The world of manufacturing involves many steps that ultimately lead to a finished product. A fabrication metal shop uses various machines and tooling found in the machining industry to build products. The term fabrication basically involves the building of metal structures by using bending, sawing and cutting. The final step in fabrication metal work is taking all the pieces (made through different steps) and assembling them to create the finished goods. Cutting different pieces for fabrication metal work is done via shearing and sawing. CNC machines are used here to ensure that perfect replication of the pieces is accomplished. These computer controlled machines help cut down on manufacturing time and allow for various steps to be performed via one machine. Anco has led the way for fabrication metal shops and has all of the state-of-the-art machines required to make sure jobs are completed in a timely manner. Plasma cutting is a popular way to cut metals during fabrication because they can cut through metal materials up to 5 inches thick. The versatility of plasma cutting and plasma torches makes them an integral part of fabrication. Bending metal can be a heavy task depending on the tensile strength of materials used.
This can be accomplished by hammering (machine powered or manually). Once all the fabricated pieces are cut, bent and ready the final step is assembling them to make the desired product. The most common way to assemble metal piece is by using one of 3 major techniques. Welding is the most common and can be done using various machines and temperatures. Welds will be done according to required weight and strength specifications of the final product. Riveting, common in the aerospace industry, is another way to assemble you parts. Riveting is great when lighter, thinner metals are used, like aluminum. Sometimes bending is used to shape parts and to join them together using a ‘bent seam’. Anco has over 35 years of experience in the fabrication of metals and products. Their high-tech shop can perform any of the aforementioned tasks in house. Sheet metal and steel are the most commonly used materials when it comes to fabrication. Some processes require only machined input. However fabrication metal work can commonly require input from both human and machine. The act of fabrication leads to an end product that is called a ‘fabrication’. A shop that performs such tasks, like Anco, can also be called a ‘fab shop’. Although there are other types of processing called metalworking, machining and metal stamping they are not considered to be part ‘fabrication’ but can be a part of the ‘fabricating process’.