Insights
Guides and answers on enclosures, server racks and retail displays, written by the Ideal Design engineering team for the people who specify and buy them.
Answers you can specify against.
Four guides so far, each answering questions buyers actually ask us, with the numbers we build to. More publish through 2026.
How to Specify a 42U Server Rack
Dimensions, load ratings, airflow doors, finish standards and the exact details to put on your RFQ, from the factory floor's point of view.
Sheet Metal Welding Techniques, and Where Robots Earn Their Place
Choosing between MIG, TIG, spot and laser on thin gauge, the five things that actually control distortion, and the batch size where a robotic cell pays for its fixture.
A Practical Guide to Press Brake Bending
Air bending versus bottoming, tonnage by thickness, bend allowance and the K factor, springback, and the six design rules that decide what a bent part costs.
CAD and CAM in Sheet Metal Fabrication, and What They Do Not Fix
What design software genuinely removes from a job, what it leaves untouched, how the data should move between CAD, CAM and revision control, and what to send a fabricator.
Question we should answer next?
Send it over. The engineering team writes these from real enquiries.