Notes for the person who has to specify the part.

“Galvanized” is the word that causes the most rework. It can mean steel that was coated before it was cut, or a finished part that was dipped after welding. The appearance, the coating on the edges, the fate of threaded holes and the price are different.

Use a plain description first. Then add a standard only if your specification already names one. Naming a standard you have not read usually creates a document request the order cannot satisfy.

Four routes buyers actually mean

• Hot-dip after fabricationThe welded or folded part is cleaned and dipped. Edges are coated. Threads, small holes and mating faces need a decision: oversize, retap, or mask. Distortion is a risk on thin plate and long slender parts. Ask for it when the specification wants a heavy zinc layer on a finished article.
• Pre-galvanized sheetThe coil or sheet already carries a zinc coating, then the part is cut and folded. Cut edges and punched holes are not the same as a dipped edge. It can be the right economical route for indoor or mild exposures, and the wrong route when the specification demands a post-fabrication dip.
• PowderA colour and a film over a prepared surface. Powder is not a substitute word for galvanizing. If you need both barrier and colour, say the pretreatment and whether a zinc layer sits underneath. Colour should be a code, not “similar to the last grey”.
• StainlessA material change, not a coating. 304 and 316 are not interchangeable. State the grade, the finish, and whether passivation or a brushed face is an acceptance item. Check the fasteners so the assembly does not mix metals carelessly.

Write this, not “galvanized bracket”

• RouteDip after fabrication, coated sheet, electro-zinc, powder, bare, or stainless.
• StandardOnly if you require one. Quote its name and the clauses that matter, especially thickness.
• Masked areasThreads, earth points, surfaces that must stay conductive or flat.
• RepairWhether a site-cut edge may be repaired, and with what.
• AppearanceIf a face is architectural, say which face. Structural parts rarely need a cosmetic clause.

Bare steel is a valid finish when another company coats the part, or when the part is internal and the specification allows it. Say “bare, mill oil acceptable” or “bare, oil removed” so packing and handling are priced correctly.

White rust on stored galvanized parts is a packing and condensation subject. It is not automatically a rejected coating. If your client treats visible white staining as a defect, write that into the acceptance criteria before the dip, and plan dry packing.

Related pages: formed brackets, solar components, quality notes.

A screenshot of a CAD view often loses the units, the revision and the hole callouts. The factory can still guess. Guessing is how the sample fails. Build the folder as if a new engineer will open it on a Monday without you on the call.

Put these in the folder

• PDFThe controlled drawing. Revision in the title block. Units on the sheet. Material and finish in notes, not only in the email.
• CAD or STEPThe same revision. If the model is ahead of the PDF, say which one purchasing is allowed to buy.
• Bill of materialsFor assemblies: item numbers, thickness, quantity per assembly, and hardware as its own lines.
• Critical listFive to fifteen features that locate the mating part. The rest can follow the drawing’s general tolerance.
• ContextOne photo or a mating-part sketch. Mark the face that must sit flush.

Flat-pattern DXF files need a note when they are already developed, and another note when they are only the profile of the finished view. Bending a “finished outline” as if it were a flat pattern makes a short part.

Questions that should be answered in writing

• UnitsMillimetres or inches. Mixed drawings happen. Do not leave the conversion to the programmer.
• Revision ruleWhich file wins. How a cloud or a redline becomes the next revision.
• HardwareIncluded or not. Grade, coating, and whether the nut is welded.
• Quantity logicPieces, kits, or “per megawatt”. If it is per kit, define the kit.
• SamplesHow many, whether they are finished, and who approves them.

A sample without a drawing can open the conversation. Before production, the measured dimensions go back to you as a sketch or a marked PDF. You accept that sheet. That accepted sheet is the revision. The sample in the drawer is not.

Download the one-page field list: RIBSPAN project checklist. It is a purchasing guide. It is not a structural approval.

When the folder is ready, use the project brief. Name the files in the form, then attach them in email or WhatsApp. The website does not receive the upload.

A pile supplier can be asked to make a shaft, a helix, a head and a coupler. A pile supplier cannot honestly be asked to “just confirm it will hold” from a diameter and a photograph. Capacity is a calculation and a ground problem. Keep that sentence in the enquiry so nobody later treats a quotation as a design certificate.

The steel schedule

• ShaftOutside diameter, wall, grade, length of the piece to be made, and the finish length if extensions exist.
• HelixCount, diameter, thickness, pitch, and the position of each plate from a stated datum.
• HeadType, plate thickness, hole circle or beam seat, and the bolt grade that must pass through it.
• CouplerIf pieces join on site: the connection, the bolts, and the maximum piece length for the kettle, the container and the rig.
• WeldSize and any inspection level. If nothing is specified, say that a proposal is required rather than assuming a code.

The project basis, even if you cannot share the full report

• GroundThe report, or the engineer’s extracted parameters and the pile schedule they have already produced.
• ActionsCompression, tension and lateral demand, as the designer states them. Do not convert a module weight into a pile load in the email and call it final.
• InstallationMachine class, how torque is indicated, and what the contractor does at refusal.
• LifeDesign life, coating, and any corrosion allowance already added to the wall.
• TrialWhether a probe or a test pile is part of this purchase, and what result ends the test.

Piece length is where three constraints collide. Galvanizing kettles have a practical length. Containers have a practical length. The installation rig has a practical length. The drawing should pick a piece length that satisfies all three, then use couplers for the rest. Asking the factory to “cut to suit” after dipping is how threads, fit and coating records get lost.

The product page states the same boundary in shorter form: screw pile components.

Export damage is usually nesting, water, or a carton that was never meant to be lifted by its strap. Decide the packing when you decide the quantity. Changing from nested bundles to installer cartons after production is a new labour line.

Choose the unit the receiver can handle

• Installer cartonA weight a person can lift, a label on the short face, and one part number per carton unless it is a defined kit.
• KitEvery piece of one assembly, including hardware if it was sold, in one bag or box. The label states the assembly, not the heaviest plate.
• BundleLong channels or shafts. Block them so galvanizing or paint is not rubbed to bright metal. State the maximum bundle weight for the site forklift.
• CrateFor heads, flanges and parts that cannot take a point load. Say whether the crate is one-way.

Marks and moisture

• IdentityPart number, revision, quantity, purchase order and carton number. The packing list uses the same words.
• HandlingWhich way up, if it matters. A “this face outward” note is cheaper than a repaint.
• DesiccantFor sealed cartons of freshly galvanized or powdered parts crossing a climate. Ask for it if white staining is a defect in your contract.
• Mixed SKUsAvoid them. If a container must mix parts, the packing list should still let a receiver find one line without opening the row.

Photos before the container closes are useful when they show the mark, the strap and the condition of a sample of cartons. Agree how many. A single hero photograph of the best pallet is not a pre-shipment inspection.

Documents travel with the commercial set you requested in the quotation. The packing list is the one the warehouse will trust. If it does not match the labels, the steel can be correct and the delivery can still fail.