Understanding The Role of an HVAC Ductwork Fabricator

Have you ever heard of the term 'tin knocker'? There's a good chance you have come across the term somewhere along the line. Although, there's also a really good chance you have no idea what I'm talking about.

So what is a tin knocker anyway?

Although there is no real dictionary definition of the term, the accepted definition of a tin knocker is some one works with HVAC ductwork, a sheet metal worker. Meaning someone who fabricates duct and duct fittings for residential or commercial dwellings. Tin knocker can also be assigned to someone who installs ductwork on a regular basis. However, the term 'duct installer' is more common for the men and women working that job.

My daily job, along with co-owner duties, here at K & E Sheet Metal is HVAC ductwork fabricator or tin knocker. I fabricate the components used for the duct running through your home so heat and air conditioning can get to each of the rooms.

Our main business

Our main business is fabricating the plenums, duct, elbows and transitions needed to run the trunk line (ductwork) in the basement or attic. Many times the installer will need to run the duct under existing plumbing pipes or around a corner. Whether the piece needed is a standard fitting or a custom section, contractors or customers will call with measurements for what they need to finish the job. I, as an HVAC ductwork fabricator, build the duct to keep the job moving along.

Method to the madness

Well, in our shop it's a much simpler process than that of the larger, unionized shops knocking out ductwork for major projects around the world. Our facility takes an order from the customer--no job being too small--where I will either enter the dimensions in our computer system running the CNC plasma machine or start the cutting process by hand. Either with had tools or with our 52" wide shear, which is used to cut larger sections of duct.  

After the pieces are cut, I will use our 8' sheet metal brake and other metal bending tools to form the duct fittings and custom sections one flat side at a time. Our ductwork is formed either in half sections or four different sides to create the square or box that will be the duct. This also gives me the chance to run each side through whichever roll forming machine is needed to create the joints necessary for assembling each component.

The assembly process is performed either with a hand held or air hammer, with the air hammer being the quickest form of assembly at our shop. Depending on size or type of fabrication, each piece can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes.  

Obviously. this is a very quick overview of what I do as an HVAC ductwork fabricator, but you can get a sense of the basic steps needed and where our services are very important to the installation process. In order to keep the air flow and efficiency at peak you need to have the proper sized duct and fittings to move the air. Therefore a good fabricator is a must for anyone who runs an HVAC installation company. 

Keep the line moving sir

You can equate what I do to a short order cook, who needs to have something done quickly and accurately to keep the line moving. When an order is called in, the time window for me to finish is tight, roughly within 24 hours. With many orders coming through the door, this leaves hours to minutes for getting the fabrication complete, depending on the size of the order. All lead times aren't always a rush, some are weeks or even months down the line. Nevertheless, the majority of what we do in the residential market is a very quick turn around because time frames for many of the homes going up these days is fast.

Other factors that will determine what an HVAC ductwork fabricator produces on a daily basis is the size of his shop, amount of equipment, technological advancement of that equipment and number of employees fabricating ductwork. 

The role of the duct fabricator hasn't changed much over the years, but the size of the shops have. There aren't many job shops like ours around these days giving homeowners and smaller companies the ability to get small orders fabricated on demand for a good price.

If anything, understand that an HVAC ductwork fabricator is an integral part of the construction of your home or commercial building. 

Great Video Showing Fabrication of The Tesla Model S

A fantastic video showing behind the scenes fabrication and assembly of a Tesla Model S. This makes our new CNC plasma machine look like something out of the Flintstones. The factory and the innovative methods are really cool, leaving me wanting to take a tour of the factory someday.

BTW, I love our new CNC plasma machine!

New YouTube Video: Cold Air Boot Cutting Process

Our newest YouTube video showing the cutting process of our custom cold air boots. Our new CNC plasma machine has sliced our cut times in half helping to quicken the assembly process here in the fabrication shop.

Finding a Balance With Time Management

One of the hardest things we deal with as a two man small business is time management. Especially since the recent purchase of our new CNC plasma table, with the goal of growing the business, our time is split between many things. Learning a new system, a new way of doing what you've done for over twenty years can be daunting and many things will sadly be neglected in that ongoing process. For my father and I, especially me, it has been keeping up with many responsibilities in regards to the website and social media.

We have recently hired someone to take-on the marketing aspects of the business, but that also requires attention on a daily basis. With more traffic to the website and orders coming through the door, there is more that must be done to be available for our customers. We want to make sure that our customers are finding us online and that we accommodate them, no matter how small the order. Therefore dialing in our search results to make sure keywords etc. are up to date is on my mind constantly, creating more work and time to make sure things are running smooth.

Keeping up with Twitter and Google+ have become a challenge because of the extra work established by our new machinery. I have neglected much of these responsibilities for over a month, which does not help people engage you looking for your services. It's called social media for a specific reason....social reasons. Organizing myself down the road will help me to make sure I am on top of everything. At this point we can't afford to pay for more help, so it falls on my father and I to get things done.

No one said building a business was easy and I am learning quickly that time management will become one of the best things I can learn going forward. No matter how small your company is, look into time management and how it can help you balance your time and goals.

Introducing Our New MultiCam 1000 Plasma Table

Introducing our new MultiCam 1000 Series CNC plasma table!! The last few months of hard work have paid off with the full installation of our new plasma table, finishing up late last week with today being the end of our first full week of production. The table is fantastic and has already saved us time with the multiple jobs that we have already completed. With the installation of our new equipment we can provide customers with faster production times and reduced prices.

Scroll down to see some more photos of the new CNC plasma table and a video of our new toy in action.

 

If you have any questions about your sheet metal fabrication needs or items you may need cut, please visit our contact page to send us your requests.

Getting Back to Business

After spending the last month and a half getting our new CNC plasma table online, we can finally reap the benefits of our new mechanical employee. The process has been long, but educational with my excitement through the roof with what the future holds for the company. I never realized how much confusion comes with an investment like this one. I figured to be keeping up with most of the jobs I currently have, including the blog, twitter page, marketing, billing etc. with none of these things actually happening. My focus was always somewhere else with most days ending seemingly like nothing had been accomplished. However, things were happening all over the place and work was getting done even in the shadow of the minor problems that came with our new installation.

Now, with the dust settling, my father and I can focus on building the business around our new investment, making strides toward the next big purchase. Not to mention getting my act together in regards to keeping up with the financials, shipping, the blog, marketing and everything else related to running a successful business.

The last few months have been exciting and the next few years will be amazing. Time to get back to business!

Beginning The Exhaust Fan Installation

Congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens for their well deserved Super Bowl Championship. I cannot say the same for the team building our new transformer however, because their 15-day delivery has hit 21 days and counting. I am beginning to think the item does not exist at all. Nevertheless we push forward with what seems to be the never ending project ( can you sense the sarcasm dripping from my tongue? ). Over the weekend my father and I got started on the exhaust fan vent for the CNC plasma table. The exhaust fan showed up last week, giving us plenty of time to get things started before the possibly fictitious transformer is delivered ;)

I am currently fabricating the square trunk duct for the outlet of the fan, which will 90 degree upwards toward our vent hood to the outdoors. This will be the easiest part to date for this entire project.

The journey continues...