Weld Lab Core is a specialist welding workshop handling structural fabrication, custom metalwork, and repair work. Each job measured, fitted, and burned in by Lewis Caldwell.
Beams, columns, brackets, and frames fabricated to drawing or to site measurement. We work from engineer-stamped…
Bespoke gates, railings, staircases, and architectural metalwork. Each piece is drawn up before cutting begins. We use…
Precision TIG work for food-grade stainless, thin-wall tubing, and aluminium fabrication. Argon-purged root passes on…
On-site welding for repairs that cannot be brought to the shop. Agricultural equipment, plant machinery, structural…
Lewis Caldwell started Weld Lab Core in 2014 after twelve years working in structural fabrication shops and a three-year stint doing shutdown maintenance on industrial plant. He had spent those years watching good welders rush…
Read moreSend the drawing, describe the part, or just call. Lewis will come back with a realistic quote and a straight answer about lead time.
Contact usOnce harvest is done and equipment comes off the field, there is a window before winter storage where repairs are straightforward and unhurried. The same repairs left until spring are done under time pressure, often in worse conditions, and sometimes on equipment that has deteriorated further in storage. The autumn inspection is worth doing systematically.
Read more →A cracked or failed weld is not just a weld problem. It is a symptom, and the repair has to address the cause, not just the visible defect. Grinding out a crack and re-welding without understanding why the crack formed is one of the most reliable ways to produce the same crack in the same location six months later.
Read more →Ask most people what welding is and they will describe the arc, the sparks, the molten pool. The part that actually determines whether a weld will hold is quieter and less photogenic: it is the fit-up, the stage where two pieces of metal are brought together, checked for gap and alignment, and held in position before the arc ever strikes. Get that stage wrong and the weld is already compromised.
Read more →Every joint is dry-fitted and checked for gap tolerance before a single tack goes down. A weld is only as good as the fit-up behind it, and we treat that stage as seriously as the bead itself.
MIG, TIG, and stick. Each process is chosen for the specific metal, thickness, and service condition of the part. We do not default to one method because it is faster.
Welds are visually inspected between passes. On structural work, we document bead sequence, heat input, and filler specification so the record travels with the part.
Grinding, brushing, and surface prep are part of the job, not an afterthought. Parts leave the shop looking like they were made that way from the start.
We quote a realistic completion date and hold to it. If something changes. Material delay, a fit-up problem. You hear about it the same day, not the day before collection.
Lewis Caldwell trained as a boilermaker and spent his first decade working in structural fabrication shops before moving into industrial shutdown maintenance, where the pressure to weld fast on live plant taught him exactly what he did not want to replicate. He founded Weld Lab Core in 2014 with a secondhand press brake, a TIG set he had owned since his apprenticeship, and a preference for jobs where the tolerance actually matters. He keeps a worn steel rule on the bench that he has used since his second year as an apprentice. Not for sentiment, but because it reads true. Outside the shop, he follows competitive powerlifting and applies roughly the same logic: position before load.
Both. If you have engineer-stamped drawings, we work directly from those. For custom or one-off jobs without formal drawings, Lewis will produce a dimensioned sketch before cutting begins so you can confirm the geometry. That sketch is included in the job cost. There is no separate drafting charge for straightforward work.
It depends on the complexity and what is already in the queue. Simple repair work can often be turned around in three to five working days. Structural fabrication or multi-part custom work is usually two to four weeks. We give you a specific date at the quoting stage, not a range, and we hold to it.