Our PA stainless steel fabrication shop was recently asked to fabricate a complex new product – an industrial microwave heater for Targeted Microwave Solutions (TMS Inc.) that removes moisture from aggregate materials providing a cleantech solution to traditional industrial drying.

When this client first approached SPEC FAB, they had a ¾ scale working prototype that they hoped to further refine while developing a larger second-generation prototype.

Our team swung into action and developed a manufacturing plan, that included working with the customer’s 3D modeling design, engineering, fabrication, assembly and delivery that would meet their deadline and other project requirements.

In essence, the project is a 30-foot-tall stainless steel chute that’s designed to move materials such as coal and other ores through a heating process. Because of the precision nature of this machine, and the need for very tight tolerances, our team worked with TMS to optimize each component part for accuracy and manufacturability.

As you can see from the photos below, this product contained incredibly complex angles, bends, seams and connections. Adding to the complexity of the project, the tolerances specified by the client were very tight, with little room for error.

To make sure the final product was accurate to within the required tolerance our team:

• Created custom tooling, jigs and fixtures
• Used 3D printing to generate weld fixtures that would have been impossible to fabricate using traditional methods
• Developed processes and fixtures to make sure thousands of individual bolts would line up perfectly
• Planned almost every process for each component part to ensure precision and manufacturability

Our PA stainless steel fabrication shop contributed the following processes to this project:

• Project planning and QC
• Laser cutting
• Water jet cutting
• Rolling
• Tapping
• Forming
• MIG & TIG welding
• Fixturing

If you have a complex stainless steel fabrication project, our shop can help. We’ve got expert designers, engineers, fabricators and welders on site who can turn just about any design into reality.

To learn more, contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you and helping to bring your next fabrication project to life!