Ten Essential Tools Every Steel Fabricator Needs in Their Arsenal

Steel fabrication is an art. It is not everyone’s cup of tea, and it requires a great deal of precision, patience, and determination to work on something that you can mold into whatever shape is needed with as much perfection as possible. Apart from the skill required to achieve this perfection, every steel fabricator uses tools to ensure that the end products are as perfect as they should be.

Thus, here is the list of 10 essential tools that will satisfy your curiosity about how steel fabricators shape steel into desired shapes.

Choose New Mexico Metals LLC as your trusted partner for all your steel supply needs in Albuquerque.

Tools Which Every Steel Fabricator Must Have

Check out the tools that make up every steel fabricator’s arsenal and ensure quality steel supply in Albuquerque.

Scribe

Even today, many steel fabricators work manually, and to achieve the right shape and sizes, they must make their marks clearly and work on them. A scribe is a pencil-like tool with a pointed metal tip to mark the metal. Suppose a metal sheet is to be cut in a straight line. The scribe will mark the sheet so that the machine can cut on the designated marks. It is available in various forms, such as a pen or a two-sided pencil. One can easily find the type of scribe they are looking for.

Engineer’s square

It is a simple tool engineer, carpenters, and steel fabricators use to achieve a perfect square. Precision and perfection are paramount in steel fabrication, so this tool is important.

It is a metal tool welded to another piece at a perfect right angle. It is a versatile tool to mark edges and create an ideal metal square. A notch at the L-shaped corner collects the debris and prevents erroneous measurements.

Hammer

Hammers are not widely used but are optional, as many metal fabrication activities still require a hammer. For example, punching a single hole in a small metal product. Hammers are made of hard metal and used for various purposes.

They are available in various sizes, with different hammers for different uses. Each steel fabricator has a preference when they choose a hammer. It also depends significantly on the use.

Wire cutters

They look like an electrician’s tool, but they are used widely for snipping loose, open wires and cables or sometimes sniping into softer metals, such as aluminum, brass, etc. It looks like a small version of a plier.

Beam Drill Line

CNC programming has eased the drilling process significantly. Skilled experts such as New Mexico Metals LLC use machines such as beam drill lines.

This machine is a complicated one with drill lines situated at an accurate distance and offers drilling holes in various steel profiles. Beam drill lines relieve the workforce from manual marking and punching holes.

Angle Finders

Various people walk in with different demands for metal shapes and sizes, and it is only sometimes possible for machines to cut the desired shape. In these cases, angle finders play an important role. They have a wide application in steel fabrication as they can help you find accurate angles between two lines or on a metal sheet to bend, cut, or tube metal.

They are available in manual and digital forms and are usually chosen based on the extent of use by steel fabricators. However, these are seldom used today; they are an important part of the steel fabrication toolbox.

Auto Darkening helmets

In the past, many welders lost their eyesight due to the blinding light during welding. Protecting the workforce is important; thus, every steel fabricator needs an auto-darkening helmet that protects the welder’s eyes and faces from injuries. Welding is still a manual process in steel fabrication units. It darkens the vision, and the welder can weld accurately without losing focus on the metal, as the light and flying splinters can easily mislead the hand. So, these helmets play a crucial role in ensuring accurate welds.

Rulers

If you believe that rulers are extinct in steel fabrication due to the induction of modern technology, you couldn’t be more wrong. Only some jobs can be performed through an automated process. As New Mexico Metals LLC serves retail and wholesale customers, we see different clients every day with other demands, and during many projects, a simple ruler serves the purpose.

You might already know what a ruler is used for. To draw straight lines, of course. Prominent steel rulers are found in every steel fabrication unit, no matter how automated it is.

Guillotine

It is a steel fabrication tool that is used for the manual cutting of metal sheets. The metal sheet is clamped down with clamps, and a blade is pushed down with force to cut even some thick metal sheets, including aluminum and steel. A guillotine can be understood as a large scissor as it applies pressure on both sides of the sheet metal and carefully cuts the metals.

Stick Welding Machine

It is a versatile tool that steel fabricators still use for outdoor welding. It is mainly used to weld iron, copper, carbon steel, and other metals.

It is a portable and inexpensive machine with a welding rod attached. As the machine whirrs, the metal rod heats up, and the molten metal welds the two pieces into one.

Steel Supply in Albuquerque

New Mexico Metals LLC prides itself on the fact that apart from these steel fabrication tools, we boast top-notch machines for different metal fabrication services, including notching, punching, drilling, shearing, sawing, etc. In addition, we serve both retail and wholesale markets. So, for any of your metal needs, you can trust us.