What is Plate Beveling?

Plate beveling makes slanted or angled edges on metal plates. The angled edge is called a bevel. Bevels prepare plates for welding joints.

Beveling removes material from the plate edge. This creates an opening between plates for welding. The weld fills the beveled groove to join plates together.

Bevels come in different angles like 30, 45 or 60 degrees. Different bevel angles suit different weld joint designs.

Thicker plates require wider bevels for proper weld penetration. The thicker the plate, the heavy plate and the bigger the bevel needs to be, which require professional heavy plate beveling services in Houston.

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Manual Plate Beveling

Manual beveling uses hand grinding tools. Operators hold angle grinders against the plate edge. The spinning disc grinds off material to form the bevel.

Other hand tools like beveling machines can also bevel plates. These ride along the plate edge to grind the bevel angle.

Manual beveling works well for:

• Thick plates that are difficult to bevel with machining
• Odd shaped plates that cannot be beveled in machines
• Small beveling jobs where machines are too costly

Grinders make a groove in the metal plate edge. Repeated passes deepen the groove into the required bevel.

Maximum Plate Thickness for Manual Beveling

The maximum thickness depends on:

• Bevel angle required
• Bevel surface quality needed
• Power of the beveling tool

Most workshops can manually bevel plates up to 2 thick. This covers many common plate thicknesses used.

Beveling 1-2 Inch Plates: Plates up to 1-2 inches thick are easily beveled manually. Standard angle grinders can quickly create bevels on these plates.

High quality bevels are possible on 1-2 inch plates. The surface finish meets weldment requirements.

Beveling 2-4 Inch Plates: Plates in the 2-4 inch range are on the upper limit. Powerful grinders with thick abrasive discs are required.

Beveling gets difficult and time-consuming over 3 inches thick. Surface quality may not meet X-ray specs.

Beveling Over 4 Inch Plates: Very few fab shops manually bevel over 4 inch thick plates. The high forces make handheld grinding extremely difficult.

Portable milling machines may be a better option for beveling these very thick plates. These ride along the plate edge to mill the bevel.

Advantages of Manual Beveling

• Able to bevel thick plates over 2-3 inches
• Can create bevels on irregular curved plates
• Portable and flexible for different plate sizes/shapes
• Lower equipment costs compared to CNC machining

Most plate beveling workshops in Houston can manually bevel steel plates up to 2 inches thick. Standard angle grinders create quality bevels on these plate thicknesses.

Plates from 3-4 inches thick push the limits of handheld grinding tools. Very powerful grinders are needed and surface quality may suffer.

Manual beveling offers flexibility to bevel thick or irregular plates. But it also has downsides like inconsistency and intensive labor compared to machining.

Houston shops need to weigh the trade-offs when selecting manual beveling for thick plate applications. If your project requires heavy plate beveling in Houston, connect with Apache Steel Works.

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