An Elegant Design Solution
A client reached out needing a few custom sheet metal design brackets to mount DIN rail breakers and VFD drives inside a server cabinet for his reverse osmosis plant. These would serve to mount his switchgear as well as Variable Frequency Drive’s (VFD’s) into a server cabinet that could easily be installed and mounted in place.
After confirming the layout and sourcing datasheets for the components, I designed a set of modular sheet metal design brackets tailored to the task. One of the biggest time-savers on this project was the creation of a parametric core template — a single file I could reuse and iterate across all designs.
Each bracket was laser-cut and bent from sheet metal, then powder-coated for protection. I included thoughtful features like gland holes for cable routing, and we used Rivnuts and cage nuts to make assembly as easy as possible.
Why Sheet Metal
For this particular project there was no better solution. Given the size of the elements needed and their simplistic requirements, Sheet Metal Design was the way to go.
It is a cost effective material that only marginally increases in cost the larger it becomes. Other manufacturing techniques (Such as injection molding, machining) would not come close to the low cost of sheet metal. Add in the high temperature tolerance and, after powder coating, the water resistance, sheet metal was the way to go.
The parametric design meant that all versions could easily and quickly be iterated on to produce a whole range of options and requirements.
Software Used: Autodesk Inventor
Manufacturing: Laser-cut & bent sheet metal, powder-coated
Deliverables: DXFs, bend drawings, renders
Highlights:
- Clean, production-ready designs
- Parametric workflow for quick iterations
- Simple, effective bracket system for industrial integration
If you’re in need of manufacture ready parts for your project, please reach out and let us help you!