Library of Metal Fabrication

Welcome to our library, we hope to serve you better with this library of free information about metal fabrication. Below you will see a list of the most commonly used metal fabrication terms, and some articles that relate to cutting, bending, notching and iron working.

Common Terms:

• Click Here for a diagram of mandrel tooling.
• Click Here for Diagram of Centerline Radius, Wall Thickness, Outside Diameter, Inside Diameter, and Degree of Bend
• Click Here for a free spring back calculator.
• Click Here for a chart of pipe sizes, including outside diameters and wall thickness for schedule 5, 10, 40, 80 and 160.
• OD - Tube Outside Diameter (ex: 3" OD)
• WT - Tube Wall Thickness (ex: 1.984mm WT)
• CLR - Center Line Radius of Bending
• DBB - Minimum Distance Between Bends (Length of each straight section)
• POB - Tube Rotating Angles before each bending
• DOB - Maximum Degree of Bending (Angle of each bend)
• Easy Way - Bending of a rectangular tube with its short side in the plane of the bend.
• Hard Way - Bending of a rectangular tube with its long side in the plane of the bend.
• Arc - The degree of bend for the curved portion of a pipe, tube or beam.
• Bevel - A type of end finishing for a pipe, tube or beam.
• Cold Bending - Using cold shaping methods to bend a pipe, beam or tube.
• Degree - The angle at which a bend is formed. (ex: 45 degrees)
• ID - Inside diameter of tube or pipe.
• Neutral Axis - The unbent portion of an object, that is not compressed or under tension due to the bend.
• Out of Plane - The deviation from a horizontal plane of a rectangular object by a single bend, between its tangent points and the centerline of the bend.
• Ovality - The distortion of tube or pipe from its circular shape caused by bending.
• Material Grade - Manufacturers specification of material for pipe, beam, or tube.
• Plain End - Square cuts made to a tube, pipe or beam; prior to bending.
• Roll Past - Degree or fraction of degree that beam, tube or pipe is bent beyond a specified point.
• Rough Cut - Pipe, beam or tube end cuts that are not required to be straight.
• Square Cut - End cuts to a tube, beam or pipe that are square to the centerline of a bend after the bending process.
• Tangent - Straight portion of material on either side of a bend.
• Tangent Point - A point where the bend of a pipe, beam or tube begins or ends.
• Taper Bore - A milling or grinding out of the inside diameter of the end of a bend to create a tapered tube or pipe diameter.
• Wrinkles - Ribbed or wavy indentations in the inner bend angle of a bend of a tube, beam or pipe.

Articles:

• Sheet Metal Forming: A Review
• Nomimal Pipe Size (Wikipedia)
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Bandsaw Cutting of Tube and Pipe: Tips for blade selection
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Bending Square and Rectangular Tubing
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Notching Tube and Pipe
• Electric Boat Corporation® - Best Practice: Handrail Fabrication
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Structural Tubing on Campus.
• The Fabricator Magazine® - Maximizing Your Ironworker's Potential.
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Angling for a good cut
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Band saw cutting of tube and pipe
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Creating an efficient offline band sawing system
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - New bends in the roll
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Preventive maintenance on sawing equipment
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Sawing cool it
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Selecting a tube cutting process
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Tube and pipe cutting techniques advantages and limitations
• The Tube & Pipe Journal® - Why should you care about inside bend radii