Metal Fabrication

The process of manufacturing metal components is generally called metal fabrication. Metal fabrication processes may be classified as cold, warm, and hot working depending on the temperature at which the material is processed. At eMachineShop, many things are transformed by metal fabrication processes, such as bending, milling, cutting, punching, drilling, turning, grinding and threading. Metal parts made range from small parts the size of paper clips and even smaller using photochemical milling, to large industrial parts constructed using large CNC milling and turning machines.

eMachineShop uses a wide range of metal fabricating machinery and machining processes online to meet virtually all client metal fabrication needs. fabrication
can be broadly divided into forming, removal and non-conventional, which is further sub divided into several categories.

• Forging : Forging involves forming work pieces by compressive force at high heat. Parts such as crankshafts, connecting rods, gears and bolt heads can be made by forging.
• Rolling : Rolling is a process of reducing the thickness of a long work piece by compressive forces using a set of rolls. Plates used for Machine structures, vessels and sheets used for automobile and aircraft bodies, appliances and furniture are created by rolling. Rolled stock is often cut using water jet or laser cutters.
• Extrusion : During extrusion round billets are forced through one or more dies by a compressive force that is applied to a ram. The extruded piece that emerges has the desired shape. In general, extrusion is used to produce cylindrical bars or hollow tubes, but shapes of irregular cross sections may be produced from the more readily extrudable metals, such as Aluminum.
• Drawing : Drawing is the pulling of a metal piece through a die having a tapered bore by means of a tensile force that is applied on the exit side. Rod, wire and tubing products are commonly fabricated by drawing.

There are several methods of metal removing such as metal cutting, abrasive processes and non-conventional metal removing processes. Sawing, for instance, is a type of cutting in which the cutting tool is a blade that has a series of small teeth, with each tooth removing a small amount of material. Shearing on the other hand is a metal cutting process through which flat surfaces and various cross-sections with grooves and notches are produced.

Face milling and end milling are some of the types of cutting used. Grinding – on the other hand -- is a chip removal process in which the cutting tool is an abrasive grain wheel. The different types of grinding processes are surface grinding, cylindrical grinding, internal grinding and centerless grinding. For extremely thin material, photochemical milling may be used. In this process, a caustic chemical etches away undesired material.