Steel Fabrication

Steel fabrication is the process of creating steel structures by bending, cutting and burning them in to shape. This is commonly used in steel based machinery and is a commercial process. Steel fabrication is an involved process and usually requires multiple steps. These steps range from presenting an idea to a client, coming up with final plans for that idea, bidding on the idea and then the actual process of fabricating the steel in to different parts. This process is typically done through both human process and automation.
 
Process
The process of steel fabrication is a three step process. The steps, in order are typically cutting/burning, forming and assembling. By going through all three processes, steel can be transformed from a sheet of metal, in to a functioning tool or part. While the process is something to adhere to, it isn’t set in stone. Sometimes, one of the steps can be skipped, as needed, to still get a final result. These three steps are used as a combination of personal work and automation and each step is thoroughly checked by both human and computer before moving on to the next step. This ensures precision.
 
Cutting/Burning
Cutting and burning is the first step in the steel fabrication process. In this step, a sheet of metal has specific pieces cut or burned out of it. This can be done by several processes. One of these is to cut the metal, with a saw, by hand. Another is to use a soldering gun to burn through the metal. The third is to use an automated machine, such as a CNC machine to automate a cute of metal. Usually CNC machines are a lot more precise and capable of cutting metal in very intricate details.
 
Welding
Welding is typically the biggest step in steel fabrication. Because steel is incredibly tough, it is hard to bend in to shape. Because of this, individual pieces of steel are usually cut out during the cutting and burning phase and then those shapes are welded together to form 3D shapes. One of the dangers of this process is that excess heat being applied to steel can cause the steel to warp or bend. Because of this, special care is taken to make sure that heat is only being applied to where the weld seam is needed; keeping the steal in tact.
 
Assembling
The final step of steel fabrication is that of assembling the piece. In this regard, because the steel has primarily already been “assembled” in to place, what we are talking about here is making the piece production ready. This entail sanding down any weld joints, to make them flush with the rest of the metal in the piece. This can be done through sandblasting or with automated, industrial sanders. Once the welds are smoothed out, the piece is then painted and sent for a final inspection before making its way to the client and, either placed for sale, or installed.