Frame Assembly and Welding
Anyone can fold a frame. The corner is where a cabinet is judged: a visible weld, a smeared brush line or a filler cap means it was assembled quickly.
What happens at the corner
The frame is jigged square, tacked, then welded. On a brushed finish the weld is dressed back and the grain is re-brushed by hand in the same direction as the sheet, so the repair is invisible from a metre away.
On a sandblasted or textured finish the repair is blasted back to match. On a mirror-polished finish it is a longer process and it is priced accordingly.
| Finish | Corner treatment | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brushed | Weld dressed, grain re-brushed by hand | Standard |
| Sandblasted | Weld dressed, area re-blasted | Best for hiding handling marks |
| Mirror polished | Weld dressed, stepped up through grits, polished | The most labour-intensive corner |
| PVD colour | Welded and polished before coating | Colour goes on last, over the finished corner |
Why the frame is welded at all
A bolted or clipped frame moves. On a 3,200 mm door leaf a joint that can move half a millimetre will show as a gap that comes and goes with the seasons.
Welding makes the frame one piece. It also means the door cannot be re-hung on a different carcass later, which is the trade-off we accept and tell clients about.
Assembly sequence on the bench
- Carcass squared and jigged — diagonal measured, not assumed.
- Frame welded, dressed and re-finished.
- Cradle and shelves fitted to the measured pitch from the drawing.
- Insulation and back panel fitted on cooled units.
- Door hung on the top-and-bottom hinge and checked for a 2 mm even gap all round.
The detail behind the text
From this page to a delivered cabinet
- Made in
- Shunde, Foshan, China — frame, finish and assembly in one workshop
- Frame
- 18 mm stainless sightline, folded to the measured wall
- Materials
- Stainless steel, tempered or low-E glass, felt-lined bottle cradle
- Cooling
- Embraco compressor, 110 V / 60 Hz for the US, 220–240 V elsewhere
- Production
- 30 to 40 days after the 50% production deposit, quoted per project
- Delivery
- Crated, collected by your forwarder, with a numbered setting-out drawing
- Installation
- By your fitter, to our drawing; we dry-fit and inspect before crating
The questions that come up before an order
Will I see the weld on a brushed frame?
No, unless you look for it with a light at a shallow angle within 300 mm. Grain direction is what hides it, and that is done by hand.
Can a frame be supplied un-welded for site assembly?
Yes, on large modules that will not fit through a door. It ships as a knocked-down frame with a jig drawing, and the corner finish is then done on site — we will tell you if we think the result will be worse.
Does welding distort the panel?
It can, which is why the sequence is tack, check, then weld, and why large panels get a stiffener behind.
Send the wall and the bottle count
Three photographs and a tape measure is enough for a scheme, a finish direction and a price. The drawing fee covers the CAD and the visuals.