Learn & Help

Everything in
one place

Start a project, see how sheet metal is V-grooved and bent, choose a metal, a finish and a colour, download datasheets, or find out who we are. Pick a topic below.

Send a drawing Questions and answers

Checking a folded stainless steel part with a vernier caliper

Get started

Start
here

Tools

Getting started with the design tools

Draw a profile or a panel, see it in 3D and make a BOQ. Every tool starts with an example.

Process

How a job runs (SOP)

From your enquiry to dispatch, step by step, and who does what.

V-grooving

V-grooving vs normal bending

Why a V-grooved corner is sharp, and when you need it.

Operator locking the punch tooling into the CNC press brake

Questions

Questions and answers

Thicknesses, sizes, finishes, quantities, delivery and more.

Quote

Send a drawing

A DXF, a PDF, a sketch with sizes or a photo is enough to start.

Your enquiry

Where is my enquiry?

Type your enquiry number and e-mail or phone to see its stage.

How the work is done

Complete steps,
in the order they happen

01Drawing reviewThe design desk checks the section: legs, angles, groove positions, the flat size and the bend order. A sketch with sizes is enough to start.

02Cut file and nestingThe flat pattern becomes a DXF; the parts are nested on the sheet with a 4 mm gap and numbered.

03Laser cuttingThe blanks, holes and patterns are cut on the CNC fibre laser (2 m × 4 m bed) and deburred.

04V-groovingWhere a corner is seen, a V-groove is milled along the bend line (sheets up to 4 m), leaving a thin web of metal.

05BendingThe 5-axis CNC press brake (up to 3 m) folds each bend in the planned order; the first piece is checked against the drawing.

06Welding, finishing, colourJoints are welded and ground flush; the finish is applied after the fold; PVD or powder coating is arranged by MCS through approved coating vendors.

07Inspection, packing, dispatchSizes, corners and finish are checked against the approved sample; parts are numbered, packed and dispatched with the packing list.

The full procedure (SOP)V-grooving vs normal bending

Drawing and real view

The drawing,
then the part

Drawing: a section marked up for direct V-grooving, every leg dimensioned

Real view: the V-grooved T profile before bending

Drawing: a sheet of V-grooved sections with lengths and quantities

Real view: the folded profile on the workbench

Drawing: the 3D model of a folded part on the design desk

Real view: the U channel folded from flat sheet

Every drawing we make is checked against the first piece before the batch. The section explorer shows each shape with its real part and its drawing.

How to use the tools

Each tool
in one minute

Profile builder

Draw a profile, see it in 3D

Type each leg in mm and its bend (left or right, the angle), pick the thickness, metal and finish. The drawing, the 3D view and the flat size follow. Finish: add it to your BOQ.

Panel builder

A folded or perforated panel

Give the panel size and the folds on each side, then the holes: shape, size, pitch and the border kept blank. The sheet it comes from is shown.

Fluted builder

A fluted (corrugated) panel

Set the flute width, depth and angle; the panel never comes out wider than the sheet you chose, or it offers a split.

BOQ builder

Your bill of quantities

Every item you finish lands here with its drawing. Download the PDF, send it to MCS for a quotation, and find it again in My BOQs.

Perforation studio

Design a hole pattern

Round, slot, square or hexagon holes; pitch, stagger and borders; or let a photograph set the hole sizes. The open area is worked out for you.

Louver planner

Plan a louver screen

The opening size, blade depth, pitch and angle give the blade count, the frame and a drawing.

Bend simulator

Watch a V-grooved bend

A normal bend and a V-grooved bend side by side, folding in 3D: turn the corner to see why one is round and one is sharp.

Sections

Can this section be made?

Every shape we fold with its real part and section drawing, and the limits that apply. Open one in the builder with your sizes.

Sheet wizard

Which sheet for my part?

Six short questions on the use, the finish and the place suggest the metal, grade and thickness, with the reasons.

Colours

PVD and powder coating colours

See a PVD colour on stainless steel, or any RAL powder coat on aluminium, mild steel or GI, on a part shape. Screen colours are a guide; the sample decides.

Converter