- FMA
- The Fabricator
- FABTECH
- Canadian Metalworking
Categories
- Additive Manufacturing
- Aluminum Welding
- Arc Welding
- Assembly and Joining
- Automation and Robotics
- Bending and Forming
- Consumables
- Cutting and Weld Prep
- Electric Vehicles
- En Español
- Finishing
- Hydroforming
- Laser Cutting
- Laser Welding
- Machining
- Manufacturing Software
- Materials Handling
- Metals/Materials
- Oxyfuel Cutting
- Plasma Cutting
- Power Tools
- Punching and Other Holemaking
- Roll Forming
- Safety
- Sawing
- Shearing
- Shop Management
- Testing and Measuring
- Tube and Pipe Fabrication
- Tube and Pipe Production
- Waterjet Cutting
Industry Directory
Webcasts
Podcasts
FAB 40
Advertise
Subscribe
Account Login
Search
The Fabricator July 2016
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.
Applying sheet metal forming principles to plastic
- By Steve Benson
- Jul 12, 2016
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Anytime the inside radius or material thickness varies, there will be a change in the bend deduction. This is just as true when bending plastic as it is when bending sheet metal.
Shop technology and 3-D CAD: Design evolution from invention to manufacturing
- By Gerald Davis
- Jul 11, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
Columnist Gerald Davis considers how designs evolve from invention to manufacturing and how various CAD techniques might best be used.
Automated guided vehicles get flexible
- By Tim Heston
- Jul 8, 2016
- Materials Handling
- Article
A camera-based automated guided vehicle may have potential in high-product-mix environments. The vehicle takes pictures of its surroundings, remembers them, and then drives itself along that path.
Maximize your move
- By Dan Davis
- Jul 8, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
Everyone knows that moving is not easy, especially when you are talking about moving a business. Dennis Donovan, a site selection consultant, provides an overview of the main considerations that a metal fabricator should keep in mind as it looks to make a major move.
Metal fabrication and metrics: Measure what matters
- By Jeff Sipes
- Jul 8, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
An operation with poor or nonexistent performance metrics is a magnet for lots of confusion and disruption. Poor metrics often have a narrow focus that can negatively affect the whole organization. Conversely, good metrics support the business and its mission.
The human side of the skilled-labor crisis
- By Tim Heston
- Jul 8, 2016
- Bending and Forming
- Article
In metal fabrication, companies need technical skill, but there’s a humanity to the skill that’s often overlooked. It’s about the relationship between the technician, his machine, and the workpiece.
Yellow: The color of safety awareness
If you tour Plymouth Tube's Streator, Ill., facility, you can't help but notice all of the yellow caution areas. They mark potential trip hazards and pinch point areas. The focus on safety, both visually and in daily communications, has helped the facility stay injury-free for three years now. It's also enabled the tube production facility to be named the recipient of FMA’s Rusty Demeules Award for Safety Excellence.
Welding reamer keeps consumables clean in robotic welds
- By Ryan Lizotte
- Jul 5, 2016
- Automation and Robotics
- Article
Learn how a welding reamer minimizes spatter and debris, prolongs consumables life, improves weld quality, and keeps a robotic welding cell productive.
Great gates!
- By Eric Lundin
- Jul 5, 2016
- Tube and Pipe Fabrication
- Article
After learning to weld on the family farm and honing his skill during his college years, Josh Foster decided to augment his steady, part-time job with a fabrication business. Big Creek Metal Works makes all sort of items, from large ranch gates to small art items, specializing in custom work.
Managing part flow in custom metal fabrication
- By Tim Heston
- Jul 1, 2016
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Think of how fast modern laser cutting is; now think of a typical press brake. There’s no contest. With this in mind, how can a fab shop best manage part flow? Elements of quick-response manufacturing (QRM) can help.
5 ways that CAD/CAM nesting software impacts the bottom line
- By Alyson Schoenung
- Jul 1, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
Modern CAD/CAM nesting software can assist metal fabricators looking to reduce costs related to raw material spending, production labor, parts programming, and work order creation.
Big press brake bending, high throughput
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 29, 2016
- Bending and Forming
- Article
In large-workpiece bending, material handling and tooling changeover can take serious time. Shorten that time, and bending throughput levels, even for the largest jobs, can jump significantly.
Cutting to the chase on gas delivery for CO2 lasers
- By John Karpus
- Jun 29, 2016
- Laser Cutting
- Article
A working knowledge of the ways in which purity, pressure, and flow affect how lasers use gases is key to setting up a gas delivery system that both works correctly and is cost-effective.
All you need to know about the heat-affected zone
- By Andrea Bustreo
- Jun 28, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
Any thermal cutting or welding process changes the material makeup of the workpiece. This heat-affected zone can make downstream processing of the metal a bit more unpredictable.
3 questions to ask for better laser cutting
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 28, 2016
- Laser Cutting
- Article
Brent Donner, president of DLC Manufacturing and Fabrication, has spent almost a decade as a laser cutting consultant. Over that time he has noticed several fundamentals that many operators miss: properly cleaning and polishing the optics, centering the nozzle, and calibrating the beam focus.
- 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...
- Industry Events
16th Annual Safety Conference
- April 30 - May 1, 2024
- Elgin,
Pipe and Tube Conference
- May 21 - 22, 2024
- Omaha, NE
World-Class Roll Forming Workshop
- June 5 - 6, 2024
- Louisville, KY
Advanced Laser Application Workshop
- June 25 - 27, 2024
- Novi, MI
- Upcoming Webcasts
Navigating Change: The Manufacturer’s Guide to Change Management with ERP Implementation
- May 16, 2024
- Sponsored
- Presented By: ECI Software Solutions, M1