Many things all around us require the use of metals. This also places so much importance on what metal fabricators do.- Metal Fabrication Tips
Some fabricated metals require state-of-the-art pieces of equipment and top-level expertise to be produced. A typical example is progressive metal stamping as things made using this fabrication technique require the use of the right machines and manpower that control them.
On the contrary, there are some fabrication jobs that you can handle by yourself. This is as long as you understand what is needed to get the job done. The good news is that we will go over some of these tested and proven tips here.
These tips are guaranteed to help you produce the right items and so you should keep reading. So, some of these helpful DIY tips for fabrication are listed and explained below.
Getting the Accurate Center Point of a Circle
There are lots of fabrication tasks that require the use of a metal sheet with a circular shape. Sometimes, the shape does not remain this way as there may be a need to make it into other shapes.
If you need to find the circle’s center point, there is an easy DIY trick that will get the job done. You would need a large square to do this. The square needs to be large enough such that it extends beyond the circle.
You would need to start by placing the square over the circle. Next, you should use a marker, chalk, or anything that can make a mark to mark out the two points where the square extends beyond the circle.
After doing this, take the square off the circular sheet and draw a straight line between the two marked points. You should repeat the same process in another section of the circular sheet.
The point where both lines meet is undoubtedly the circle’s center point. If you have doubts about this claim, you can repeat the process three times and you would notice that the three lines have the same center point.
This tip is very important for the sake of accuracy. Fabricators need to embrace tips that make their work as precise as it should be to achieve the desired results.
This is one of the reasons a lot is invested into making and using machines that can guarantee the desired results. Fortunately, you can also achieve precision even with some small-scale DIY tips such as this one. For more on this subject, you can visit: https://www.steelconstruction.info/
Locating Holes Accurately- Metal Fabrication Tips
The need for accuracy or precision when fabricating metals cannot be emphasized. That is one of the key factors that determine how good or bad a fabrication is. That is why you need to do all reasonably possible to maintain accuracy when fabricating.
Having made that clear, you should know that this tip is also about being as accurate as possible when fabricating. It is about finding holes with undoubted precision.
Imagine you have two pierced holes on a metal bar and need to weld or attach another sheet to it. You would need to locate the accurate spot where the new metal sheet will be pieced to align with the metal bar that is already pierced.
You can make use of stiff paper and paper tape for this purpose. Start by laying the stiff paper across all the holes on the metal bar. The next thing to do is tape the stiff paper down with the help of the paper tape on only one end.
With the stiff paper lying across the metal box and especially the pieced holes, use a nail or screwdriver to piece the stiff paper. The piercing should go through the stiff paper to the inside of the pierced hole on the metal bar.
After this, you should still have your stiff paper held down by the paper tape. Next, you should place the metal sheet you want to be pieced directly on top of the metal bar. Then place the pierced paper still held down by the tape over the metal sheet.
This would allow you to mark the accurate spot that would be drilled by marking the spot where the stiff paper was pierced. The marking reflected on the metal sheet tells you exactly where the drilling should be carried out.
Conclusion
Two tips that would help you achieve accuracy when handling small-scale metal fabrication tasks have been discussed here. However, there are a lot more that you might have to know. For more on this subject, you can watch this video.
You are advised to make the most of these tips when the need arises. This is considering how easy they are.
