Metal fabrication can be summed up as the way to create some form of metal structure, whether that’s by cutting, bending, or otherwise assembling the metal into another form. Typically this refers to using some form of sheet metal.
Metal Fabrication via Cutting
Cutting involves any type of shearing of the metal, sawing, chiseling or other manual methods of ripping or cutting the metal. It can also include CNC or NC cutters that would use things like a torch, water jet, mill bits or a laser. It can also involve “torching” the metal, i.e. using a hand-held plasma or oxy-fuel torch.
Metal Fabrication via Bending
Bending of sheet metal can be accomplished by two forms: hammering or press brakes (or similar tools). Press brakes are CNC machines tuned to bend metal at precise angles.
Metal Fabrication via Assembling
Assembling can refer to a number of ways of joining pieces of metal together. This can be done by welding the sheets of metal together, binding it with adhesives, using rivets, a crimped seam or threaded fasteners.