Fabricating for Dummies

**Work your way to fabricating success** People have been hammering metal into shields, cookware, and ceremonial headdresses for centuries, and fabrication continues to be a popular and growing industry today. __Fabricating For Dummies__ provides you with all the information you need to begin learning about metalworking, or fill any gaps in your existing knowledge in order to advance your career. Simply put, there's little out there for light reading on manufacturing. What's available is often quite expensive, so boring it puts you to sleep, or filled with so much technical gobbledygook that one's eyes glaze over within a few pages. This book offers a much-needed alternative, cutting through the jargon and getting right to the heart of what you need to know to take your fab skills to fabulous new heights. Get a glimpse of the day in the life of a fab worker Discover the different alloys, shapes, and sizes of sheet metal Understand welding and joining processes Master the use of press brakes, stamping presses, and turret punches Whether you want to get your feet wet with waterjets, laser cutters, or hi-definition plasma cutters, there's something for you inside this hands-on book! Title Page ......Page 3 Copyright Page......Page 4 Table of Contents......Page 7 Introduction......Page 15 About This Book......Page 16 Foolish Assumptions......Page 17 Beyond the Book......Page 18 Where to Go from Here......Page 19 Part 1 Fabricating Truths......Page 21 Chapter 1 Manipulating Metal......Page 23 Cutting up......Page 24 Shearing specifics......Page 25 Slitting success......Page 26 Punching out......Page 27 Putting on the brakes......Page 29 Forming opinions......Page 30 Spinning in circles......Page 31 Touring the machine shop......Page 32 Wake up, it’s time to get vertical......Page 33 Thinking additively......Page 34 Casting away......Page 35 Forging partnerships......Page 36 Bearing witness......Page 37 Controlling motion......Page 38 Mulling over the miscellany......Page 39 Chapter 2 Looking Back at Fabricating History......Page 41 Pounding progress......Page 42 Hello, Bronze Age......Page 43 Smelting success......Page 44 Steeling for progress......Page 45 Admiring appliances......Page 48 Building tall buildings......Page 49 Lifting off with aircraft......Page 50 Chapter 3 Getting to Know Materials......Page 51 Pondering the Properties......Page 52 Touching on the Elements......Page 54 Steeling history......Page 57 Carbon copying......Page 58 Alluding to Alloys......Page 60 Shining up with stainless steel......Page 61 Supersize me......Page 62 Tooling around......Page 63 Riding the Gravy Train......Page 64 Seeing red......Page 65 Playing with polymers......Page 66 Peeking Under the Sheets......Page 67 Part 2 Making Metal Fabulous: The Processes......Page 71 Chapter 4 Cutting Up......Page 73 Eating Cake: Power Shears......Page 74 Lasing About......Page 76 Looking for problems......Page 77 Do me a solid......Page 78 Peeking over the edge......Page 81 Firing Up......Page 82 Beholding the Gantry......Page 84 Watering Down......Page 85 “We want to pump . . . you up!”......Page 86 Dirtying the water......Page 87 Nozzles, schnozzles......Page 88 Chapter 5 Bending Down......Page 91 Furiously folding......Page 92 Wiping around......Page 93 “Braking” Up Is Hard to Do......Page 94 Coming to terms with press-brake terminology......Page 95 Learning about the force......Page 97 Diving Into Dies......Page 99 Don’t be pushy......Page 100 Diversity in dies (and punches)......Page 102 Backgauging the Bends......Page 103 Crowning Is King......Page 104 Accommodating Potter......Page 107 Laying it all out......Page 108 Chapter 6 Stamping About......Page 111 Coffins to clutches......Page 112 Decompressing Presses......Page 113 Laid back......Page 114 Straight talking......Page 115 Picking Up the Lingo......Page 116 On the fly......Page 117 Achieving happiness with hydraulics......Page 119 Along came the servo......Page 120 Feeding the Machine......Page 121 Being Progressive......Page 122 Done in one......Page 123 Chapter 7 Punching Out......Page 127 It’s all about control......Page 128 A matter of form......Page 129 Exploring Operations......Page 130 It’s automatic......Page 132 More tools, please......Page 133 Getting a Grip......Page 135 Deciphering Dies......Page 136 Taking the Combo......Page 137 Chapter 8 Fabricating Odds and Ends......Page 141 Working Iron......Page 142 Coping isn’t hard......Page 144 Rolling ’Round......Page 145 A Booming Success!......Page 146 Piping Up......Page 147 Keeping a schedule......Page 148 Let’s go tubing!......Page 149 Buckle up......Page 150 Of saddles and fish mouths......Page 151 Fantastic forging......Page 152 Rolling your own......Page 154 One ring to rule them all......Page 155 Part 3 More Than Machinery: Digging in the Toolbox......Page 157 Chapter 9 Tooling Up......Page 159 Carbide: The tooling superhero......Page 160 Tool steel: Second best, not second rate......Page 161 Setting Standards......Page 163 Punching Through......Page 166 A quick peek inside......Page 167 Keep it sharp......Page 169 Stamping and Stuff......Page 170 Donning a Smooth, Slippery Coat......Page 171 Wrapping Up......Page 172 Chapter 10 Welding: Putting It All Together......Page 175 Wondering About Welding......Page 176 Doing Me a Solid (State)......Page 178 Firing Up......Page 179 Arcing Across......Page 181 Shields up, Captain!......Page 183 A smatter of spatter......Page 185 In flux over flux......Page 186 Choosing a Good Joint......Page 187 Learning Safety with Jimmy......Page 188 Chapter 11 Automating with Robots......Page 191 Taking Robbie Apart......Page 192 Teaching them a lesson......Page 193 Leaning on the Tin Man......Page 194 Feeding the factory......Page 195 Laying Down the Law......Page 197 Gaining Flexibility with an FMS......Page 199 Watching from Home......Page 201 Avoiding Bad Actors......Page 202 Chapter 12 Making Tools and Machining Parts......Page 205 The usual suspects......Page 206 I’ll take the combo......Page 207 Meeting a Few Machine Tools......Page 208 Turning terrifically......Page 209 Milling majestically......Page 211 Spinning ’round: Rotary tools......Page 215 Hold still: Stationary tools......Page 216 Increasing Your Carbon Footprint with EDM......Page 218 Wired up......Page 219 Grinding Is Groovy......Page 221 Chapter 13 Going Soft(ware)......Page 223 Unraveling Difficult Acronyms......Page 224 Figuring Out File Formats......Page 226 Abra-CAD-abra......Page 227 Rhymes with ham......Page 229 Going flat......Page 230 Why nests aren’t for birds......Page 231 The importance of a solid footing......Page 233 Staring at Clouds......Page 234 Eliminating Toolroom Chaos......Page 235 It’s elemental, Dear Watson......Page 237 Herding the Shop Floor Cats with MES......Page 238 Chapter 14 Embracing Quality......Page 241 Showing tolerance......Page 242 Confusing characteristics......Page 244 Internationalizing Your Standards......Page 246 Shopping for Tape Measures......Page 248 Touring the Inspection Room......Page 251 Gaging success......Page 252 Hello, Mr. Mic(rometer)......Page 254 Filling up the metrology lab shopping cart......Page 255 Letting Machines Do the Measuring......Page 257 Decisions, decisions......Page 258 Jumping at shadows......Page 259 That’s a Wrap......Page 260 Chapter 15 Making Metal Parts Pretty......Page 261 Assessing Abrasives......Page 262 Wheeling About......Page 265 I’m Bond . . . abrasive bond......Page 266 Let’s get small......Page 268 More power!......Page 270 Tools for the toolroom......Page 272 Working ’em Like Dogs......Page 274 Blasting Away......Page 275 Of glass, shells, and stones......Page 276 Getting all stressed out......Page 277 Finishing Up......Page 278 Part 4 The Part of Tens......Page 281 Chapter 16 Ten Techie Things to Know About Fabricating......Page 283 Joining the Revolution......Page 284 Going Green......Page 285 Getting Lighter......Page 286 Getting Lost on the Paper Trail......Page 287 Cutting the Wires......Page 288 Manufacturing Additively......Page 289 Embracing Automation......Page 292 Leaning Out Your Shop......Page 293 Chapter 17 (Almost) Ten Ways to Be a Better Fabricator......Page 295 Changing Things Up......Page 296 Adopting New Technology......Page 297 Marketing Your Business Vertically......Page 298 Shortening Setups, Increasing Uptime......Page 299 Maintaining the Machine (and Tools)......Page 301 Learning That Manufacturing Is Not a Dirty Word......Page 302 Becoming Certifiable......Page 303 Donning Some Cool Safety Shades......Page 305 Keeping Your House in Order......Page 307 Index......Page 309 EULA......Page 323 Work your way to fabricating success People have been hammering metal into shields, cookware, and ceremonial headdresses for centuries, and fabrication continues to be a popular and growing industry today. Fabricating For Dummies provides you with all the information you need to begin learning about metalworking, or fill any gaps in your existing knowledge in order to advance your career. Simply put, there's little out there for light reading on manufacturing. What's available is often quite expensive, so boring it puts you to sleep, or filled with so much technical gobbledygook that one's eyes glaze over within a few pages. This book offers a much-needed alternative, cutting through the jargon and getting right to the heart of what you need to know to take your fab skills to fabulous new heights. Get a glimpse of the day in the life of a fab worker Discover the different alloys, shapes, and sizes of sheet metal Understand welding and joining processes Master the use of press brakes, stamping presses, and turret punches Whether you want to get your feet wet with waterjets, laser cutters, or hi-definition plasma cutters, there & rsquo;s something for you inside this hands-on book! People have been hammering metal into shields, cookware, and ceremonial headdresses for centuries, and fabrication continues to be a popular and growing industry today. This book cuts through the jargon and provides you with the information you need to begin learning about metalworking, or fill any gaps in your existing knowledge in order to advance your career