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The Fabricator February 2021
The Fabricator is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The Fabricator has served the industry since 1970.
An overview of 3D CAD tools for documenting a sheet metal design
- By Gerald Davis
- Mar 5, 2021
- Manufacturing Software
- Article
CAD guru Gerald Davis provides tips on how to embellish documentation for a sheet metal part using Custom Property forms and gauge tables.
Tube bending technology buoys shipbuilding
- By Bert Zorn
- Mar 2, 2021
- Tube and Pipe Fabrication
- Article
Miles and miles of piping–large and small diameter–are installed on tankers, container ships, and cruise liners to transport fuel, water, oils, gases, and hydraulic fluids, some of which are under high pressure. Bending tube and pipe for the shipbuilding industry comes with many challenges. Fabricators must meet tight time frames and high volumes, bend tough materials, meet wall thickness requirements for pressure vessels, and bend very small radii because space onboard is severely limited.
How lean manufacturing stabilizes during disruptions
- By Jeff Sipes
- Mar 1, 2021
- Shop Management
- Article
Lean manufacturing can be a stabilizing force metal fabricators and other manufacturers during disruptive times—and the pandemic certainly qualifies.
Our future press brake operators
- By Steve Benson
- Feb 26, 2021
- Bending and Forming
- Article
What’s the future of the bending craft? That depends on the nature of the press brake operating jobs. Will shops employ knowledgeable operators or disengaged button-pushers?
The CNC boosts sheet and plate rolling throughput
- By Stephen A. Lazinsky
- Feb 25, 2021
- Bending and Forming
- Article
For the right application, CNC rolling allows less experienced machine operators to produce complicated shapes.
The ROI of lean manufacturing
- Feb 23, 2021
- Shop Management
- Article
What’s the return on investment for continuous improvement for precision sheet metal shops? Can it be quantified? As learn consultant Gary Conner explains, yes, you can.
How metrics drive a job shop’s continuous improvement
- By Vincent Bozzone
- Feb 22, 2021
- Shop Management
- Article
The trick to boosting profits in a custom metal fabrication job shop is to first recognize what makes its business model unique. Next, measure what matters.
A combination approach to heavy plate cutting
- By Dan Davis
- Feb 22, 2021
- Plasma Cutting
- Article
A heavy fab shop can reduce its cost per part and eliminate some secondary operations with the use of a combination plasma-waterjet cutting system.
The (really) basic basics of press brake tooling
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 18, 2021
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Imagine you know nothing about sheet metal and it’s your first day in the press brake department. Where do you begin? Well, the basics.
Free the sales bottleneck in metal fabrication with balance
- By Anthony M. Colarusso
- Feb 17, 2021
- Shop Management
- Article
A shop with immense fabrication power won’t grow revenue if salespeople don’t have time to land new accounts and feed the shop more work. They’re too busy being farmers to be successful hunters. To grow, a fabricator needs both.
Fighting automation boredom at the modern manufacturer
- By Tim Heston
- Feb 15, 2021
- Shop Management
- Article
As manufacturing becomes more automated and efficient, operators can be bored out of their skull around the shop. The FABRICATOR Editor Tim Heston writes how good ideas, not more parts per hour, can improve shop empowerment.
What else is available in powder coating finishes?
Powder coatings with antimicrobial characteristics, textures, and metallic finishes are just some of the options for metal fabricators looking for a special coating.
Culture comes first for precision metal fab shop Laystrom Manufacturing
- By Dan Davis
- Feb 8, 2021
- Shop Management
- Article
The FABRICATOR’s Industry Award winner for 2021, Laystrom Manufacturing Co., works to improve its internal culture, which leads to external successes at its Chicago precision metal fabrication shop.
Metal sculpture artist finds a niche in found objects
- By Eric Lundin
- Feb 5, 2021
- Assembly and Joining
- Article
Working in a large scale is nothing new to metal sculptor Joseph Gagnepain, a dyed-in-the-wool artist who attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He found a niche in working with found objects when he assembled a sculpture almost entirely from cast-off bicycles, and since then he has branched out to incorporate all manner of found objects, almost always working on a big scale.
A welding robot controller for the digital age
- By Dan Davis
- Feb 3, 2021
- Automation and Robotics
- Article
Metal fabricators can get excited about manufacturer OTC DAIHEN's FD21 welding robot controller as part of its family of welding robots. Learn more here.
- Podcasting
- Podcast:
- The Fabricator Podcast
- Published:
- 04/16/2024
- Running Time:
- 63:29
In this episode of The Fabricator Podcast, Caleb Chamberlain, co-founder and CEO of OSH Cut, discusses his company’s...
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