Metal fabrication refers to the processes involved in cutting and moulding of metal material into useful products. Stock metal components like metal rods, sheet metal, and metal bars are available in various dimensional specifications. While most metal working shapes produce products in a range of standard shapes and sizes, some customers need unique products with non-standard sizes. Custom metal fabricating involves producing build-to-order products from scratch following a pre-specified order or design.
In most cases, custom metal fabricating services are useful at all the stages of the development process. Different customers need different levels of fabrication with some looking for complete production run items while others just look for fabrication support on a component assembly project design. Whichever level the customers lie in, the processes of design, building, finishing and assembly are inevitable.
Custom metal fabricating design is the creation, conceptualization and analysis of the exact product characteristics before the process begins. It takes in to account the materials to be used in the fabrication process as well as the type of equipment required for the metal work. Design work involves the laying of the fabrication blueprint on which the entire process is founded. In large projects such as construction of bridges, buildings and network structures, the design needs to be detailed enough to guide the process without necessitating major changes. The customer might need to involve a design professional to help in detailing the blueprint for successful results.
The building process is the actual construction of the fabrication product, which involves cutting of metal pieces into exact shapes and smoothening them to fit individual part specifications. This is one of the most crucial processes in custom metal fabricating, as its outcomes determine the success of the entire project. The choice of equipment for cutting sheet metal depends on the capabilities of the fabrication shop as well as the desired results. Light sheet metal can be cut using manual tools such as shears, cutting knifes and fabrication razors. However, materials that are thicker than 0.25 inch require some level of automation to speed up the cutting speed. In some fabrication projects, the building process is the final part of the fabrication process since the product might not require any more procedures to complete.
Finishing and assembly involves gathering different parts together to form the final product. It ranges from welding procedures used to join different metal parts, riveting, and other related processes.
