Every part flattens
Bent and rolled parts are checked to flatten: arcs concentric and one sheet apart, thickness exactly the sheet-metal rule. Signal converts or rebuilds what does not, and can make every missing flat pattern as proof.
Measure every part, join it, build the structure.
Thirteen commands for stainless, steel and aluminium. One export reads the model and calculates what laser, tube, bending, welding and finishing need. ASSEMBLY declares how the parts are joined; BUILD turns a plan sketch into a whole bar of modules that fit your sheet. The drawings, nests, summaries and quotes all come from the same numbers, so they agree with each other and with the model.
Step 1 · Signal Export
What the export knows about every part.
Signal Export opens as a status board. Every output shows whether it is current, stale because the model changed, or has never been made, and stale ones come ticked. One run measures the whole assembly and records, for every part:
Identity
Part number from your vocabulary, its subassembly, quantity per assembly, and whether it is made, bought or reference only.
Material
Material and gauge, mill finish for stainless (2B, 3P, No.4), and whether the stock comes pre-finished.
Flat pattern
Developed size, cut length, pierces, engraved marks, inner cut-outs as true arcs.
Forming
Every bend's angle, direction, radius and length, and whether the part must be rolled instead.
Tube
Profile and wall, cut length, both end cuts with their angles, every hole from the reference end.
Joints
Weld seams with type, length and size, fastener sites, rivet nuts and weld nuts, and torch access to every seam.
Finish
Coated area measured from the model, minus what the welds cover, and which seams are seen.
Weight
Per part, per subassembly and for the whole assembly.
3D
The presenter model your customer, your shop and your crew open in a browser.
Production files
The files your machines run, written for you.
Nobody draws, converts or renames a part file. Every export writes a DXF for the laser, one per part, filed by material and gauge with the operation in the layer name, and an IGS for the tube laser, one per tube, filed by section and wall, bent tubes and fold blanks included. The shop drawings and inspection CSVs sit right beside them, so production gets one complete set.
One export · Tube Frame
- Laser Cutting/
- Steel/18ga/DXF/ 1 DXF
- Steel-Galvanized/14ga/DXF/ 3 DXF
- Tube Cutting/
- Steel/3x2 14ga/IGES/ 9 IGS
- Drawings/ laser · tube · welding · finishing · installation 16 PDF
- Quality/ inspection points from the sheets 15 CSV
- Nesting/ sheet and tube nests 3 reports
- Laser
- DXF per part · material / gauge
- Operation
- in the layer: cut, engrave
- Tube laser
- IGS per tube · section / wall
- Bent tube, fold blank
- IGS, cut straight first
- Drawings
- PDF per process, EN or ES
- Inspection
- CSV, same points as the balloons
Step 2 · Process by process
Read, calculate, write.
Below, each operation with what Signal reads from the model, what it calculates, what it writes, and the live sheet it printed. The parts are from Bar Tonala, a stainless bar with a steel tube frame. Every sheet prints in English or Spanish, in the language of the shop that builds it.
Laser cutting
Cut length, pierces, marks and time.
- Reads
- The flat pattern, material and gauge.
- Calculates
- Cut length, pierces and engraved length per piece and per order; cut and marking time from the feed for that material and gauge; the nest on sheets you can buy, with your spacing and margin.
- Writes
- Laser DXF per material and gauge with the operation in the layer, the nest, and the inspection sheet with its numbered checks.
| Cut length per piece | 5,648.48 mm |
| Pierces per piece | 9 |
| Engraved weld marks | 8,200.95 mm |
| Feed (proposed until calibrated with your supplier) | 18,000 mm/min |
| Machine time, × 2 pieces | 1.86 min |
The nest itself is on the Nesting page; a whole period's jobs together, in Plan.
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
Bending and rolling
The sequence, not just the angles.
- Reads
- Every bend in the sheet-metal model.
- Calculates
- Bend order and which end goes to the backstop for each bend, direction, angle and radius, bend-line length, developed length, and whether the part must be rolled (180° or more, or a radius of 15 thicknesses or more).
- Writes
- Bending sheet with the flat pattern as it enters the brake, the formed section to inspect, and a rolling sheet with blank and seam gap for rolled parts.
| Bends per piece | 4 × 90° up, R 1.27 |
| Order | 1 → 2 → 3 → 4, from the ends to the centre |
| Backstop | End C, D, C, D |
| Developed length | 632.95 mm |
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
Tube cutting
A bought tube, cut and drilled from one end.
- Reads
- Tube bodies, profile and wall, keyed joints and folded blanks.
- Calculates
- Cut length, both end cuts and their angles, every hole measured from end A and whether it passes through both walls, and the tube length to buy.
- Writes
- Tube sheet with the tube drawn as a tube, the hole table, and tube-laser files for keyed and folded tubes.
| Cut length | 121.08 mm |
| End cuts | 45° at A, 45° at B |
| Hole H1 | 60.5 mm from A, hex 9.6 for a rivet nut |
| Tube for 2 pieces | 242.16 mm |
Keyed and folded tubes are declared with Tube Joint and Tube Fold, below.
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
Welding
Sequence, weld inches and access, per step.
- Reads
- Weldments declared in the model, every contact between their parts.
- Calculates
- The welding sequence (frame first, sub-units on the bench, tack before final), weld type, size and inches per joint, per step and per assembly, torch access to every seam, which seams are seen and must be continuous and polished, and the weld size the simulation requires.
- Writes
- One sheet per step with AWS symbols, the parts list ballooned, and an approval band. A redrawn sheet is pending again.
| W1 butt, continuous + stitch | 2 × 12.49 in |
| W2 butt | 3 × 10.00 in |
| This step | 49.08 in |
| Per frame, all steps | 99.08 in |
| × 9 frames in the assembly | 891.71 in |
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
Finishing
The area to coat, measured.
- Reads
- The finish on each part and whether its stock comes pre-finished.
- Calculates
- Coated area per part from the model's own faces, minus what the welds cover. Galvanized and pre-painted stock skip finishing; stainless mill finish is treated as the material.
- Writes
- Finishing sheet with the spec, the parts covered, and a table of readings the paint shop fills in.
| Parts covered | 10 part types, 139 pieces |
| Total area to coat | 9.530 m² |
| Film thickness | 70 µm (60–90) |
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ InspectStep 3 · ASSEMBLY panel
Joints, declared once.
Every joint you declare is recorded with the model. The installation sheets, the hardware buy-list, the welding list and the cost all read it, so a joint is never drawn one way and built another.
Fasten: pick two parts, get the joint.
Pick the part that is clamped and the part that receives. Signal chooses the hardware from the materials, sizes the hole from how each part is made, lays the screws out on every contact and cuts the holes, even in a linked part's own design.
- Hardware
- Sheet or plate to tube: hex rivet nut · sheet to sheet: weld nut · into wood or MDF: insert nut
- Fit
- The hole error each process leaves: laser, every bend after it, tube laser, weld distortion, CNC in MDF or hardwood, hand drilling. The fit is the tightest standard clearance that still assembles.
- Standards
- ASME B18.2.8 and ISO 273 clearances, overridden by your company standards where you have them.
- Pattern
- Screws at no more than 300 mm pitch, 25.4 mm from the ends, one or two rows by the width of the contact. Holes you already modelled are kept.
- Writes
- The holes, cut and checked · the joint for the export · screws, nuts and lengths for the buy-list and the installation steps
Tube Joint: tubes that find their own place.
Key one tube into another with features cut on the tube laser. The tubes self-align before anyone picks up a torch, which saves fixtures and fit-up time even when the joint is still welded. Every tab, lug, hook and slot is sized from the two tubes and the material.
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ InspectTube Fold: one blank instead of mitred pieces.
Pick a chain of mitred tubes and how each corner is made: one bend, or two half bends with a flat between so the corner is not sharp. The model is not changed. Signal derives the straight blank, V-notches it on the tube laser, and the chain is folded instead of cut and welded at every corner.
Unfold Tube shows that blank right on the model: the straight tube the laser cuts, with every V, relief, tongue and hole, and the bend lines marked, in place or beside the folded chain. It is graphics only, so the model never changes.
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
⤢ InspectStep 4 · BUILD panel
A whole bar from its plan sketch.
Bars, counters and shelving share their construction from one job to the next. Signal reads it once, registers it as your style, and builds the next one from its outline: modules that fit your sheet, your laser and your brake, with as many shared parts as possible.
1 · Structure from Sketch
From the plan
Pick the sketch faces where the modules go, the entrance and where other equipment sits. Signal places a rib at every station, builds the panels from the rings and splits the run into modules, one component per module design. A preview shows the modules on the plan first: one colour per design, seams in dark, anything that will not fit the sheet or the site access in red.
2 · Register Style
Keep the construction
Save a finished bar as a style: the section at every station, the shelf and front profiles, the corners, its parameters and weight per metre.
3 · Build from Style
Build the next one
Draw only the outline. Runs, corners and ends come from it; modules are the longest your sheet, laser and brake allow, at a bay pitch the simulation has proved, and the splits are ranked by shared parts.
Bar Tonala
Rebuilt from its plan sketch: stations no more than 625 mm apart on the countertop edge, 8 modules from 3 designs and their mirrors, 36 ribs from one section, and every flat part checked to fit a 4' × 10' sheet.
Step 5 · Check, prove, approve
Problems found in the model, not on the floor.
Before the parts are cut: every part flattens, walls follow the top, nothing collides, and the welding is reviewed and approved. Whether the structure holds is on the Simulation page.
Every sheet, on demand
Laser, bending, tube and welding sheets drawn from the last export, filed by process, material and gauge, while you keep working in Fusion.
Approve the sequence
For each weldment, the anchor, the sub-units built first and their order. Approve it or correct it with a reason. The sheets redraw, and every decision is kept to train the next.
Approve the sheets
Approve each welding sheet or record a discrepancy against exactly what it showed. A redrawn sheet is pending again; the set is released only when every sheet is approved.
Walls follow the top
Every wall under a countertop is measured along its top edge against the countertop's outline. On a curved bar it found a corner wall 1.54 mm inside the edge. Signal can rebuild the wall on the outline, or you mark it not an issue.
Nothing collides
Every pair of parts that occupy the same space: clashes, thin slivers, and fasteners in their holes. Show frames the overlap on the model. Nothing in the model changes.
What the whole job needs, and what to buy for the period, is in Plan. Quantities only: Signal for Fusion never prices; your rates stay in Signal, which turns these numbers into a quote.
Customer drawings
What the customer signs comes from the same model.
General arrangement, overall sizes, weight, finish and the modules as they arrive on site, generated for approval before anything is cut. Bar Tonala: a 6,200 × 3,180 mm stainless bar, 577 kg, delivered in nine pieces.
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect
Drawn by Signal · from the Fusion model⤢ Inspect