and faster…
Read MoreThe Buy American Act and Buy America Requirements – For Sheet Metal Manufacturing
Three different domestic-sourcing regimes can land on the same fabricated sheet-metal part, and they do not say the same thing. The Buy American Act governs what a federal agency buys directly. The Buy America requirements govern what gets built with federal grant money for transit, highways, rail, airports, and water systems. The Build America, Buy…
Read More