Sheet Metal Working Aesthetic

In this post, I discuss the aesthetic of fabricated sheet metal components.  Sheet metal structures are often presented in aspects of architecture, furniture design, industrial machinery, and art sculptures. However, I will mainly focus on the aesthetic of sheet metal in the design of race cars. In the past, I worked in automotive fabrication and was frequently faced with designing sheet metal assemblies that had to satisfy a commonly accepted aesthetic of the industry.

Some critical aspects surrounding the aesthetic of fabricated sheet metal components include well defined edges and crisp bends. These key features often lead to a minimalistic and modern looking aesthetic. Where necessary, compound bends can be used where sheet metal geometry is complex, and the metal is often intentionally shrunk or stretched at one side of a bend line to avoid warping the thin metal and giving a smooth continuous radius on bends that appeals to the viewer.

To add to the aesthetic, a fabricator will often apply a surface finish to sheet metal components. Common choices of surface finish include leaving the surface raw, a high shine polish, textured, or brushed finish.

Maintaining symmetry and familiar geometric shapes is another aspect of sheet metal working that adds to the aesthetic. Making parts with rectangular, triangular, or square faces are often appealing to the viewer and aesthetically pleasing. Additionally, these components will often incorporate soft, radiused edges which give a more natural look to components and allow for the edge of one sheet metal component to transition nicely with the interface or overlap of another component.

Another complement to the aesthetic of crafted sheet metal components is the use of patterns and stamped shapes on the faces of sheet metal. These patterns serve a purpose to not only be appealing to the eye but also aid to the performance of the part during its lifetime. Bead rolling sheet metal is a way of stretching thin metal between dies and adding grooved patterns to the sheet metal which also strengthens the panel. Additionally, bead rolling can be used to flange the edges of sheet metal and allow for panels to sit flush with each other. Dimple dies are another specialized tool and provide a way to strengthen a sheet metal panel that offers a nice aesthetic pattern while strengthening and reducing the weight of a panel. Both increasing strength and decreasing the weight of these panels are desired when constructing a nimble racecar.

The image shown below is of an ignition box mounting bracket made by myself for a race car and has been dimple died to reduce weight and increase strength as well as give an appealing aesthetic to the component.

This image shown below is an example of a sheet metal door panel from a car with patterning made using a bead roller to stretch the metal into shape.

The image shown below illustrates a brake caliper floater bracket that has been fabricated out of sheet metal by me. The dimple died holes on the top of the component were added to aid in the aesthetic of the component and increase the strength.

The image shown below is of the STP-Paxton Turbo Car. This car was built for the 1967 Indianapolis 500 Race and constructed out of a lightweight sheet metal monocoque. The panels were each painstakingly made by hand using known metal working methods of the time and riveted together to be strong enough to withstand the torsion from racing conditions, yet lightweight and offering a pleasing aesthetic.

The image below shows a fabricated firewall from a car made of sheet metal. The intricate patterns were created using a bead roller to create the deep grooves and an English wheel to stretch the panel flat again.

The image shown below illustrates the sheet metal paneling of a rear bulkhead on a race car. Bead rolled patterns were added to the panels to increase the rigidity as well as add a pleasing aesthetic. Additionally, the sections of sheet metal are overlapped and flanged to make the interfaces between components more subtle.