Fabricators can decrease grinding costs, boost productivity, and increase safety by following these four best practices: Apply correct downforce pressure, use the appropriate grinder, follow safety protocols, and use good fiber disc storage protocols.

Properly preparing metal for welding is key to producing high quality results, maintaining consistent productivity levels, and minimizing costs—especially costs related to rework and downtime.

Despite regular occurrences, combustible metal dust fires and explosions haven’t been high on the list of industrial safety problems that need solving. But new compliance guidelines are bringing the potential danger to the forefront.

Plating tube or pipe is a technical process, but not necessarily a technical challenge. Successful plating hinges more on planning and logistics than the plating process itself. Developing a detailed plan and working out all of the logistics ahead of time are matters of communication between fabricator and plater, which is the basis for successful plating.

From its origin as a product innovator, Lifetime Products Inc. has grown to become a process innovator as well. A manufacturer of swing sets, playsets, outdoor sheds, and folding tables and chairs, it has developed processes that enable it to fabricate and powder-coat 100,000 items per day.

Choosing a product based on purchase price alone can be problematic. A close look at the prices of competing products, and the value they deliver, might reveal that the product with the highest sticker price delivers the best value.

Galvanizing is nothing new, but magnetohydrodynamic galvanizing, which enables better control of the coating thickness, is new to the tube and pipe industry.