Guides, white papers, and technical insights from 75 years of stainless steel fabrication. Written for engineers and procurement teams who need answers, not sales pitches. Every guide below lives on our fabrication blog; this page organizes them by topic so you can go straight to the one your project needs.
Engineering and Procurement Guides
- Guide to Procuring Custom Stainless Steel Fabrications. The OEM’s guide to procurement, from metallurgy to total cost of ownership.
- Selecting a Custom Stainless Steel Fabrication Partner. What to evaluate beyond the RFQ when qualifying a fabricator.
- Beyond the Blueprint: Achieving Manufacturing Certainty. Why “almost perfect” fails in precision sheet metal, and the process controls that prevent it.
- The Problem with Unrealistic Metal Fabrication Tolerances. How title-block tolerances drive cost, and where to spend tolerance where it matters.
- The Engineer’s Guide to Duplex Stainless Steel Fabrication. From blueprint to performance: heat control, procedures, and inspection for duplex.
- Why Stainless Steel Fabrication Costs More (and Why It Should). The cost drivers behind stainless work and what that premium buys.
Stainless Steel Fundamentals
- Duplex vs. 316L Stainless Steel: Strength, Corrosion Resistance, and TCO. When duplex 2205 beats 316L, and when it doesn’t.
- The Anatomy of Failure: Corrosion in Welded Stainless Steel. A metallurgical analysis of the most common weld-zone corrosion failures.
- Beyond the Alloy: Preventing Stainless Steel Field Failures. Why correctly specified alloys still fail in the field, and the fabrication steps that prevent it.
Stainless Steel Quality and Compliance
- The Risk of MTRs: A Guide to Material Traceability and PMI. The hidden risk in your stainless supply chain, and how PMI closes it.
- Evaluating a Fabricator’s Material Quality and Traceability Program. The audit questions that separate a quality system from a quality binder.
- That 316L Weld Wire You Certified Might Be 308. A real mislabeled-filler case and what it means for your certifications.
Stainless Surface Finishing and Integrity
Finishing is where corrosion resistance is won or lost. These guides cover the chemistry and the callouts, grounded in the ASTM A380/A967 work that runs through our own 55-foot pickling booth.
- A Deep Dive into Pickling and Passivation (ASTM A380). Engineering corrosion resistance into fabricated stainless, per the standard.
- Why Blasting Must Be Followed by Pickling. The misconception that a bead-blasted surface is a corrosion-resistant surface.
- A Guide to Hygienic Surface Finishes for Stainless Steel. Specifying Ra, polish, and passivation for food, beverage, and sanitary equipment.
- Specifying Consistent Architectural Stainless Steel Finishes. A project manager’s guide to finish callouts that survive fabrication.
Welding and Fabrication
Process selection decides heat input, distortion, and cost before the first arc strikes. These guides compare the options the way our welding engineers do.
- Laser Welding vs. TIG/MIG for Stainless Steel. Where low-heat-input laser welding outperforms the arc, and where it doesn’t.
- Precision Edge Finishing: A Standard for Deburring and Edge Rounding. Replacing “break all edges” ambiguity with a measurable standard.
- Beyond the Cut: How Advanced Fabrication Preserves Stainless Integrity. How improper cutting compromises corrosion resistance and drives hidden cost per part.
Have a Question a Guide Doesn’t Answer?
Start with the fabrication FAQ, or send the question straight to an engineer through our contact page. If you have a drawing, request a quote and we will review the spec before pricing it.