What is steel fabrication and what are its uses?
Steel fabrication is the process involving the transformation of raw steel into a product or item that can be used in construction or assembly.
Steel is deemed an alloy of iron and other metals. There are a wide variety of different kinds of steels, which are used in structural and fabrication operations. Fabrication entails making a metal into the shape you need.
The raw materials are melted down and mixed into steel before being constructed into the desired shape. The process requires a skilled technician who has the experience in taking raw components and transforming them into marketable items, and there is often very little room for error. Industrial facilities use steel fabrication to create everything from vehicular parts to household appliances.
The basic methods of fabricating include cutting or burning, forming, machining, or welding.
Machining: This process involves using a specialized piece of equipment to shave away parts of the metal to make it into the shape that is needed. Some of the tools that are involved include lathes, mills and drills.
Cutting: We utilize water jet cutting, an abrasive process that uses high pressure water to cut virtually any material with a high level of precision and no distortion. Check out the benefits of water jet cutting here.
Welding: This is a common form of steel fabrication. Welding is used to bend or combine pieces to make them one piece. Check out this blog post on the differences between MIG and TIG welding. As a CT welding contractor, we specialize in MIG & TIG welding of Steel, Stainless Steel and Aluminium and use Pulsed welding machines to help control the heat put into a part, minimize distortion, and improve the quality of the parts we produce.
The following are a list of materials that are necessary for metal fabrication projects:
Plate Metal: fabricators use plate metal to form the pieces that they are working with.
Fittings: these are essential for producing and completing pieces.
Castings: They are normally used to add visual interest to the fabrication.
Formed and Expanded Metal: Expanded metal is grate-like so it is fitting for things like outdoor furniture that need to be able to let moisture flow off.
Sectional metal: “L” beams are an example of a type of commonly used sectional metal. Z shapes are also used as well as bar metal and rod metal.
Flat metal: Flat metal such as sheet metal and plate metal are fantastic for fabrication and can be added to pieces to create visual interest and texture.
Welding Wire: Fabrication requires metal pieces be welded together so it is critical to keep various types and thicknesses of welding wire nearby so that pieces can be joined to one another.
Steel fabrication products at Pro-Weld Ireland:
We have a wide range of steel fabrication products available at Pro-Weld Ireland such as the Mild Steel Tig Welding Rods 5kg A15 1.6mm.
It’s a copper coated mild steel rod with a high level of deoxidents (triple deoxidised) to enable sound porosity free welds to be made on mild and low alloy steels.
It can be used in general fabrication, power generation and chemical industries. It’s sold in a 5kg tube, 1.6 mm diameter rod.
Costs €64.59. More info on our website
We also sell the CGT-550 Weld Cleaning And Polishing Fluid and stock 1 litre and 5 litre bottles. The Cougartron CGT-550 weld cleaning and polishing fluid is used for cleaning, polishing and passivating stainless steel welds and surfaces after welding and fabrication.
It’s certified for use with Cougartron weld cleaning machines after welding stainless steel and for surface passiavation. It gives great results with both TIG and MIG welds.
Prices vary from €61.50-€147.60
More info on our website here