Stainless Fabrication, Answered

We build non-standard parts, weldments and assemblies exactly to your print, no catalogue items, using flat, tube and 5-axis laser cutting, CNC forming, certified welding, and in-house finishing (pickling, passivation, and bead blasting) under one ISO 9001 quality system.

ISO 9001:2015 (AVU Registrations, certificate #00157-4); ASME BPVC Section IX qualified welding procedures (P1, P7, P8, P10H, P43, P45); 60+ AWS-certified welders running AWS D1.6 qualified procedures; an AWS Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) on staff; and ASNT SNT-TC-1A Level III NDE in-house. Northern also holds the ASME U stamp (Certificate #63199) and PP stamp (Certificate #63198), authorizing shop manufacture of code pressure vessels and pressure piping to your specification at our Oak Harbor shop, shop location only, no field code work. See our certifications and compliance page.

We run a high-mix, low-volume workflow: a single prototype pump housing today, a 4,000-piece bracket run tomorrow. Because laser, forming, welding and inspection are in-house, change-overs take minutes, not shifts.

Not at all. Most of our work is family-of-parts for custom systems. We read your updated models, regenerate NC code and treat each release as its own controlled lot for traceability.

Prototype and R&D Qty 1 to 3, typical project lots Qty 5 to 50, and production contracts up to 10,000 pieces with kanban or JIT call-offs.

Stainless is our core specialty, but not our only metal. Stainless and high-nickel alloys are the large majority of what we process; the balance is carbon-steel or aluminum components bundled into the same PO so customers issue one RFQ and receive one inspection packet from one shop. Think of us as a stainless-focused job shop rather than stainless-only.

From thin gauge sheet to 1 in plate: stainless (304, 316/L, 309, 321, 347, duplex 2205/2507, super-austenitic AL-6XN, and ferritic 409), high-nickel alloys (Hastelloy C-276/C-22, and Inconel 625 with a WPS on file per ASME IX P43), carbon steels (A36, A588, A514, A572) and aluminum (6061-T6, 5052-H32). We fabricate to your specified grade with the heat control, filler, and ferrite or cleanliness checks that alloy needs.

Duplex 2205 provides roughly double the yield strength and greater chloride-stress-corrosion resistance, often allowing wall-thickness reductions of 30%. See our duplex vs. 316L guide for the full comparison.

Carbon steel (A36, A514, A572, A588), aluminum (6061-T6, 5052-H32) and high-nickel alloys such as Hastelloy C-276/C-22 and Inconel 625.

We stock common 304/L and 316/L sheet and 2205 duplex plate. Exotic grades are bought to order; availability can range from a few days to several weeks depending on the global market.

Tube-laser cutting services combine high-power lasers with six-axis motion to pierce holes, copes and miters in one unmanned pass, eliminating secondary drilling and holding plus or minus 0.005 in fit-up accuracy.

Round, square and rectangular profiles from 3/4 in to 10 in OD, up to 27 ft long.

Our flat-laser cutting on the Trumpf TruLaser 3060 holds plus or minus 0.004 in positional tolerance with 0.0012 in repeatability, and the TruLaser 5040 fiber holds plus or minus 0.005 in positional, on sheets up to 80 x 160 in.

Yes. Micro-etching of text, QR codes or bend reliefs adds zero setup time or cost.

Welded shells or frames that move during welding: we weld first, let natural shrinkage occur, then 5-axis-cut final holes and slots so critical features hold machining-level tolerances.

Up to 0.375 in (9.5 mm) stainless with bevel angles to 45 degrees.

Our CNC bending and forming services use computer-controlled press brakes with programmable tooling for repeatable bends; on-board angle measurement eliminates trial-and-error.

Our press-brake lineup is five Trumpf TruBend brakes (5320 x2, 5085S, 5230) plus a large Ermak CNC press brake for the longest and heaviest stainless components. We confirm the exact bend length and thickness per part at quote review.

We roll stainless and carbon cylinders from 8 in to 120 in diameter and up to 0.5 in thick, ideal for tanks, shells and ducting.

Our primary code is AWS D1.6 (stainless). We also maintain procedures for ASME Section IX, AWS D1.1 (carbon) and AWS D1.2 (aluminum). Detailed documentation, MTRs and CWI sign-offs are supplied when your Inspection and Test Plan (ITP) calls for them.

Yes. Manual and robotic TIG/MIG stainless welding services with code-qualified procedures and full parameter logging.

Depending on the product: (1) argon purge during welding to prevent oxidation; (2) Walter Surfox acid-electrolytic wands for post-weld cleaning; (3) spray pickling/passivation to ASTM A380/A967; (4) mechanical grinding when the finish spec allows.

Robotic stainless welding can be cost-effective on anything from Qty 1 prototypes to 10,000-piece runs. Offline programming slashes setup time while the robot delivers uniform heat input and high Cpk even on one-off parts.

Pickling always involves an acid, typically nitric-hydrofluoric, that dissolves scale and heat tint; passivation is a subsequent nitric or citric bath that rebuilds the chromium-oxide layer, both to ASTM A380 and A967 in our 55-foot in-house spray booth that treats oversized assemblies whole. Grinding alone cannot substitute for acid pickling.

Yes. Our fiber-laser cell produces narrow, low-distortion welds on thin-gauge stainless and can join dissimilar metals when TIG heat input would warp the part.

ASME BPVC Section IX and AWS PQR/WPS packages cover austenitic stainless (P8), duplex (P10H), ferritic 409, and high-nickel alloys (P43 Hastelloy and Inconel 625, P45 AL-6XN), plus carbon (P1) and HSLA (P7). Robotic cells log parameters for audit-ready traceability.

A Leica AT960 tracker and PolyWorks metrology create sub-0.001 in point-clouds overlaid on your CAD for instant dimensional approval.

We price from your STEP files with model-based estimating. Every RFQ is reviewed by engineering, who flag value-engineering opportunities before the number comes back.

Complete STEP files and BOMs let engineering price the full package, regardless of alloy mix. Each RFQ is reviewed for value-engineering opportunities before the number comes back.

Lead time depends on scope and current shop loading. We confirm it per project at quote.

Our 160,000 sq ft facility in Oak Harbor, Ohio, ships stainless fabrications nationwide and internationally via certified crates or dedicated flatbeds.

Yes. Stainless mechanical assembly services, hydro-testing, asset tagging and direct-to-site delivery are all available.