The Stages of Structural Steel Fabrication

Steel Detailing Australia

What are the Stages of structural steel?

Cutting Structural Steel

First, structural steel is cut by fabricators through sharing, sawing, or chiseling with different tools that include plasma torches, water jets, and laser cutters. This is just the first stage of structural steel fabrication that is typically done in a manufacturing facility that is closed and has abundant safety precautions in place to protect workers.

Bending Structural Steel

The second step to fabricating structural steel is to bend the alloy. Fabricators either hammer the steel manually or use machines. The decision on whether to do one or the other usually depends on how much repetitive bending the project requires. The more repetitive bending needed, the more likely the fabricator will rely on machinery.

Assembling Structural Steel

The final step of creating a structure involves combining the different parts of steel together. This is also usually done by welding—the application of heat to the steel parts to slowly join them together—but the pieces can also be bound together with adhesives or rivet construction.

To shape the pieces of steel into a structure, fabricators use equipment and design software to supervise the project. Regardless of the industry, most steel sections are produced in the facility and only afterward assembled on-site.

Stage 1 – Ideation, blueprint and shop drawings

Ideation stage can be creative as per the requirement of using steel components. Here the fabricator can make any structural steel products that you are looking for. Blueprint: – Drawing is created through different software which undertakes requirements, code compliances and specifications. Conversion of Blueprint into Shop Drawings. To complete the processing of steel it will be converted into shop drawings that will adhere to logistics of the project including deadlines and budget.

Structural steel fabrication involves cutting, bending and welding steel to make a structure. Unlike various types of welding in which steel alloy is repaired or strengthened, steel fabrication is when pieces of steel are put together to form different structures that are usually of predefined sizes and shapes. This process requires skilled and experienced technicians who can take raw components and transform them into marketable products hence not everyone is capable of fabricating structural steel.

Fabricated steel is an expensive investment. For the money you pay, you’ll get the fabricated steel fitted to whichever specifications you gave the contractor.

If you still have no concrete design plans for the fabricator, they can provide you one. Fabricators have dedicated and skilled teams of engineers and architects who can put your vision to paper.

Aside from that, the different parts and sections that you’ve specified will have been tested and assembled together before it’d be shipped to you. This ensures that the parts are all working together, and any flaws are addressed before shipping.

If you’ve specified the building of custom parts which are outside the typical shapes that the contractor builds, its costs will be included in the total bill too.

We recommend finding a well price Steel detailing company to help bring down the overall cost.