Metal Fabrication. If you aren’t from the industry and you’ve never had to hire someone to do it for you, you might not know much about it. But the concept is fairly simple? Melding, shaping and combining metal into shapes for various construction, design, and safety projects.
The fab industry (as we call it) is actually much more complex than you might guess, however. Today, Megstar Industries takes a closer look at some of the work we do and a few things you might not have already known about it.
Fabrication: A Multistep Process
Every metal fabrication job is different – that’s just the nature of the beast. What you might not know, however, is that this kind of work calls for several steps in order to complete.
Metal fabricators perform cutting and shearing, machining, welding and forming work in some combination for most jobs they do. It’s a finely tuned process, and their flawless execution ultimately determines the development time and quality of any project.
There’s A Lot Of Equipment Involved
If the process of metal fabrication is multifaceted, the machinery used to do it covers most of the shop floor. Equipment ranges from metal fabricators like table saws and press brakes, lathes, grinders, and other specialist machinery.
Every job is different. What you need to use and what can be left out tend to be specific to the job you’re about to do, but if you’re going to offer a full range, there’s a lot of equipment.
Fabrication Has Its Limits
Yes, though some players in the industry may ask you to believe otherwise, there are some things that are out of our hands. Most of the time, these come down to doing work in too short of a period of time.
Shop equipment and materials give us access to different processes but can also bring their own limitations. Many shops offer specific metal fab operations, but then send parts out for finishing. Similarly, fabricators may try specific design specs and find that they don’t work with the materials requested.
Materials Have Different Utilities
When you work with metals in different industries like this, there’s a lot of careful planning involved. Not only is there an expectation from clients to use materials to their own wants, but also to have work done to a high level of quality.
These two factors actually influence each other. Certain techniques generate better results, structure wise, than others, and these differ from project to project. They have to understand the materials they are using, and each one has its own structural properties. Tensile strength and formability have an impact on your ability to create a shape with the material, but also on the structure’s safety.
Aluminum melts at a lower point than stainless steel, for example, making it much more versatile.
Megstar Industries
When it comes to metal fabrication, we could talk all day. But, for the best in action metal fab services, we’d prefer to speak to you directly. Visit Megstar Industries or get in touch today for more on our professional portfolio.