A weldment from flat: cut, bend, fixture, weld, dress, coat

Every part of the weldment is cut on the laser from one set of files — which means every edge that has to meet another was cut by the same machine to the same numbers. That’s the quiet advantage of one shop: the parts fit each other because they came from one source, not five, so the fit-up is right before anyone picks up a torch.

Any part that’s a folded shape rather than a flat plate gets bent now, while it’s still a single easy-to-handle piece. Folding before welding also does structural work for free: a folded lip or flange stiffens a panel so the finished frame needs fewer welds and warps less under the heat that’s coming.

Before a single joint is welded, the parts are set into a fixture — a jig that holds every piece in its exact place and square to the others. This is the step that decides whether the weldment comes out true. Weld freehand and the first bead pulls the whole assembly out of shape; weld in a fixture and the heat has to fight the clamps, not your tolerances.

The assembly is tacked together first — small welds that hold everything in position — then welded out in a planned sequence that balances the heat across the part, so it doesn’t all pull one way. TIG for the thin and the visible, MIG for speed and thickness, stainless back-purged so the far side of the seam stays clean. The sequence is as deliberate as the welds themselves.

Out of the fixture, the welds are dressed to whatever the job asks for — ground flush and blended where the part shows or gets handled, left as strong structural beads where it doesn’t. This is where "welded" becomes "finished": the difference between a fabrication and a product is usually the half-hour spent here.

Last, the whole assembly is blasted, pre-treated and powder-coated as one piece — so the colour is even across every part and there are no bare welds left to rust. It leaves as a single finished weldment: cut, folded, fixtured, welded, dressed and coated, off one order and one bench.

1. Cut All parts from one set of files, edges that match.
2. Bend Fold before welding — it stiffens and simplifies.
3. Fixture Hold everything square before any heat goes in.
4. Weld Tack, then weld out in a heat-balanced sequence.
5. Dress Grind and blend where it shows.
6. Coat Finish as one piece — even colour, no bare welds.