Aluminum is a staple in many construction projects. Its desirable combination of strength, lightness, durability, corrosion resistance and recyclability is universal, but fabricator reliability is hit or miss.
Learn to scrutinize custom metal fabrication service providers properly to choose a company that is up to snuff.
Top Options to Get a Quote for Custom Aluminum Fabrication From
Firms must request quotes from multiple enterprises to compare prices and see which offers the best value for their money. Start with these three custom aluminum fabrication shops.
1. Mid-Atlantic Steel Fabrication
Mid-Atlantic Steel Fabrication is a member of the Manufacturers’ Association and the National Ornamental & Miscellaneous Metals Association based in Ronks, Pennsylvania. This full-service custom aluminum fabrication shop’s location conveniently allows it to serve clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic. It can handle any custom aluminum fabrication requests within and outside its home region and ships to most zip codes in North America.
Mid-Atlantic Steel Fabrication offers 3D modeling CAD services, using AutoCAD and SpaceClaim to turn abstract ideas and rough sketches into 2D and 3D designs. These 3D modeling capabilities reduce the pressure on clients to develop their drawings.
The business’s models ensure precise dimensions, accurate details, realistic visualization, and seamless collaboration between design professionals and fabricators. This streamlined process identifies design inconsistencies early and effectively reduces errors.
The shop uses cutting-edge technology to create aluminum sheets, rods, tubes, bars and many other construction supplies. Mid-Atlantic Steel Fabrication uses the TRUMPF TruLaser 3030 to laser-cut complex components up to .375 inches thick with minimal waste. The HYDMECH S-20A band saw can cut rectangular pieces up to 13 inches by 18 inches. Meanwhile, the TRUMPF TruBend 5130 is the backbone of its CNC forming process, which manipulates aluminum with a bending force of up to 140 tons.
Mid-Atlantic Steel Fabrication has welders on staff to round out the design of custom aluminum parts using metal inert gas (MIG) and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding methods. The shop also offers countersinking, tapping, hardware insertion and powder coating.
2. Custom Aluminum Products
Custom Aluminum Products has been around since 1960. This technically advanced extruder is adept in a broad range of fabrication capabilities, including:
- Extrusion to develop and manufacture custom aluminum products engineered to reduce fabrication costs, like snap fits that join multiple extrusions without fasteners.
- Precision machining to manufacture custom parts with high accuracy.
- Bending to form the metal into desired hollow or solid shapes.
- Welding to join aluminum parts with one another or steel through MIG, TIG, and Fronius CMT welding methods.
- Painting to add color and texture to aluminum components using polyurethane and powder coating finishes.
- Anodizing to create an aluminum oxide layer and convert the material’s surface into a corrosion-resistant finish.
- Assembly to put numerous parts together and make aluminum products ready for use.
The brand does not create 2D and 3D models from scratch. However, its engineering team can work closely with clients’ design professionals, import designs into AutoCAD and offer suggestions to reduce piece cost.
Custom Aluminum Products offers many inventory programs to store an ample supply of WIP products, stock monthly quantities of finished goods and more. These inventory capabilities minimize lead times, enabling JIT and next-day deliveries. This one-stop shop for custom aluminum fabrication boasts 800,000 square feet of production floor across its locations in Genoa and South Elgin, Illinois, proving its immense manufacturing capacity.
The enterprise holds three ISO certifications:
- ISO 9001:2015
- ISO 14001:2015
- ISO 45001:2018
These seals of approval are synonymous with Custom Aluminum Products’ commitment to quality management, workplace safety and sustainability. Its green credentials may be attractive to businesses whose growth strategy involves environmental, social, and governance practices to increase growth and attract investors.
3. Wellste
Wellste is a credentialed custom aluminum product manufacturer headquartered in Jiangsu, China. It has established itself as a reliable partner of construction and home improvement players worldwide for over 20 years.
This aluminum manufacturing giant has wide-ranging fabrication capabilities, yielding 100,000 tons of custom aluminum items annually. It has 35 advanced extrusion presses to produce aluminum tubes in various shapes and profiles.
Wellste serves OEM and ODM clients, allowing its design team to work on existing digital drawings and assess their extrudability or create new ones at no cost. The company’s engineers match the aluminum alloy for the product’s application and intended end users. They also note tolerances when the custom object is part of an assembly.
This ISO-certified institution’s one-stop custom aluminum fabrication capability includes cutting, CNC machining, milling, welding, drilling, bending, punching, tapping and laser engraving. It also offers different finishing services — powder coating, electrophoresis and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) coating.
Powder coating is the standard aluminum finishing method. Wellste has five powder coating lines — four horizontal and one vertical. Clients can choose from more than 200 standard RAL colors and ask about complex inorganic color pigments to gain more weather resistance.
Electrophoresis comes after anodizing. It coats aluminum with a high-adhesion, dense resin film to protect the substrate from wear and corrosion.
PVDF coating involves fluorocarbon paint and a high-voltage electrostatic spray gun. This paint has strong anticorrosive properties and can withstand harsh weather conditions, including intense ultraviolet light, high humidity and salt air.
Wellste has a lenient minimum order requirement. It accepts orders as low as 500 kilograms — or 1,102 lbs. The custom aluminum fabrication takes 25-35 days since it handles everything under one roof.
How to Compare Custom Aluminum Fabrication Shop
Metal fabrication companies put their best foot forward. Expertise, technology, sources of raw materials, production involvement, lead time, proximity and credibility matter when comparing them to determine which ones practice what they preach.
Expertise
Find out what custom aluminum products a business specializes in, the industries it serves and the secondary services it offers. A metal fabrication service provider may focus on specific projects due to its equipment’s technical limitations, technicians’ skill constraints or both.
The service menu indicates its comfort zone, but its project gallery can shed more light on the scope of its competence. Browse through a metal fabrication shop’s website to discover the custom aluminum products its team has fabricated. No brand would willingly publish something it is not proud of. Review the featured past projects to gain more insight into the magnitude of work it can handle.
Technology
Learn about a fabrication service provider’s equipment to manufacture custom aluminum products. Only some have the latest innovations because sophisticated machines are expensive.
Investing in sophisticated equipment proves a metal fabrication shop is willing to invest considerable capital to deliver higher-quality work. One with a tech-forward culture can successfully optimize its operations and expand its technical capabilities. Stay current with the latest technological trends in custom aluminum fabrication to tell early adopters and laggards — and those in between — apart.
Suppliers
Know where a company sources its raw materials. The strength of its relationships with its suppliers correlates with the quality of its output and its capacity to deliver orders on schedule. Favored metal fabrication service providers leverage the concessions they enjoy from vendors to obtain superior aluminum, even during times of scarcity, which translates into high output quality.
Ask about the locations of a metal fabricator’s vendors to assess how prone it is to supply chain disruptions. Service providers who use domestic suppliers are more likely to receive a consistent supply of resources than those reliant on overseas sources.
The United States aluminum smelting sector is small by global standards. The country heavily depends on Canadian imports. Although Canada is a friendly northern neighbor of the U.S., the Great White North is not immune to the additional tariff imposed by President Donald Trump.
American metal fabrication shops that use foreign aluminum suppliers caught in the trade war may charge more to compensate for the higher price of the commodity. Those that switch to local vendors may scramble to source limited domestic supply. Less-favored suppliers may experience delays, which can negatively impact construction project timelines.
Involvement
Determine whether an aluminum fabrication brand has in-house product design capabilities. Such a shop can bring ideas to life from start to finish without any third party. The fewer parties involved in the design process, the higher the chances that fabricators will perfectly meet the product’s specifications in less turnaround time.
Lead Time
Inquire how fast a metal fabrication service provider can finish the custom aluminum product to see whether it fits into the construction project’s timeline. Lengthy delays can result in financial losses, so use a shop that can commit to meeting the construction project’s timeline.
Beware of unrealistic delivery estimates. Custom aluminum fabrication requires care and precision. A firm overpromising a short delivery time frame may rush the job and compromise output quality.
Proximity
Do business with an enterprise whose facilities are near the construction site to minimize shipping costs and enjoy faster delivery. However, prioritize capacity over proximity. Use the closest custom aluminum fabrication service provider with adequate capacity to handle the job and deliver within the desired time frame.
Credibility
Research when a company entered the metal fabrication business and its affiliations. A service provider’s years in business equate to experience, which speaks volumes about its expertise and track record. Trade association memberships are a testament to the service provider’s dedication to best practices and regulatory compliance.
Get a Quote From Reliable Custom Aluminum Fabrication Companies
Narrow down hundreds of options on the market to these three to reduce the risk of using an unproven metal fabrication service provider. Request quotes, but go beyond prices to find the best fit and get the most value for money.
