When clients and contractors work together on a project, communication is essential. One of the things that can get in the way of good communication is misunderstanding terms, such as the difference between metal fabrication and welding. Read on to discover why these terms don’t mean the same thing.
The Ultimate Difference
Here’s the difference between metal fabrication and welding: while fabrication is a complete process, welding is a single step. This is because fabrication refers to the entire process of designing and building metal projects. Welding is when you join two metal materials together—some projects require little welding, and others a lot.
The Metal Fabrication Process
Metal fabrication is a long, complicated process with many steps. First, the project designers collaborate with engineers and end users to design something useful and achievable. They’ll draft a budget and begin looking for fabricators to contract with.
Once they find a contractor (or several), the physical work begins. Blacksmiths, ironworkers, millwrights, cutters, benders, and many other types of fabricators will all do their share of the work. Once the project pieces are complete, assemblers will put them together.
Welding and Fabrication
Though welding is just one step in the fabrication process, it may happen many times before completing a project. Welders may help create the pieces, and they often help with assembly. It all depends on the type of project.
There are also many different kinds of welding. Most use some kind of heat to warm up a metal-filler material until it melts and fills the gap between two pieces. The resulting joint is called a weld. Some types of welding use electricity, while others use flame. Each kind creates a different weld suited for certain types of metals. It’s a welder’s job to know which weld to use.
If you’re looking to complete metal fabrication on a project in-house, check out Kaka Industrial’s metal fabrication equipment. We have a wide variety of machines and tools to help you saw, shear, drill, grind, and roll all types of metal. Call or email us today to see how our equipment can help you complete projects more efficiently.