Fabrication and Component Verification
Shop work converts approved shop drawings into marked, fitted, and finished pieces. The inspector verifies, not supervises: piece dimensions against the drawing, member marks, camber, hole size and location, weld size and length against the symbols, cut quality, and coating or galvanizing. Fitting and alignment checks, plus any required trial assembly, catch errors before the piece reaches the jobsite where correction is far more expensive.
Processes worth knowing
- Hole making: drilling is the default for accurate work; punching full size is limited to relatively thin material, and thicker material is drilled or sub-punched and reamed to final size. Thermally cut holes must meet surface roughness limits.
- Thermal cutting: permitted, but the cut surface must be free of excessive roughness, notches, and slag.
- Camber and straightening: heat straightening and cambering must stay within the tolerances of the governing material specification (ASTM A6) and not damage the steel.
- Coatings: shop primer, galvanizing (with proper vent and drain holes), and - critically - faying-surface condition for slip-critical joints, where unqualified coatings are prohibited.
Fabricators perform quality control under AISC 360 Chapter N: dimensional checks, weld inspection, documentation. Third-party quality assurance and special inspection sample those results. Certification programs (for example AISC Certified Fabricator) support, but do not replace, project-specific inspection.
Trap: accepting a painted faying surface in a slip-critical joint because "all the steel is primed." The coating must be a qualified class, or it must be removed.
Rule of thumb: verify the mark, the dimensions, the holes, the welds, and the coating - in that order - before releasing a piece for shipment.