For someone who is new to the sheet metal stamping industry, it can be difficult at first to distinguish between sheet metal stamping and general metalworking. Let me explain:

　　Sheet metal stamping is a comprehensive cold-forming process for thin metal sheets, encompassing operations such as shearing, blanking, bending, welding, riveting, die forming, and surface treatment. A defining characteristic of this process is the uniform thickness of each part. It involves using sheet metal to fabricate everyday items such as chimneys, iron drums, fuel tanks and oil cans, ventilation ducts, elbows and reducers, round‑to‑square transitions, and hopper‑shaped components.

　　It can be further divided into two categories: non-mold-based processing, which involves shaping sheet metal using equipment such as punch presses, laser cutters, shearing machines, press brakes, and riveting machines. This method is typically used for prototype production or small-batch manufacturing and tends to be more costly.

　　Mold-based processing: Sheet metal is processed using fixed molds, typically including cutting dies and forming dies, primarily for high-volume production with lower costs.

　　Metalworking refers to a forming process in which external forces are applied to sheet metal, strip stock, and other materials using punching presses and stamping dies, causing plastic deformation or separation to produce workpieces with the desired shape and dimensions. Based on the process, metalworking can be classified into two main categories: separating operations and forming operations. Separating operations, also known as blanking, aim to separate the stamped part from the sheet material along a specified contour while ensuring that the quality requirements for the separated cross-section are met. Forming operations, on the other hand, seek to induce plastic deformation in the sheet material without breaking the workpiece, thereby producing a part with the required shape and dimensions. Key metal stamping processes include blanking, bending, shearing, deep drawing, bulging, spin forming, and straightening. In actual production, multiple processes are often combined and applied to a single workpiece.

　　Sheet metal stamping and hardware fabrication share many similarities; the choice of process depends on the specific product design and customer requirements, rather than being a one-size-fits-all decision.