Sheet Metal Cost Calculator
This tool splits a sheet metal part into its seven cost elements and shows how much of the total each one takes. Everything is expressed as an equivalent length of 1 mm mild-steel laser contour, so you multiply by your own rate. It is a cost model, not a quotation.
This is not a price. Every output below is an equivalent length of 1 mm mild-steel laser contour — the shop's busiest single resource. Multiply by your own rate for that contour and you have a cost model you can defend.
How accurate is each number?
Not in the model at all: our actual rates, material price movements, quantity breaks on material, stamping tooling, packaging, freight, duty and expedited scheduling. A part where those matter — a large order, an export shipment, a tooled programme — needs a quotation, not a model.
Where the cost sits
- Material29.5%
- Cutting33.0%
- Piercing6.0%
- Forming30.1%
- Setup1.3%
On these inputs the largest single element is cutting. Cutting scales with contour length, so the win is usually fewer holes or simpler outlines rather than a thinner sheet.
Sanity check the result against what a real quotation looks like for a small formed part: material and forming are normally the two largest elements, cutting sits behind them, piercing is small, and setup is only visible below a few hundred pieces. If this model shows something very different on your inputs, the inputs are worth re-reading before the conclusion is.
Only the setup line changes here — material, cutting, forming, finishing and inspection are per-part and do not move with quantity. That is why the per-part price falls steeply at first and then flattens.
Questions about sheet metal cost structure
Model weights are stated on the page: material 2.5 m-eq per kg of steel, cutting ∝ thickness^1.4, one pierce ≈ 0.06 m, one bend ≈ 0.45 m, coating 12 m-eq per m² of surface, setup 8 m per order.
Is this a quotation?
No, and it is not presented as one. It allocates a part between seven cost elements and expresses the result in one physical unit so you can apply your own rates. For a real number, send the drawing and an engineer will cost it against the actual machine, material and finish route.
Why is everything expressed in metres of laser contour?
Because it is the shop’s single busiest resource and therefore the fairest common denominator. Every other element — a kilogram of steel, a bend, a pierce, a square metre of coating, one order setup — is converted into the equivalent length of that contour. State a different weight and you have a different model, which is why the weights are printed on the page.
Why does the price per part fall so sharply at first?
Only one element is fixed per order: setup. Everything else — material, cutting, forming, finishing, inspection — is per-part and does not move with quantity. So the setup share halves when you double the order, and the curve flattens as setup approaches nothing.
What is not in this model?
Logistics, packaging design, export documentation, expediting, and the one-off tooling a stamped part would need. It also assumes a single finish and a single material per order — mixed colours or grades lose the batching benefit that makes finishing cheap.
How accurate is the allocation?
The structure is more reliable than the numbers. The weights reflect our own shop; yours will differ, and the largest element may genuinely change if your overheads sit differently or your machine is faster or slower than ours. Use it to find the lever, and a real quotation to price it.
Keep going
Calculators — enter dimensions, get a number
Sheet Metal Weight CalculatorWeight per piece and per batch from L × W × t, with real alloy densities.Bend Allowance CalculatorThe neutral-axis length through a bend, from thickness, radius, angle and K-factor.Press Brake Tonnage CalculatorBending force in kN and tons from thickness, material and bend length, with a 20% margin.K-Factor Calculator (Reverse)Reverse a K-factor from a real bend: outside dimensions and flat length in, K out.Hole-to-Bend Distance CalculatorMinimum hole-to-bend and hole-to-edge clearances from thickness and inside radius.Charts and checklists — read, print, work through
Sheet Metal Gauge to mm ChartSteel (MSG) and aluminium (B&S) gauge dimensions, and why we quote in mm.Sheet Metal DFM ChecklistThe 24 checks we run on a drawing before we quote it, grouped and explained.Sheet Metal RFQ ChecklistThe 12 items that make an RFQ quotable in one round, with the reason each matters.Sheet Metal Supplier Audit Checklist13 remote-verifiable checks for a sheet metal supplier, in four passes.A model is not a price. Send the part.
Upload the model or drawing and an engineer returns a costed quotation built from the real material, the real machine time and the real finishing route — with the DFM observations that would change the number.
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