Aztec Welding

This week presented us another opportunity to mentor a young and passionate welding enthusiast. We appreciate Largo High School reaching out to us, nice beads!

When section bending is used in the steel fabrication process, a section is progressively bent via a set of bending rolls shaped to the cross section of the bar. On each pass through, more bend is created, and the process is repeated until the desired curvature is achieved.

In steel fabrication, fabricators work with raw materials that come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. This includes everything from flat, square, and round bars, to square and rectangular tubes, to I-beams, plates, and sheets.

In the steel fabrication process, a basic primer is typically applied to nearly all assemblies. This is done as a protective step to stop the formation or rust when the steel is exposed to weather during storage, transport, and handling.

A press brake is one of the most common heavy tools used in sheet metal fabrication. This machine presses the sheet metal between a punch and die, which can be a variety of shapes depending on the application and desired shape of the sheet metal.

Oxy-fuel welding is one of the oldest welding processes and is still widely used for the welding of pipes and tubes, as well as repair work. Oxy-fuel is a favorite of artists, as it is especially well-suited for the fabrication of metal-based artwork.

The current record for the world’s deepest underwater dry weld was set by Global Industries in 1990, at 1,075 feet deep. But that is only half as deep as the world’s record wet weld, set by the U.S. Navy in 2005, at 2,000 feet deep.

One of the most common metals that’s used for sheet metal is stainless steel. The most commonly used grades of stainless steel are 304 (the most common), 316 (with more corrosion resistance than 304), and 410 (heat-treatable stainless steel.)

So what’s the difference between drilling and milling when it comes to steel fabrication processes? In drilling, circular holes are bored through the metal with a drill bit, whereas, with milling, non-circular holes are cut, using a milling machine.

In steel fabrication, the raw material is first cut to the right size with tools like a special band saw or cutting torch. The metal can then be formed using dies, tube-bending machines, rolling machines, and other types of fabrication.