When it comes to designing a product, going from an initial part design to a custom metal fabricated part is not always a straightforward process. This is where 3D modeling services can streamline the process of taking your CAD drawing from engineering to prototyping to a clear 2D plan for custom metal fabrication.
This is why it’s important to work with a structural steel detailer who has fabrication experience, such as navigating CAD, 3D modeling, and CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) software to gauge the most time-efficient processing method for your part design. This is especially the case with structural steel detailing, where there are multiple steps before the product design can move on to other stages of product development.
First, let’s look at the critical design phase and how it plays into the structural steel detailing process as a whole.
Design Analysis Drives Custom Metal Fabrication
As we noted above, metal fabrication design is the process of making a part more than just a concept. It’s putting an idea into tangible 2D and 3D terms. Think of your design as your “first draft” in your custom metal fabrication.
Following the creation of your initial product design, a steel detailer can take this draft and begin using 3D modeling to create shop drawings for the steel fabricator. This is where any necessary changes can be made to the part design to maximize part creation.
It’s important to remember that just because you have a product design, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it can be manufactured as such. This is especially true for custom fabricated steel products, which often go from the “design” step along to a “fabrication design” step prior to the product moving on to the other stages of product development.
This is why you need an experienced steel detailer like Southern Metal Fabricators, who can work as your engineering and part design partner to analyze a variety of factors to ensure that your end product:
- Can be successfully fabricated.
- Won’t sacrifice strength, durability, or integrity.
- Will be able to be put together or arranged in the manner intended.
Metal Forming Is Where Your Product Takes Shape
Your structural steel detailing partner must be able to properly bend, shape, punch, and form metal to meet the vast majority of custom metal fabrication demands. Custom metal forming entails forming the raw stock into the desired shapes using industrial machines capable of generating the forces and pressures needed to alter the metal to precise tolerances.
For example, sheet metal rolling is a metal forming process that often involves specialized hot rolling for the creation of raw metal stock. For most custom metal fabrications, cold rolling is often used to shape sheet or plate metal into cylinders or curves. Plate rolling creates curves, while angle rolling creates defined angles, usually at 90 degrees.
Metal bending is where both mechanical and CNC hydraulic press brakes “bend” metal plates up to 12-feet long to any angle. This is also called “press braking”. With four press brake machines in our facility at Southern Metal Fabricators, our largest press brake is a 400-ton monster that can take on ¾-inch steel plates while our ten-tonner handles more delicate projects.
For heavier steel punching, our 50-ton hydraulic web and flange beam punches provide more punching power, even for repeated punches in mass productions. But when more precision is called for, we use our CNC 30-ton Strippit punch press for consistency and accuracy.
Metal Cutting Is Key to Meeting Structural Steel Specifications
Custom metal cutting services are essential to meeting your industrial specifications for structural steel detailing. The cutting process may use specialized saws, shears, and sources of extreme heat, which can include high-definition plasma and laser cutters. A subset of cutting is punching, which creates holes or openings through pieces of metal.
For custom metal fabrications, Southern Metal Fabricators can cut metal to almost any size or shape — from delicate sheets of copper to thick carbon-steel I-beams. No matter the scale, we’ve got the machines and staff of experienced operators to meet nearly any specification.
Our metal cutting capabilities include metal sawing, CNC plasma cutting, steel plate shearing, and additional metal laser cutting services, thanks to our state-of-the-art equipment, such as our Trumpf laser cutter.
Finishing Helps Ensure a Quality Custom Metal Fabrication
A full-service custom metal finishing shop is key to ensuring quality custom metal fabrication. At Southern Metal Fabricators, our wide range of onsite finishing services includes surface preparation and final finishing. Our structural steel detailing expertise means that we know how quickly carbon steel tends to rust if it’s stripped down to white metal, so we aim to counteract that tendency with immediate painting.
These custom finishing services include:
- Metal surface preparation: We can prepare metal surfaces for surface preparation grades SP1 – SP10. This may include steel blasting for a superior finish while saving valuable time and labor expenses. We also offer finished metal using wire brush or metal bead blasting techniques.
- Hot-dip galvanizing: We often do hot-dip galvanizing after a structure or sub-assembly. We can also order galvanized material and fabricate with it — an approach we often take when making outdoor industrial ladders and stairs.
- Metal fabrication painting: After a surface has been prepared, applying primer and paint using a controlled paint booth helps ensure a quality finish. With each layer of paint or primer, we can gauge the thickness of the coat and document it if a job requires especially strict tolerances. We also apply direct-to-metal (DTM) paint, which is essentially a combination of primer with finish paint to seal metal from the elements in one coat.
Custom Welding Services Are Essential for Quality Assemblies
In addition to structural steel detailing, Southern Metal Fabricators offers custom welding services to ensure every custom metal fabricated assembly and subassembly fits together as planned. Our certified welding professionals collectively have 30-plus years of experience in all the codes and requirements that govern custom metal fabrication.
For example, we’re familiar with ASME and American Welding Society protocols, as well as Canadian welding standards (CWB). We also provide quality products and supporting documentation every step of the way.
Our in-house welding equipment includes MIG gas metal arc welding machines, as well as TIG welders and stud welding machines. We are also qualified to weld structural steel according to the American Welding Society AWS D1.1 (carbon steel above 1/8” gauge) and AWS D1.6 standards (stainless steel above 1/16” gauge).
Selecting the Right Steel Detailer for Your Custom Metal Fabrication
As we noted earlier, it’s important to work with a structural steel detailer who has the experience to understand your unique industrial requirements for custom metal fabrications. A good detailer must possess the following characteristics to be successful, especially during the critical fabrication design phase.
Look for characteristics such as:
- Communication skills: Your detailer must collaborate with other professionals, such as the designer and the fabricator when drawing the fabrication design plans. This can prevent mishaps if design changes are required to optimize a part for fabrication.
- Familiarity with industry standards: Your structural steel detailer should be familiar with your industry standards, especially if the fabricated end product is going to be used as part of a construction project. OSHA, AISC, bearing limits, and more must all be top of mind for a good detailer.
- 3D modeling and design software expertise: Detailers need to be familiar with CAD, 3D modeling, and CAM software to gauge how to create a custom fabricated product. If needed, your detailer can circle back with a designer to communicate and collaborate on where any changes must be made to optimize the part for fabrication.
Structural Steel Detailing Requires Fabrication Know-How
Structural steel detailing and custom metal fabrications build the framework of our daily lives, from agriculture hoppers and silos to petroleum tank-access ladders and stairs to utility water towers and tanks. This is why so many steel manufacturers and fabricators choose Southern Metal Fabricators as their detailing partner because experience matters when it comes to their essential support systems and components.
In addition to our 32 years of fabrication experience, we’ve invested in a fleet of industry-leading automation for materials processing to serve as your off-site structural processing center.
Visit our structural steel fabrication page to learn more benefits of outsourcing your next detailing or processing project. Or give us a chance to say, “Yes, we can do that!” by contacting us today.
