The ultimate guide for making perforated panels is created to help individuals with information improvement and help manufacturers produce better products for the industry. These panels have become one of the most practical systems of sheet metal materials in the construction business. Punching and stamping machines are required for producing these versatile materials due to the patterns and holes that exist on these products. Most of the perforated panels feature pre-painted galvanized steel, aluminum composite, zinc, copper and even simple stainless steel in their structural system.
Production of perforated panels started about a hundred and fifty years ago, and the primary reason for creating these panels was to filter coal in the mining industry. However, it had one big drawback: requiring many laborers to punch the patterns and holes into the metal panel manually. The process was energy and time consuming, and it was not efficient. The excellent data is that the process has become relatively fast due to the automotive machines by the growth of technology and manufacturing improvement. These industrial and modern machines increase the punching speed and provide precision in creating particular patterns.
Along with many functional materials such as aluminum composite panels, architects admire the beauty of perforated panels and utilize them in interior and exterior projects in the modern era. Using these decorative panels, creating new and creative designs has become possible while providing eco-conscious and efficient performance for the building. Most designers recommend using these products in their construction applications due to their significant sustainability and functionality. The great thing about perforated panels is that they can be used for renovation and current construction projects interior and exterior remodeling applications.
Advantages of Perforated Panels
Architects and designers can benefit from the range of various color finishes and patterns that come with the panels’ production and fantasize limitless designs and create a modern and unique looking appearance for any type of facilities from residential to commercial purposes. These panels consist of many advantages that make them perfect for any demanding projects. The followings are some of the noticeable benefits of perforated panels.
Aesthetics: Perforated panels offer a modern rhythmic and unique appearance to complement constructions. They come with various types of shapes, sizes, patterns and finishes, and they make the material perfect for achieving a specific look for the facility. While creating aesthetics for the facility, they also allow owners to maintain the standard privacy factors.
Versatility: The panels used as perforation are incredibly versatile, meaning that they can be bent and configured easily to the demanding design. They are also structural components and lightweight decorative elements.
Durability: Another essential advantage of perforated panels is that they can withstand harsh weather conditions while providing the ability to control and equalize pressure due to the high strength to weight ratio characteristics.
Energy Efficiency: Perforated panels balance the ventilation and light, allowing the designers to manage interior heat from the sun’s natural source. With the heat deflection, the energy requirements from HVAC systems’ energy requirements start decreasing, and the internal temperature becomes more consistent.
Eco-Friendly: Due to the recyclability, energy reduction, sustainability and innovation invitation in creative designs, perforated panels are considered as the ultimate green material of developing construction projects. Additionally, these panels decrease the amount of using metal, reducing transportation fuel consumption to the construction site.
Production of Perforated Panels
Manufacturers often start the perforation production with a winding sheet of metal with a particular thickness. Sheet metal is thin metal materials that are easy to be fabricated. However, the primary production process relies on few practical methods that each method has its unique advantages and purposes. These methods are punch press, rotary pinned and laser process.
Punch Press: This method is the most common system for creating perforated panels. The machine features sharp tools, and the properties of them are chosen depending on the shapes and holes sizes. They are two types of punch presses in the industry which are Wide press and XY axis machine. The first one contains long rows of ram, and it produces the panels by striking and perforating an entire line of holes in one motion. In contrast to Wide press, the XY axis machine does not feature a long row of ram and contains a single die or limited number of clumps for pattern punching. The XY axis machine’s perforation is done section by section across the panel, and it is suitable for producing complex and non-repetitive designs.
Rotary Pinned: Another fundamental method or machine for creating perforated panels is the rotary pinned system. The method features large cylinders that have sharp needles along the exterior side of the machine. The perforation is done by moving the sheet metal underneath the machine and punching the panel to create holes with a rotating pattern. Manufacturers heat the needles to melt the hard metal and simplify the process. The rotary pinned method is relatively fast, and it is perfect for producing identical patterns at a high pace.
Laser: Laser perforation is the newest and the most modern method for creating perforated or decorative panels, which utilizes beams to produce holes by melting the metal’s surface under the production. One of the laser method’s advantages is its precision, and the only drawback of the system is that it is time-consuming and costly.