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Sawmill Steel Co.

Steel cut in Greenfield, set across New England

Bench

From the shop

Shop notes on fabrication, plasma work, welding and the jobs that leave the yard

  1. mark1B-04 benchFrom the shop checked

    What the mill certificate tells you before the first cut

    A mill certificate read at the bench before the saw: heat number, ASTM grade, yield and tensile, and what the paper does not prove about the plate under it.

    6 min read

    A steel mill certificate sheet lying on a steel plate in a fabrication shop with a caliper beside it.
  2. mark1B-03 benchFrom the shop checked

    What the cut edge says about the pass that made it

    Top edge rounding, dross on the bottom, a few degrees of bevel and the kerf: what a plasma-cut edge records about the pass that made it, read at the bench.

    6 min read

    A close view of a plasma-cut edge on a steel plate showing the cut line and slight bevel.
  3. mark1B-02 benchFrom the shop checked

    The fit-up check that happens before the weld goes in

    Root opening, bevel, root face and hi-lo, read with a taper gauge, a protractor and a caliper on one groove joint, with the numbers as they came off the bench.

    6 min read

    A welder checking the gap between two beveled steel plates with a taper gauge before welding.
  4. mark1B-01 benchFrom the shop checked

    Coping beams so they bolt up in the air, not on the phone

    A cope gets cut and checked on the bench: cut dimensions, the clearance to the supporting member, the gage line on the angle, and what the tape cannot prove.

    6 min read

    A steel beam end with a cope cut resting on a fabrication shop workbench with layout marks visible.