Steel shop drawings for small fabrication shops
Outsource steel detailing without hiring a detailer. Send the contract drawings and get back a checked 3D fabrication model, approval drawings, assembly and part drawings, and material lists your shop floor can cut from.
Example situation · Fabrication shops
← All situationsA six-person fabrication shop has won a package of stairs, platforms and a small canopy. Their detailer has left, and the contract drawings are PDFs from the engineer of record. The shop needs approval drawings for the engineer first, then fabrication drawings, and nobody in the shop has time to draw them.
An example situation. The workflow and the projects linked below are real.- Contract drawings (PDF or DWG) and the specification
- Connection details, or design forces from the engineer of record
- Your shop standards: hole sizes, weld symbols, title block, units
- Erection limits: crane reach, longest piece you can ship
- 3D fabrication model, numbered so identical pieces share a mark
- Approval (erection) drawings for the engineer's review
- Assembly and single-part drawings, as DWG and PDF
- NC (DSTV) files for CNC cutting and drilling
- Material list and cut list by profile, with a cutting plan
- IFC export and an offline 3D viewer for the erection crew
How it goes
Four steps, all by e-mail.
Model
The contract drawings become a 3D fabrication model. Anything missing or contradictory comes back to you as a numbered question list instead of a guess.
Approval
Erection drawings go to the engineer of record. When comments come back, the model changes and the drawings are regenerated from it, not edited by hand.
Check
Before issue, software checks clashes on solid geometry, every mark on a general arrangement drawing and overlapping labels, and reads the drawings back as an erector would.
Issue
You get fabrication drawings, cut lists and the model. Changes after issue are managed as revisions, with clouds and a revision log.
Experience
Good to know
- Imperial or metric, AISC shapes or European sections: the drawings follow your shop standards and your title block.
- If connection design has been delegated to the fabricator, the connection calculations can be done here too, with the same model.
- Codes. Eurocode, AISC 360 or the code your project requires. Tell me which at the start.
- Sign-off. Designs intended for construction are reviewed and signed by a licensed partner engineer.
- Scope and price. Every request gets a written scope and price before any work starts. No job is too small.
Evidence
See it on real projects
A complete fabrication package from a detailing model
Numbering, prechecks, drawing QA and the delivered packageOpen →
A crane canopy: 104 shop drawings
From a tender drawing to an issued drawing set, with revisionsOpen →Free tool: Steel Cutting Optimizer
Cutting plans from a part list or an IFC file, in your browserOpen →FAQ
Questions
How do you handle missing information on the contract drawings?
Every gap or conflict is listed with the sheet and grid reference and sent to you before it is modelled. Nothing is assumed silently.
Can you work to our title block and drawing standards?
Yes. Send a few of your current drawings; the drawing templates are set up from them before the first sheet is produced.
Do you provide NC (DSTV) files for CNC machines?
Yes. NC (DSTV) files are delivered with the drawings, generated from the same model, so the machine cuts what the drawing shows.
Is a small package worth sending?
Yes. A single stair or a handful of platforms is fine. You get a written scope and price either way.
Is this your situation?
Send what you have and a few lines about what you need. The e-mail opens with a short checklist so nothing important is missed.
info@structomat.com You get a written scope and price before any work starts.