When you hear welding, the first thing that will probably come to your mind is a man putting on gloves, safety overalls, safety glasses, and sparks flying. What about fabrication? You may think it's all about cutting and bending metal into the desired shape. But there's more to welding and fabrication than that.
Welding and fabrication are frequently used terms in the metalwork industry. While most people sometimes mix these two terms, they are not really the same. Both terms call for different skill sets and different training in NZ. So what then are welding and fabrication? What is the difference between welding and fabrication?
What Are Fabrication And Welding?
Welding is simply joining materials together, mostly metals or thermoplastics. The welding process involves:
Melting the workpieces of metals or thermoplastics.
Binding them together.
Allowing the molten materials to cool and form a strong joint.
Besides the heat, welders add pressure while trying to join materials together. Welding is usually part of the much bigger fabrication process. It gives a secure and robust joint, unlike other metal work processes.
Fabrication in the metalwork industry typically translates to building machines, structures, and other metal equipment by cutting, assembling, joining, casting, and so much more. Fabrication involves a larger chain of processes and tasks in making metal materials and products.
What Is The Difference Between Welding And Fabrication?
The most direct explanation for this ever-increasing question is that while fabrication is the overall process in metalwork, welding is one of the fabrication processes—a part of the gamut fabrication process in manufacturing metal products. While you can get a metal product with fabrication that does not involve welding, you're simply carrying out a metal fabrication if you're welding materials together.
In the light of some welding operations requiring specialist techniques now, it makes even more sense to separate welding from the big family of metal fabrication processes.
Both welding and metal fabrication requires a higher skill set and training. However, you should note that sometimes, there may be an overlap in roles, which is never a bad idea. While welding is more like one of the ways of achieving a final product, the fabrication process involves everything from product concepts and designs to applying all the available and possible metalwork techniques to turn the intangible idea into a final tangible metallic product.
What is the welding and metal fabrication process?
The most direct explanation for this ever-increasing question is that while fabrication is the overall process in metalwork, welding is one of the fabrication processes—a part of the gamut fabrication process in manufacturing metal products. While you can get a metal product with fabrication that does not involve welding, you're simply carrying out a metal fabrication if you're welding materials together.
In the light of some welding operations requiring specialist techniques, it makes even more sense to separate welding from the big family of metal fabrication processes.
Both welding and metal fabrication requires a higher skill set and training. However, you should note that sometimes, there may be an overlap in roles, which is never a bad idea. While welding is more like one of the ways of achieving a final product, the fabrication process involves everything from product concepts and designs to applying all the available and possible metalwork techniques to turn the intangible idea into a final tangible metallic product.
What is the welding and metal fabrication process?
While the processes involved in welding and fabrication can easily be explained in words, in practice, it's not always as easy as it sounds. Welding may mean using heat and joining two pieces of metal. Still, in today's world, with the ever-evolving technology, welding and fabrication engineering are becoming more complex by the day. Some of the welding processes common in the metal fabrication industry today include,
Oxy-acetylene welding (OA)
Tungsten inert gas welding (TIG)
Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW)
Gas metal arc welding (MIG)
On the other hand, the metal fabrication process is relatively broader and requires many more technicalities. What sounds as simple as cutting may get more complex along the line. Some of the processes involved in metal fabrication include,
Cutting
Bending
Shearing
Folding
Soldering
Punching
Milling
Tapping
Forming
Shrinking
Stretching
Finishing
Common Tools Needed For Welding
Welding does not only require a different skill set from fabrication but also gets a different set of tools. In addition, welding requires safety equipment to avoid eye damage, burns, shocks, etc. Some of the standard welding tools and equipment include:
Welding helmet
Welding gloves
Welding jacket
Safety glasses
Welding clamp
Angle grinder
Welding magnets
Metal file
Mig pliers
Framing jig
Speed square
Metal gauge
Welding And Fabrication Service Company Near Me
Finally, when hiring the services of a metal fabrication company in NZ, it makes more sense to hire a service company that offers a one-stop solution to all your metalwork needs. It's not always about satisfying your immediate metalwork needs. The accuracy, speed, cost, and quality of what you want, also matter. It's also prudent to check out the capacities and capabilities of the fabrication company.