Thursday, 13 August 2020 / Published in Base4

Let’s Bend Some Metal

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Staying on the cutting-edge of the building market is hard, especially with the rapid onset of industrialized construction (IC). Of the five cornerstones of IC shown below, one very overlooked pillar is Vendors and Products—and keeping up to speed with all new ones on the market. That’s why we’ll be taking the opportunity over the next couple of months to introduce you to a few of the more promising vendors/products in this space.

Let’s Talk Steel Products

You know those steel studs you see on project sites? Those are light-gauge or cold-formed steel products. What you might not know is that you can make these yourself using cold-form rolling technology. Today we would like to take a deep dive into light steel roll-forming technology. Products made from steel can make your job easier!

What is it?

With roll forming technology, a 3,000-pound coil of steel gets transformed into custom CFS studs in just a few minutes. These are rolled to shape, cut to length, labeled, and pre-punched—ready to be quickly assembled into a wall panel.

CFS is revolutionizing construction.

It Takes a Team

To help you understand the teamwork required for IC, consider one of our partners playing in this space, FRAMECAD. By learning what they do in combination with the role that we play, you will know exactly what to do to make IC work for your next project.

FRAMECAD is a software & equipment manufacturer of cold-formed steel products.
They provide engineering and detailing software that BASE4 uses to prepare shop drawings that are integrated with FRAMECAD roll forming equipment for the manufacturing of light gauge steel studs.
Two of the most popular models are the F325—which is primarily for light commercial and handles up to 18 gauge, and the F450—which is designed for midrise structures and handles up to 16 gauge steel.
These machines are 12′ and 15′ in length, respectively, and both are less than 3′ wide. The advantage of their relatively small size is that you need a minimal factory footprint to get started with the equipment, as seen in the factory picture below.

At BASE4, it’s our job to help you design your project with the right CFS products. We conduct the research, interface with FRAMECAD, provide the shop drawings, and help you bring your next project to market with speed and high quality. We also can help you build your own factory. Let us know how we can help!

As promised, we’ll be introducing you to some of the best products and vendors on the market over the next few months, so stay tuned. Next week, we explore why lumber prices are rising so dramatically and how steel could be your next best solution.

Check out Stonepile Construction College, where students excel in all the latest IC technologies, building toward the future. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.