If we look around us, we will find many products which have been manufactured using process of metal fabrication. To begin with, things ranging from aerospace parts to paper clips and everything in-between is in the form of alloy or metal stock. Subsequently, various metal fabrication processes are utilized for transforming them and giving them desired shape and form.

We would like to add here that not only industrial or commercial companies utilize fabrication process, oftentimes homeowners also require metal fabrication to customize metal parts to fulfill any specific requirement they have.

In this context let us look at different metal fabrication processes and what they are used for.

 

Different Metal Fabrication Processes – Material Removal Process | Deformation Process 

Different fabrication techniques are utilized depending upon the requirement. Normally, any manufacturing process can be divided into two broad categories, consisting of removal or deformation process. Let us look at both these processes in this section.

Material Removal Process:
Cutting Metal | Machining | Punching | Blanking | Stamping | Shearing | Nibbling

 

Some of the methods which are part of the material removal process include:

  • Cutting Metal: It consists of use of aviation snips for cutting metal. Power scissors are another option for cutting metal and require less amount of manual effort. Other options consist of laser beams and mechanical saw blades.
  • Machining: Machining on CNC lathe is used for removing material from sheet metal. Additionally, such material can be rotated against any cutting tool to achieve desired result.
  • Punching: Here pressure is applied by punch and die tool for creating a hole inside the material as well as for removing the scrap.
  • Blanking: In this process piece of material is removed from a larger sheet. Usually, in this type of fabrication blanking is performed for multiple pieces together.
  • Stamping: This is similar to punching, however, the main difference is that here die is used for raising a specific portion of the metal instead of cutting it.
  • Shearing: In shearing two tools are combined together for creating a long cut with one of the tools above and other one located below sheet metal for applying pressure.
  • Nibbling: Here a contour is cut by making several overlapped slits in the material to create elaborate shapes.

 

Different Types of Metal Fabrication – Commercial | Industrial | Structural

Deformation Process:
Bending | Roll Forming | Spinning | Deep Drawing 

In this metal fabrication process force is applied over material for altering its shape and achieving specific design. Some of the techniques utilized for this purpose include:

  • Bending: Here press brake machine is commonly used having dies which pinch sheet metal for forming crease. It has limited usage due to component’s movement and configuration shapes which can be achieved for the dies.
  • Roll Forming: In this process a series of several bending operations are utilized for shaping metal. The metal is forced through roller dies and results in deformation as well as bending of the material.
  • Spinning: It is also known as spin forming which is used specifically for fabrication of cylindrical components.
  • Deep Drawing: This process is used for stretching the metal to achieve required shape. Use of tensile force results in deformation of the material into cup like shape.

Metal fabrication is a useful technique which can be used for different purposes, whether you have to fabricate automotive bodies, cookware, agricultural tools or any other thing, the applications are limitless.