Among the variety of products marketed by steel fabricators are steel kitchenware, which can be found in many people’s homes, and steel gardening products, which are used by consumers as well as commercial property managers and landscapers. Steel reinforcements and wire are used in the construction of buildings, bridges and other large structures. Read More…
Leading Manufacturers
Maysteel Industries, LLC
Allenton, WI | 262-251-1632Maysteel provides complex sheet metal fabrication with a focus on design for manufacturing. Founded in 1936, we combine our extensive engineering experience and market knowledge with an expanding supply chain footprint, allowing us to fabricate products that others can’t. We design, engineer and manufacture custom OEM sheet metal enclosures, kiosks, cabinets and racks. We have locations in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as partnerships in Europe. For more information, visit www.maysteel.com.
Schantz Custom Fabrication
Highland, IL | 618-300-6016The range of services Schantz Custom Fabrication offers provides a creative, precise, and efficient process to design and build custom fabricated parts to the strictest of tolerances. SCF is an engineering and design-focused company with the ability to problem-solve your custom parts using Autodesk Inventor and Fusion 360. With so many proficiencies and in-house capabilities, Schantz can provide a budget-friendly custom part or assembly with the promise of on-time delivery.
M & W Shops
Union Grove, WI | 262-878-4220At M & W Shops, our mission is to continually improve through the utilization of best practices, workforce empowerment and the latest technology in order to be your top source for metal fabrication. Since 1972, our team has proven ourselves over and over again with projects varying from CNC shearing to punching and burning. Call us today to apply our advantage to all your custom metal fabricating needs.
Eldred Sheet Metal Works, L.P.
Houston, TX | 713-227-3251Eldred Sheet Metal Works is a custom sheet metal fabrication shop working in 3-inch and lighter carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum metal. We can make metal cabinets, bins and belt guards, to name a few. Eldred has been in business since 1946. Eldred: Your Sheet Metal Fabrication Shop.
O'Neal Manufacturing Services
Vestavia Hills, AL | 877-623-3344O'Neal Manufacturing Services supplies metal fabricated components serving the OEM industry. Our capabilities include steel fabrication, tube processing, laser cutting, punching, metal forming, machining, kitting & assembly, precision leveling, metal finishing and more. We also serve the industries for material handling, forestry, construction, mining, renewable energy, oil & gas and power generation.
Marmen
Trois-Rivieres, QC | 819-379-0443Founded in 1972, Marmen is a highly regarded subcontractor for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) specializing in high-precision machining, fabrication, mechanical assembly and auxiliary services for parts of all sizes. Marmen provides its services to companies operating in diverse markets such as aviation and aerospace, steam and gas turbines, wind and hydropower, mining and steel, oil and gas, military and medical industries.
Automotive components, auto bodies, airframes, marine vessels and other kinds of vehicles can all feature steel in their construction. The steel used for each of these applications must, before it can be used, be refined from iron ore and alloyed with carbon and other additives. Some steel fabricators may be involved with this process, but most are involved with the forming processes that follow.
After becoming steel, raw steel must be shaped. Because a given metal shaping process cannot produce all varieties of metal shapes (the process that produces metal wire cannot also produce metal sheets), many processes are necessary to produce the range of metal products in use today.
The long list of contemporary metal fabrication methods includes roll forming, press brake bending, punching, stamping, welding, laser fabrication and many more methods. Once a collection of raw steel has been engineered to the right specifications, it is usually formed through a rolling or bending process.
Rolling is a popular steel forming method because it can simultaneously shape and strengthen the metal as it is processed. A roll former is composed of a long series of rollers into which raw steel is directed. The first set of rollers is designed to fit snugly around the contours of the steel, drawing the steel in as they turn.
In some cases, the rollers can be designed to compress the steel, which can strain-harden the metal, making it stronger. Each subsequent set of rollers' configurations differ slightly from the previous set, and the steel's shape changes with those configurations. By the end of the process, the steel has taken the shape of the last set of rollers, emerging as a newly-rolled product.
Other fabrication methods like press braking are less complicated as well as less automated. A typical press brake can create one bend in once piece of metal at a time, and they are often manually operated.