Steel Fabrication Capabilities and More from Nelson Steel Products

Steel Fabrication

In its simplest form, steel fabrication is the transformation of raw material. In this case, it’s various kinds of steel into machines, components, structures, and other equipment. What begins as raw steel emerges as finished goods. Some are complete in and of themselves while others are destined to be building components or parts for other more complicated structures or machines.

Robotic Welding

Welding is the heart and soul of steel fabrication and the primary means of joining formed components. Before the advent of robotic welding equipment, the skill and attention to detail of individual welding operators were major factors in welding quality: the strength, accuracy, and appearance of weldments. While the skill of welding craftsmen still plays a big role in steel fabrication, robotic welding has made substantial inroads.

Laser Cutting

Laser cutting uses a focused beam of high-energy laser light to cut various materials. The beam, when aimed and controlled by a computer, burns, melts, vaporizes, or blows away by a jet of assist gas the material cut. Industrial lasers have become a mainstay in manufacturing and are used to cut flat sheets, structural components as well as piping and tubing.

Press Brake / Forming

One of the oldest and most fundamental metal fabricating techniques, press brake bending and forming bends metal by forming it along a straight axis. Punch and die sets are used to create "V"-shaped, "U”-shaped or channel-shaped configurations.

Punch Press / Stamping

Punch presses, turret punch presses (with several tools), and stamping presses are other workhorses of a steel fabricator. In a punch press, sheet metal is sized or shaped as pressure is applied to a die holding the material. The resulting configuration depends on the form and construction of the die.

Tube Bending

Today steel fabricators employ several methods of tube and pipe bending to create countless products and parts. Tube bending and pipe bending are generally thought of in terms of round stock. Square and rectangular tubes and pipes may also be bent, but they require special consideration. However, regardless of the shape of the tube or pipe, a variety of factors such as wall thickness, size, tooling and lubricants influence the bending process.