Automotive
Stainless fabrication and welding for automotive projects
Automotive development and manufacturing need test equipment, fixtures and production-line hardware that are made accurately and can be repeated. DMS can fabricate and weld stainless steel and other alloys for this kind of work, and assemble complete frames and machines in-house.
Our machine TIG lathes and orbital equipment suit batches of welded tube and circumferential parts, while our fabricators build frames, guards and special purpose equipment.
Send your drawings and we will prepare a quotation.
Combining welding, fabrication and assembly
Services we can combine for your project:
- Fabrication work: frames, machine bases and special purpose equipment.
- Machine TIG welding: repeatable welds on couplings and other circumferential parts.
- Orbital welding: tube and pipe welds for fluid and gas lines.
- Sheet metal work: laser-cut and folded guards, covers and panels.
- Inspection, assembly and testing: in-house fitting, inspection and proof running.
Tell us the quantities and timescales, and we will suggest how the work could be split between these services.
Supporting automotive development and production
Batch consistency
Precision welding lathes produce butt and socket welds with an extremely high degree of repeatability.
Special purpose machines
Bespoke machines and equipment can be fabricated and assembled by our fitters.
Proof running
Equipment can be inspected, tested and proof run to your requirements before despatch.
Electrical work
Electrical work on assembled equipment is subcontracted to suitably qualified companies.
Design in 3D
SolidWorks 3D lets complex parts be developed and proved before manufacture.
Range of materials
We weld stainless steels, carbon steels and special alloys, as well as aluminium and copper alloys.
Automotive applications for our services
Our services can support items such as:
- Test rig frames, tube work and fixtures
- Special purpose machines and production-line equipment
- Batches of welded couplings, adaptors and tube assemblies
- Guards, covers and enclosures for workshop and factory equipment
Where equipment connects to existing plant or vehicles, send the interface details with your drawings.
Material choices for automotive equipment
The right material depends on what the equipment carries, where it is used and how it is cleaned. We hold welding procedures for 300 series stainless steels, carbon steels and a range of special alloys.
Specify the grade and any strength or finish requirements, and tell us where stainless and carbon steel parts meet in the same assembly, as we hold procedures for stainless to carbon steel joints. See our approved materials.
Prototype, pilot and repeat batches
Machine TIG welding suits work that moves from prototype to production. Once a weld cycle has been set and proved on first-off parts, the same settings can be repeated across the batch.
- Send drawings or 3D models, materials and target quantities.
- Build and check the first unit or first-off batch.
- Feed back changes so the drawing revision can be updated.
- Weld repeat batches to the agreed revision and settings.
Find out more about machine TIG welding.
Inspection and validation
We inspect welds in-house, including borescope checks inside tube, and subcontract other NDT to an independent test laboratory. Assembled equipment can be inspected, tested and proof run to your requirements before it leaves our factory.
If a component will be fitted to a vehicle, or your customer sets its own supplier requirements, tell us at enquiry stage so we can confirm whether we can meet them. Read about inspection, assembly and testing.
