Ultimate Guide to Aluminum Laser Cutting | Challenges & Pro Tips

Building strong, lasting structures, like architectural facades or industrial machinery, starts with raw metal. But raw metal alone won’t get the job done. It needs to be expertly shaped, cut, welded, or bent into something functional. That’s where expert metal fabrication comes in.
In Perth, demand for precise, durable and custom metal fabrication is growing. But with so many terms like welding, bending, stamping, and laser cutting flying around, it’s easy to feel lost.
So, what is metal fabrication really? What types and techniques are involved? And how do Perth’s metal fabricators bring raw steel or aluminium to life?
This blog covers everything you need to know about metal fabrication in Perth. Let’s dig in.
What is Metal Fabrication?
Metal fabrication is creating products or structures by cutting, bending, and assembling metal materials. It is a value-added process in which raw metal is formed into finished parts that serve specific functions in buildings, vehicles or equipment.
Fabrication generally involves five phases:
- Material selection
- Designing (mostly in CAD)
- Process & Machine selection
- Fabrication itself (cutting, bending, welding, etc.)
- Installation on site
Fabrication is about shaping the metal’s core form. For example, a steel beam must be cut and welded to size before any paint or galvanizing is applied. In a fabrication shop, pieces of plate, rod and tubing are measured, CNC-programmed and then transformed into the precise shapes that architects, engineers and manufacturers need.
Now that you know what metal fabrication is, let’s explore the different techniques that turn raw metal into finished, functional parts.
12 Different Types of Metal Fabrication
Metal fabrication encompasses many processes. Each process serves a different purpose in shaping metal. So, choosing the right type of fabrication for your project can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the quality of your products.
1. Cutting
Cutting is the first step of breaking raw metal into usable blanks. This can be done with mechanical shears, saws, or high-tech tools.
Modern shops use laser cutting or waterjets to slice through sheets with high precision. Even handheld tools (like power shears or snips) can cut simpler shapes. Accurate cutting defines part geometry, from straight cuts for structural beams to intricate outlines for panels.
Technologies like fiber lasers enable complex sheet metal fabrication with tight tolerances.
2. Welding
Welding joins two or more metal pieces into one. In welding, heat (and sometimes pressure or filler) fuses metals together.
Common welding types include:
- MIG Welding (Metal Inert Gas Welding) is used extensively in fabricating both thick and thin materials. It’s suitable for a wide range of metals.
- TIG Welding (Tungsten Inert Gas Welding) is used for welding thinner materials and complicated shapes. It requires skilled welders.
- Arc Welding is the traditional form of welding uses an electric arc to melt metals at the welding point. It’s suitable for heavy-duty metal fabrication jobs.
Welding is used to assemble frames, support structures, piping and fabricated parts in any fabrication project. It’s the backbone of joining cut pieces.
For example, welded steel channels forming a beam or welded aluminum frames for machinery. Perth fabricators routinely weld stainless steel and carbon steel structures to local standards.
3. Folding (Bending)
Folding / bending involves bending sheet or plate metal along a straight line, using a press brake.
In this process, a press brake secures the metal and then applies force to bend it at precise angles. Folding is essential for panel fabrication, such as making box-shaped enclosures, facades, or brackets and for creating bent components like channels or trays.
For instance, a flat steel panel can be folded into a U-channel by a CNC brake press. Many metal shops in Perth use bending and folding to achieve complex shapes needed in construction and industrial applications.
4. Casting
Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mold and letting it solidify into the desired shape. It is one of the oldest metal shaping methods. Casting is ideal for complex or heavy parts that would be hard to fabricate otherwise.
For example, parts like engine blocks, custom anchors, or decorative bronze elements start as liquid metal in a mold. After cooling, the cast part is extracted and then may be machined or finished. Everyday items like bolts, car rims or pump housings are made by casting before any fabrication touches them.
5. Forging
Forging shapes metal by applying compressive force with a giant hammer or press that repeatedly strike the workpiece. This process produces exceptionally strong parts by aligning the metal's grain structure.
Hammer forging (mostly used in blacksmithing) involves repeated high-speed strikes. Whereas, press forging uses slow, continuous pressure through hydraulic or mechanical presses.
- Hot forging is done on heated metal to improve ductility.
- Cold forging is done at room temperature for tighter tolerances and a smoother finish.
Forging is used for items like gears or heavy hardware. For example, an I-beam or heavy anchor can be forged for strength. This technique makes parts with very high structural strength and toughness.
6. Machining (Turning, Drilling, Milling)
Machining is subtractive shaping in which material is removed to get the final form. Turning, drilling and milling are the main machining operations.
- In turning, a lathe spins the workpiece and a cutting tool shapes it (for example, creating round shafts or flanges).
- In drilling, a rotating drill bit makes holes in the metal.
- In milling, a rotating multi-point cutting tool carves material from the piece.
Machining is used to refine casts, weldments or blanks into precise components. For instance, machining projections onto a welded assembly, drilling holes for bolts, or finishing a cast part’s mounting surfaces.
7. Drawing
Drawing uses tensile force to stretch metal into a thinner shape.
- Sheet metal drawing (deep drawing) can form metal into cups or box shapes.
- Wire drawing pulls metal through dies to make wire or rods.
Essentially, metal is pulled into a die, which elongates and thins the metal. Drawing is common for making cylindrical parts or thin-walled containers (like sink bowls or fuel tanks) from sheet. It uses the metal’s ductility (flexibility); copper and low-carbon steel can be drawn extensively.
8. Forming
Forming is a broad term for reshaping metal without adding or removing material. It includes bending, rolling and squeezing.
Most often, forming refers to bending plate or sheet to a specific profile. Using a press brake or forming rolls, metal sheets are deformed into angles, curves or channels.
For example, roll forming can produce long lengths of trim or flashing. Like folding, forming relies on ductility; metals like mild steel and aluminum form easily at room temperature. In Perth, forming is done on hydraulic presses or brake presses, and it’s critical for creating many sheet metal shapes.
9. Extrusion
Extrusion forces metal through a shaped die to make long sections with a uniform cross-section. Common for metals like aluminum, copper and steel, extrusion produces rods, tubes, rails or custom profiles.
For instance, aluminum window frames and structural channels are mostly extruded. The process uses a hydraulic press to squeeze a billet of hot metal through the die. This yields continuous parts which are then cut to length. Extrusion is valued for high-volume production of consistent, long shapes.
10. Punching
Punching creates holes or cutouts in sheet metal. A punch press drives a punch through the metal into a die, which produces clean holes or shapes.
It’s like a cookie-cutter action on metal sheet. Punch presses have tool turrets allowing multiple hole sizes or patterns. Metal punching is used for perforations, vents, or any applications needing slots and holes.
Compared to drilling each hole, punching is very fast and precise.
11. Stamping
Stamping uses a die and press to form or imprint metal, mostly by pressing shapes or patterns.
A stamping press can engrave numbers, logos, or create complex forms by pressing the metal into die cavities. Typical uses include making nameplates, decorative panels, or connectors.
Stamping is also used for high-volume production parts like brackets or reinforced shapes. It differs from punching in that stamping displaces or shapes metal rather than just cutting. For example, letters, logos or indentations on a metal panel are done by stamping.
12. Shearing
Shearing cuts sheet metal along straight lines using a pair of blades. It’s the metal version of scissors: two straight blades slice through the material.
Shearing is a very common, fast way to cut sheets into smaller rectangles or strips. The result is clean, burr-free edges and no chips or swarf. In fact, shearing is used to prepare blanks for further fabrication because it wastes almost no material.
Most Common Metals Used in Fabrication
Different metals are chosen for fabrication based on their properties. The table below highlights the key materials:
Metal |
Properties (Key Traits) |
Common Uses / Examples |
Stainless Steel |
|
Food kitchens, medical fixtures, handrails, outdoor structures. |
Aluminum |
|
Aerospace parts, window frames, signage panels, automotive trim. |
Mild/Carbon Steel |
|
Structural beams, building frames, machinery, automotive frames. |
Bronze |
|
Bearings, bushings, marine hardware, sculptures, architectural accents. |
Brass (Alloys) |
|
Musical instruments, decorative trim, gears, locks, valves. |
Copper |
|
Electrical wiring, plumbing, heat exchangers, roofing, decorative elements. |
Structural Steel |
|
Building frames, bridges, towers, shop structures. |
Titanium |
|
Aerospace components, medical implants, high-performance parts. |
Achieving speed, accuracy and consistency, actually relies on advanced technology. Let’s explore the technologies used in metal fabrication:
Modern Metal Fabrication Technologies in Perth
Modern metal fabrication relies on advanced technologies to improve speed and precision:
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Laser Cutting
High-powered lasers (fiber lasers) are used to cut metal sheets with extreme accuracy.
Fiber laser cutting can handle steels, aluminum and stainless steel with very fine detail and minimal heat distortion. We use fiber lasers because they cut fast and can do intricate patterns on thin and thick metal alike. Laser cutting is mostly the first step in fabricating custom parts. Learn more about metal laser cutting HERE.
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CAD Software
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems are essential for fabricators today. Parts and assemblies are designed in 2D/3D CAD before any cutting starts.
In fact, we offer turnkey services from the original CAD concept through to the completed product. This means engineers can submit digital designs, and the fabricator can program CNC machines directly. This ensures the fabricated part matches the design exactly. CAD also helps optimise material layouts and simulate bending or welds before production.
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Plasma Cutting
Plasma cutters use a high-velocity jet of ionized gas to cut metal. This is especially useful for thick steel or stainless plate where laser would be slow or expensive.
Plasma cutting can slice through heavy plates quickly, with clean edges even on very thick materials. It’s more cost-effective for heavy structural work. In many shops, plasma cutters (CNC-controlled) handle jobs like cutting thick steel sections and industrial components. Automation in plasma cutting can streamline production and maintain consistent quality.
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Automation
Automation is increasingly present in fabrication shops.
CNC machines (for cutting, bending and punching) allow lights-out production where software controls the machines. Robots and automated feeders can handle material loading and even welding. This boosts efficiency and precision.
For example, automated fiber lasers and CNC presses can cut and bend dozens of parts rapidly with minimal human intervention. Automation reduces turnaround times and errors, enabling Perth fabricators to offer faster lead times.
By leveraging these technologies; fiber lasers, CNC equipment, CAD/CAM design and automation, we provide modern metal fabrication services that are fast and repeatable.
With the right techniques, materials and technologies now in your toolkit, it’s time to work with the best fabrication team in Western Australia.
Are you searching for ‘metal fabrication near me’? Your search ends here!
Reach Out United Metals Laser for Fast, Precise, & Custom Metal Fabrication in Perth
We are Perth’s trusted metal fabrication experts, always there to help local builders, architects and manufacturers,
Our professional team combines local knowledge with advanced equipment to deliver the best fabrication results.
Our expertise spans laser cutting, CNC machining, folding, welding and complete turnkey fabrication. Whether it’s stainless-steel components, aluminum sign frames, or large structural parts, we handle custom metal fabrication projects of any scale.
Contact us today to discuss your project, or explore our services to see how we can help.