Custom made a stainless steel sculpture

With the continuous development of society, art is also progressing. Sculpture art from the beginning through natural materials such as wood sculpture, clay sculpture, pottery sculpture, to later bronze sculpture, ceramic sculpture. It has evolved over hundreds of years. Every innovation of material and technology has provided a good foundation for the development of sculpture art. However, the emergence of modern stainless steel materials, due to their inherent and unique advantages, has made stainless steel sculptures a symbolic sculpture landscape for squares, campuses, living quarters, corporate units, parks, and other places.

Stainless steel sculptures can be divided into round carving sculptures, relief sculptures, and Openwork sculptures… Among them, the craftsmanship and difficulty of round carving are the biggest. The following are three different production processes:

The first step in creating a large-scale stainless steel sculpture.

Make the internal structure of the sculpture based on the artistic structure of the sculpture. And the stainless steel skeleton is made according to the sculpture’s ratio (According to the design of the stainless steel sculpture, the hub can be cut out using laser technology. Internal wheels can also be made using ordinary welding techniques.). The specifications of the inner frame of the sculpture generally use 12#, 10#, 6.3# channel steel and 76 mm*3 mm, 50 mm*3 mm, 32 mm*2.75 mm pipes, 5*5 angle iron, and so on. From bottom to top, from thick to thin, from dense to sparse, welded into a sculpture shape. Before making the internal skeleton of the sculpture, there are some things to pay attention to:
1. Check whether each incision is smooth. 2. The pipe groove should have a groove gap as required. 3. All load-bearing frames are fully welded on both sides. 4. After the overall skeleton is completed, use anti-rust paint to complete the journey three times.

The second step is creating a large-scale stainless steel sculpture.

Use channel steel, angle steel, and other profile welding. Also, connect all the completed skeletons so that they are connected into a whole main skeleton. The advantage of this is that the entire huge structure can be combined and separated very well. It is easy to separate and install later. Attention should be paid when connecting:
1. The design of the shape and size of each sub-branch frame. Use a 1:5 medium sample model to measure. 2. When all structures are connected. Need to follow the bottom plane, take the vertical plane.

The third step in creating a large-scale stainless steel sculpture.

Step-by-step forging and production of overall sculptural shapes. After completing the skeleton of the overall sculpture, we began to forge the outer surface of the sculpture according to the outer skeleton. When the outer surface of all large sculptures is made, the shape is often irregular. The outline shape of the main skeleton cannot be made the same as the shape of the statue. The stainless steel outer wall cannot be hung directly on the main support. When making, Aongking engineers have to consider the different expansion coefficients of stainless steel and maintain the original form of the sculpture design. After the body is forged. It is necessary to weld each part of the block together according to the requirements of the work. There are electric welding and argon arc welding. In stainless steel sculpture welding, Aongking Technology commonly uses tungsten arc welding to ensure excellent welding quality. Because it is not easy to conduct heat, the deformation of stainless steel is small.

The fourth step in creating a large-scale stainless steel sculpture.

Treat and polish the surface of the sculpture. We generally use stainless steel and carbon steel plates (#316 and #304). When polishing stainless steel, first, use a grinding wheel to smooth the welds and excess areas on the surface of the sculpture. Then, use a soft wheel (cloth wheel) for polishing and sanding. When polishing the surface of the sculpture, apply polishing paste to increase lubricity.

For larger stainless steel sculpture modeling production. It is unrealistic to directly make the whole sculpture based on the proportion of the sculpture. Aongking uses the method of making the sculptures by dividing them into pieces and then combining all the pieces to make the sculpture. This method requires accurate calculation of the frame size ratio (Currently, we use laser cutting to manufacture the interface. This is Aongking’s cutting-edge design and patented technology.). The seams and butt joints also need to be very precise. Otherwise, there will be differences, and the expected production effect of the sculpture will not be achieved. Aongking has extensive experience in large-scale stainless steel sculpture production and installation. (Support for installation or guidance on installation on your side)

In daily life, medium-sized stainless steel sculptures (usually referring to a sculpture with a size within the range of 170 to 300 centimeters) are a main carrier of abstract art. Stainless steel has the advantages of corrosion resistance, such as alkali resistance and acid resistance. It is often used in the production of outdoor abstract sculptures and modern indoor sculptures. It can also be divided into two types here. (1) Casting. (2) Cold work.
Here we mainly talk about cold production (Specific to forging production). Before forging, craftsmen will design 3D samples. After the customer confirms the final 3D model. Then make a 1:1 gept/foam model. The advantage of this approach is that more than 95% of the design details can be retained. It can also be directly constructed as a skeletal structure, too.

Cold working forging method:
First of all, our workers will divide the outer surface and cut the stainless steel plate of the entire sculpture into many small pieces.

Secondly, our workers need to connect the labeled pieces together according to the model.

Finally, polish the surface of the sculpture.
Here you can refer to the detailed production process described above.

Step 1: Digital model application for digital modeling of stainless steel sculpture.
According to customer requirements, directly produce 3D models. The digital application software used by Aongking includes: Zbrush, 3DMax, Rhino, C4D, and three other three-dimensional design software.

Step 2: Cutting of the stainless steel plate.
We use a high-precision waterjet or plasma cutting machine to cut the stainless steel plate into a shape that we can make sculptures according to the 3D model. It is necessary to ensure the degree of scratching of the stainless steel material when cutting. A good cutting machine can be scratch-free. In this way, while ensuring the artistic beauty, it can also protect the corrosion of the surface welds. Even stainless steel sculptures will not be corroded in high-temperature and high-humidity environments. We generally choose stainless steel 304 or 316. Compared with stainless steel 201, they produce better quality effects. The structure is very strong and can support several adults to climb the sculpture.

Step 3: Overall welding of stainless steel sculpture.
All cut stainless steel plates are integrally welded. This can maximize our artistic effect and quality. For Aongking factory, which has been working as a sculpture welding engineer for many years, this is simple.

Step 4: Polishing the stainless steel sculpture.
Polishing is a complex task involving many steps. The polishing craftsman must have superb polishing technology. Commonly used polishing materials are: polishing cotton wheels, non-woven fabrics, Multiple layers of fine gauze of different degrees, and so on. You can refer to the detailed introduction below.

Step 5: Transportation and installation.
This type of stainless steel sculpture is generally simple to transport and install. Usually, the entire sculpture is packaged together. During installation, the sculpture base needs to be fixed to the ground. Pre-embedded parts or screw holes are usually left during sculpture production. We can directly put the embedded parts into the cement and fix them. Or, screw it directly to the ground with screws.