Over 1.8 million tons of steel, a durable yet malleable alloy of iron and carbon, are made and used around the world every year. Steel fabrication is a complex process that uses both man and machine to create everything from intricate works of iron artwork to massive structures that loom in the sky. Steel is synonymous with strength, perseverance, fortitude, and durability thanks to its place in the worlds of construction and manufacturing. You can take advantage of its capabilities to create customized structures in a fraction of that time through modern steel fabrication.
What Are the Uses of Steel Fabrication?
Steel can be manipulated into anything from paper-thin plates or long and thin beams to foot-thick support structures that extend over a hundred feet. As such, a steel fabricator in Toledo, Swanton Welding can take a raw supply of the metal and turn it into a variety of products for a wide range of commercial and industrial applications. Prefabricated structures made from carbon and stainless steel can be stored and shipped to create houses, offices, and workshops that can be assembled and disassembled rapidly to meet operational needs. In the hands of a capable fabrication shop, it can do everything from serving as a core structural component inside the walls of a building, fulfilling auxiliary functions like guiding gas and liquids as piping, as a durable covering for exterior surfaces or as a beautiful decoration to lend a special touch to a room.If you are trying to build a large structure, be it a skyscraper, a stadium, a bridge or just about any other major architectural project a steel skeleton is a commonly utilized, and highly recommended, place to start.
Why Use Steel for Fabrication?
Steel possesses a broad suite of traits that have made it ideal for fabrication and construction in the past century: high durability, ample availability, and diverse applicability being the primary three. For construction, steel is typically less expensive and easier to manipulate while offering the most structural integrity per pound when compared to other commonly used materials.
It can even be injected with other elements to tweak traits like the hardness or resistance to shock, heat, and corrosion as needed for specific uses. Adding chromium to the mix will generate stainless steel, a variety that is frequently used for rust-proof and low maintenance exteriors. Tool steel has more durability and heat resistance than basic carbon steel through the addition of metals like tungsten, creating a brand of steel that can withstand heavy strain. Other alloy selections can change the steel from solid and rigid to easily bendable. The strength and versatility of steel push it to the forefront of materials used for construction projects.
Steel is also one of the most highly recyclable materials, capable of being reprocessed multiple times without losing any strength or integrity. Almost every steel product has some recycled elements inside of it given that 69% of all North American steel is repurposed every year.
How Does the Steel Fabrication Shop Take the Raw Material to Final Product?
The Design and Conceptualization Stage
Before a single piece of steel is cut, the steel fabricator works together with the client to create a blueprint that will guide the rest of the process. The primary goal of the shop in this stage is to help mesh the needs and wants of the client with the physical capabilities of fabricated steel structures. Because steel’s versatility allows its applications to range from surgical needles to pieces that span the length of a football field and weigh a hundred tons, the primary limitations are load-bearing and durability calculations.
Shops today have a tool of remarkable value in Computer Assisted Design (CAD) programs that move the blueprint drawing stage from pencil and paper to a digitally-controlled screen. Beyond the convenience of being able to rapidly share and copy the blueprints, CAD software is more efficient at creating three-dimensional blueprints, a handy thing to have when building three-dimensional structures. With the input of the client, their knowledge of steel, and the aid of tools like CAD programs, steel fabrication shops draw up detailed plans and pass them to their team of metalworkers efficiently.
The Processing Stage
After all of the planning is done, it is time to get to work. The shop has a variety of tools and techniques that can be used to take the steel from one shape to another. The equipment makes use of heat, pressure, and force at levels that are powerful enough to bend solid steel, requiring precision and care even from experienced metalworkers. When the CAD calibrations mentioned above are combined with CNC (Computer Numerical Control) equipment, impeccably precise cuts and bends can be made at speeds that allow for the quick production of high-quality steel components.
The Final Touches: Assembling and Finishing the Processed Steel Structure
After the steel has been shaped into the necessary forms, the shop can begin to turn the concept into a reality. Some pieces will be sanded, blasted, and painted to provide resistance to the elements or just for the sake of aesthetic appeal. For construction projects, pieces of steel will be welded and riveted together at the shop and on-site before being placed in their new location. In the end, the client will be left with a gorgeous steel structure that could be a new home for their company or a shed for their own workshop projects.
Once put into place, a building made through steel fabrication can last for multiple decades of use and abuse by the elements and those who work inside the space. The durability will not stop you from adding improvements, making small modifications or repairs, or even completely disassembling the structure and moving it to a new location. The one thing you can count on is that your fabricated steel structure will be with you for years to come. Contact steel fabricator Swanton Welding for any projects in and around the Toledo, Ohio area.
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Purification System Filter
Waste Water Separator This project’s client needed a water tight clarifier tank fabricated. We had to build, weld, leak test, shop assembly, blast, caulk, and paint the tank. In the end, we delivered a completed clarifier tank assembly. Completion Date March 7, 2017 Materials All materials were carbon steel Fabrication Methods This project utilized […]
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Bridge and Boardwalk
Swanton Welding was contracted to build a bridge and boardwalk for a client in Westfield, IN. Our estimation team and project manager worked with the client to make sure we provided an accurate and complete quote and timeline. This project took place from late May through late September of 2024. This bridge and boardwalk, weighing […]
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Steel Thrustframe Fabrication
A customer from the gas exploration industry approached Swanton Welding & Machining to fabricate an A36 and A-514 steel thrustframe weldment. The 225,000 lbs weldment was fabricated using a variety of processes, including CNC milling, MIG welding, drilling, laser cutting, bending, tapping and forming. The 54′ long and 8′ wide thrustframe was skillfully fabricated using […]
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Accumulator Tower for Metal Coating Process
Structural Steel Tower This project consisted of constructing two similar towers. The entry side is pictured and the exit side can be seen in the distance. This new customer to Swanton Welding requested the project to be finish painted before it was delivered. These structural steel towers were assembled in the field and required very […]
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Fulton County Hospital Office Addition
Swanton Welding was tasked with fabricating the steel framework for the new Fulton County Hospital addition in Wauseon, Ohio. We appreciated the opportunity to support Rupp/Rosebrock, Inc. and their construction crews as they constructed a four-story medical building that will attach to Fulton County Hospital. The team at Swanton Welding used our beam line to […]
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Replacement Boom
It is basically the structural arm for a heavy duty conveyor ship loader.
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4100 Grillage Fabrication
Barge Stabilizer Swanton Welding took on a project with a simple goal: support a 1500 tons crane with two barges. The heavy duty steel frame binding the two barges together, and the crane would be used to drive in bridge pilings.
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Clarifier Tank Project
At Swanton Welding, we have the expertise and resources to meet all your large scale project requirements at our state-of-the-art facility. As your trusted partner in welding and fabrication projects, we are committed to providing exceptional craftsmanship, reliable service, and timely project completion. An example of our capabilities is the recent construction of a sizable […]
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Support Structure
Swanton Welding is fully equipped to meet all your large-scale structural steel project requirements in-house at our cutting-edge USA facility. We take pride in being a dedicated partner in the success of every fabrication project we complete. Recently, we collaborated with a client based in South Carolina to construct a support structure. Given its critical […]
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CE Boiler Stack Replacement
Swanton Welding was responsible to create a drawing based printed CAD drawings to design and fabricate a replacement stack out of A588 material for the refinery
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Ladle Maintenance Carts
Customer needed a way to conveniently transport large ladles to areas where they will be used.
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Industrial Conveyor Fabrication
An agricultural industry client approached Swanton Welding & Machining to fabricate twelve, 5,000 lbs conveyor components. Utilizing AutoCAD 2009, we first drafted complete shop fabrication drawings of the component. We then fabricated the 20′ long, 3’6″ high and 8′ wide conveyor section using a CNC beam line, saws, and drills. After fabrication, during which we […]
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Stainless Steel Hopper
We custom fabricated this stainless steel hopper and finished it off with a polished interior for food grade application.
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CVG Airport Canopy
Fabrication of two large canopies out of steel tubing to be installed at an airport. The canopies were fully assembled in shop prior to shipping. Both canopies were hot dip galvanized to withstand the corrosive installation environment.
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Glass Furnace Rebuild – Support Steel
A client proposed and drew the initial design of this support steel project. It will encase and support a glass melting furnace for the engineered reinforcements industry. Swanton Welding supplied materials such as tie rods, platform steel, stairs, and ladders for the 20 ft tool glass melting furnace. Fabrication, blasting, and painting were customized to […]
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Bottom Casing for Glass Furnace
This custom fabrication project was for approximately 30 Bottom Casings for a Glass Furnace. Each section had to have pads custom machined to ensure it was within 1 mm of flatness. After the individual casings were completed, we had to shop assemble the entire length of them and use a transit to ensure their critical […]
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Vertical Clarifiers with Thickeners
These were vertical clarifier tanks used to separate certain materials from water.
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125 Ton Steam Car
We built a 125 Ton Steam Car. We fabricated it, blasted and painted it, did the assembly, electrical work, and shop tested it.
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Double Drop Trailer
Swanton Welding Company was contracted to construct a double drop trailer for a client in Ottawa, OH. The project took under two months after a mid-July 2024 start, with completion in early September 2024. A double drop trailer, also known as a lowboy trailer, transports oversized loads considered too large for a standard trailer on […]
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Lamella Style Inclined Plate Clarifier
Swanton Welding was contracted to fabricate a Lamella Style Inclined Plate Clarifier that will ship to Mt. Holly, NC, when completed. This fabrication will serve as a wastewater clarifier for the facility in North Carolina. Swanton began this project in June of 2024, and it is currently ongoing. When completed, we expect the fully assembled […]
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Stainless Steel Platform
Custom fabricated stainless structural steel platform with carbon steel columns and handrails.
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Truck Dump Project
Swanton Welding fabricated two truck dump platforms. These are used in various industries where semi or other large trucks are driven onto a platform for unloading. After securing the truck, the platform is raised high into the air, and the load on the truck is transferred via gravity into a bin or hopper. Our client builds […]
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Tire Separator and Hopper
The project involved making a hopper & separator for a tire recycling plant. The hopper was designed to dump truckloads of used tires. It has a motor and sliding floor system that was sloped to feed the tires to the separator, which would separate the tires based on size and feed them to additional equipment […]
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Mixing Tank Fabrication
A customer from the water treatment industry approached Swanton Welding & Machining to fabricate a mixing tank assembly. The 50,000 lbs. tank assembly was made up of many different parts and systems including rapid mix, reactor and clarifier tanks, a 16′-8″ long platform, and a 15′ high draft tube. To fabricate these components and many […]
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Catalytic Converter
Fabricated stainless steel Catalytic Converter w/ Pipe Bundle. A customer approached us about doing this job out of stainless steel with the stainless pipe bundle being made out of a special seamless tubing. The timeline was critical as the customer had a two day plant outage scheduled and they needed this unit installed during that […]
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Discharge Hopper, Clarifier, Clarifier Structure, Catwalk & Stairs, Auger
We custom built a large Discharge Hopper, a Clarifier used to remove slurry, the Clarifier Structure, accessible Catwalk & Stairs, and a custom Auger for the Clarifier. The most interesting thing about this project was its overall size and the custom auger we built.
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Steel Stack Fabrication
Swanton Welding & Machining was approached by a client from the clean air industry to fabricate 950,000 lbs. of steel stacks. Eight large stacks were fabricated using a variety of processes including rolling, bending, forming and MIG welding. The stacks were fabricated using a combination of material such as, A36 steel and 304 and 409 […]
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Acid Furnace Fabrication
Swanton Welding & Machining was approached by a chemical industry customer to fabricate a 125,000 lbs. acid furnace. We first drafted complete shop fabrication drawings for the furnace using AutoCAD software. We then used a variety of fabrication methods to complete the A516 grade 70 and A-36 grade steel furnace, including: drilling, rolling, laser cutting, […]