Metal fabrication is an essential part of the modern industrial age, and it is used in many products and industries worldwide. Metal is all around us, and it impacts our lives in various ways, from simple household items to complex industrial machinery.
With that said, have you ever stopped to ponder how metal is shaped, formed, and treated for the desired outcome?
The answer to that question lies in metal fabrication processes.
Metal fabrication is an umbrella term that refers to the various processes used to shape and transform metal into a desired form or product.
This process involves a combination of methods, tools, and techniques that are designed to create specific shapes, sizes, and finishes.
Metal fabrication is a complex and technical process that requires a high level of expertise, precision, and attention to detail.
There are several metal fabrication processes, each with its unique set of techniques, tools, and methods.
Let's take a closer look at each of them.
Forging is a common practice for intricate metalwork.
This process involves using forced compression to achieve the desired shape.
Done by hand, forging involves heating metal to the point that it can be bent, shaped, and formed with the use of a hammer or die strikes.
One of the oldest forms of metal fabrication processes in existence, forging is still widely used by blacksmiths and fabricators for detailed and artistic work to this day.
Casting, on the other hand, is the process of pouring molten metal into a mold.
From there, it is cooled to the point that it becomes hard.
Casting is widely accepted as the go-to process for mass-produced products where the same mold can be used over and over again with minimal variance in the final outcome.
Drawing is another fabrication process that utilizes tensile force to pull metal into a tapered die. This stretches the metal into a thinner shape.
Drawing is most commonly used in sheet metal fabrication processes where the final product is a box-like or cylindrical vessel.
Forming is the process of bending metal to the desired angle.
This is most often accomplished with a brake press that applies pressure to metal so that a crease is formed.
Other forms of folding can be done with the use of a hammer with clamp bars that hold the metal in place.
Machining is a subtractive shaping process that removes unwanted material to create a form. Within this substrate, there are several different forms including drilling, turning, and milling. Turning uses a lathe to rotate metal at a speed that allows cutting tools to remove the metal in a circular fashion.
A CNC machine is the most common tool used for turning and often involves precise measurements. Drilling uses a bit to protrude a hole in the metal. Lastly, milling is very common among metal fabrication processes by which multi-point cutting tools remove metal from the workpiece. CNC machines are also used for this process which normally functions as a final finish process to create a desired texture or appearance.
Extrusion is another metal fabrication process where metal is forced between an opened or closed die.
Here, the piece of metal is reduced to the cross-section of the die. As a result, a cavity is formed.
The end result is usually a cylindrical shape that’s common in piping or wiring.
One of the most versatile metal fabrication processes is cutting.
On the surface, the process is nothing more than cutting large pieces of metal into smaller ones.
Technology like lasers, waterjets, power scissors, and plasma are all utilized to create exacting cuts.
This process creates holes in a workpiece.
Punch presses have specially designed turrets that hit the metal through a die to produce holes in specific locations.
Punching is used in both light and heavy metalwork.
Similar to punching, stamping involves creating indentations in metal, instead of holes with the use of a
press or handheld hammer.
The most common applications for stamping are creating letters, shapes, and images.
Welding is the art of adjoining two or more pieces of metal through a mixture of heat and pressure.
This process is most common in large-scale or industrial fabrication projects.
It’s popular because various pieces of metal can be conjoined no matter their shape or size.
Depending on the project, the most common types of welding include MIG, stick and arc, TIG, and flux-cored arc.
Hup Hing specializes in stainless steel fabrication work on Lab types of equipment, semiconductors
types of equipment, and food industries types of equipment as well as sports types of equipment.