What is Sheet Metal Shearing?
Operations that cut sheet metal, even bar-stock and other shapes, have various purposes. Shearing is a general name for most sheet metal cutting, but in a specific sense, designates a cut in a straight line completely across a strip, sheet or bar. Shearing are used as the preliminary step in preparing stock for stamping processes, or smaller blanks for CNC presses. Cutting off means severing a piece from a strip with a cut along a single line. Parting signifies that scrap is removed between two pieces to separate them. In blanking, a whole piece is cut from sheet metal. Just enough scrap is left all around the opening to assure that the punch has metal to cut along its entire edge. If the object is to cut a hole and the material removed is scrap, the operation is called punching or piercing. Slotting refers to the cutting of elongated holes. Perforating designates the cutting of a group of holes, by implication small and evenly spaced in a regular pattern. Notching removes material fro
