Glulam Building: Start to Finish – Part Eight A

 Welcome to our “Glulam Building: Start to Finish” series. Our goal is to provide an overview – from idea to completion – of a glulam building, from the perspective of the glulam manufacturer and designer.

Part 8: Steel Fabrication

Part 8A: Steel Ordering

As a custom glulam producer steel connections are an integral part of our design and finished products. It is common for us to not only produce the glulam framing, but to also design and produce the custom steel connections for that framing.

Compression ring for the pavilion at Chautauqua Harbor Hotel, Celoron, NY

While we do all welding and some steel fabrication in house, we first need to order material. For rolled steel shapes (angles, tubes, pipes, or other structural shapes), we will purchase standard lengths necessary for a project and cut them to length in our shop.

Compression ring including center structural pipe

Most of the work we do, however, is built up from flat plates. For plates that will be simple rectangular or trapezoidal shapes, we will purchase long lengths and cut them to size in our shop. For more complicated shape, we will send CAD files to a vendor that can precisely cut the shape, any necessary holes, and even etch layout markings on the plates. A nearby company laser cuts most of these plates for us.

Thicker plates cut and etched by water jet

Variety of laser cut plates