Custom 316 Stainless Steel Gate Housing Fabrication for Coal Processing

Most shops see nearly two tons of top-heavy stainless, a customer’s own cylinders and gate hardware that need to fit and function inside what you build, and a brand new customer relationship with no margin for error. They find a reason to be busy that week. We saw a good job. Those are our favorite kind.

GSM Industrial fabricated two custom 316 stainless steel gate housings for a coal processing customer in Lancaster, Ohio. Each unit was built from 3/8-inch thick 316SS plate, measured 4’-10” x 7’-3” x 4’-1”, and weighed 3,325 lbs. ASME weld procedures were applied throughout. Customer-supplied cylinders and gate mechanisms were integrated, assembled, and hydro tested before delivery.

The hard part of a job like this isn’t the welding. It’s the thirty minutes before the first arc where you figure out how you’re going to hold the thing. That’s where experience earns its keep. Get that right and everything else follows.

Before the first weld on the first housing, we built the bracing. In-house, designed specifically around the geometry and weight distribution of these units. Not a general-purpose setup. Something built for this job. That rigging held every housing stable all the way through fit-up and welding, kept our guys safe, and kept the metal where it was supposed to be.

Thick stainless moves when you heat it. Sequence it wrong and you spend the day chasing distortion. Our guys have been doing this long enough that the sequencing, the distortion control, the joint fit-up are second nature. Every weld on this job needed to hold up inside a coal processing facility where the material is abrasive, the conditions are rough, and nothing gets a pass.

Once the housings were built, we assembled them. Customer cylinders went in. Gate hardware went in. Everything fitted, aligned, and put together the way it needed to be. That’s the part of the job where field experience shows. You’re working with moving parts that have to line up and operate inside something you just fabricated from plate. Welding gets you the housing. Knowing how things work gets you a housing that does.

Every unit got hydro tested before it left the shop. That’s not a standard step on a typical fabrication job. It’s what ASME procedures require, and it’s what this application demanded. Cylinders cycled, gates operated, everything ran leak-free. All of them passed. The customer got equipment ready to install and run from day one.

Every Unit Passed. On Time. No Callbacks. First Job Done Right.

Both units passed hydro testing. Delivered on time. Performed to spec. No callbacks, no rework, nothing for the customer to sort out on their end. For a first project with somebody you’ve never worked with before, that’s the whole ballgame. They came back. We’re already working on the next one.

Heavy stainless, integrated moving components, compliance-grade performance requirements, brand new customer relationship. A lot of shops look at that combination and find a reason to pass. We look at it and see exactly the kind of job we want. That’s been true since 1946.

FAQs: Custom Stainless Steel Fabrication for Industrial Applications

316SS has molybdenum in it, which gives it better corrosion resistance than standard 304. That matters in coal processing where you have abrasive material, moisture, and continuous mechanical stress on the housing. At 3/8-inch thick, it holds up where lighter grades don’t. It’s the right call for this application because the job demands it.

You build the bracing before you build the part. For these housings, we designed custom stabilization rigs in-house around the geometry and weight of each unit before anything else happened. At 3,325 lbs apiece these aren’t easy to hold still. That’s what keeps a top-heavy assembly from moving on you during fit-up and welding. Safe for the crew, accurate for the work.

Coal processing, water and wastewater, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, power generation, industrial material handling. If it requires heavy stainless, tight tolerances, or compliance documentation, we’ve built it. Our ASME and AISC certifications aren’t just on the wall. They’re what gets us into the work that matters.

We’re in Lancaster County, PA. We work throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and farther when the job calls for it. Lancaster, Ohio is proof of that. Call us and we’ll figure out the logistics.

GSM Industrial is a family-owned metal fabrication and industrial mechanical contracting company based in Lancaster, PA. Founded in 1946, GSM has operated under the Gooding and Towers families across three generations. The company holds ASME U and R Stamp, AISC, and AWS certifications, and its 13-year average employee tenure reflects the depth of expertise the team brings to every project. GSM serves clients across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and beyond.

Have a Heavy Stainless Job That Needs Doing Right?
Heavy plate, tight tolerances, moving components, compliance-grade applications. If it’s the kind of job a lot of shops won’t take, that’s exactly the kind of job we want. Give us the details.

Get a quote for custom stainless fabrication.