New customer and forum member here

General
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I’m a weekend warrior, self-taught using YouTube. Learned how to MIG and some basic fab skills, mainly building BBQ smokers in my buddy’s shop. I’ve spent the last couple of years acquiring tools and when I’ve stretched my budget and gotten better stuff, I’ve never regretted it.

So I decided to take the plunge and today I made my first Fireball tool purchase. I hope these things help me do a better job, faster would be nice, but better will suffice for now.

I’d like almost nothing more than to have a big Fireball Tool fab table, but there’s no way at this time - no shop of my own, no room for a permanent fixture table in my borrowed space, and for sure not the budget for it. Not yet. Someday, perhaps. Start small, build a tool collection, sell some creations and who knows, right?

Today I picked up:

  • FAB PACK MINI - with a 6" Mega Square and Monster Square and 4" Mega Square and Monster Square. (Cast Iron + Dragon Scale Coat)
  • Mantis Grip Pliers - 4 pack, 2 8", 2 11"
  • 5pc Edge Location Tab Kit - 4"/6" / Steel
  • Edge Alignment Pins (4-Pack) - 2"
  • Combination Square - Cast Iron (FE) / 12" F2R

I hope the array I got will be useful to me. As I said, I primarily build smokers, with some odd one-off projects for myself, like a new welding cart, or a new cart for my 150 pound Hobart meat slicer, etc.

Just by way of intro, I work in an office all day, so learning to do metalworking was a major accomplishment for me, and it’s been a great source of pride for me to figure this all out. Here are a couple of my pits I’ve built to show off what I’ve done. Hope it’s allowed, lol.

1st completed pit for my backyard:

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2nd completed pit for the occasional bigger cook:

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My first attempt with a custom built trailer from scratch:

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Built a couple more in the interim, some smaller, some large(ish). Here is the last one I completed last fall for a local BBQ team. I was pretty happy with how far I had come by that point:

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Anyways, that’s where I’m at in my progression. Looking forward to continuing to accumulate better tools and advance my skill level little by little.

Thanks for looking!

Danny

3 Likes
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Wow I’m impressed. Most new fabricators wouldn’t attempt a project like a smoker. It looks great.

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Thank you sir! I had that big tank given to me and that is what prompted all my learning and experimenting from Day 1. lol

Currently watching the video of you teaching your son how to use the fixture table.

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Welcome to the forum. It seems like you got a good selection of Fireball tools to start with. Metalworking is fun! Nice looking smokers too!
I’ve built a few myself. Here are my latest two.

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Nice! What size wheels and tires are those? I’m working on a 30" dia 125 gal right now, and trying to decide between 12"/20" or 14"/23".

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Congrats! I finally built enough projects without the fireball squares and ordered 4 today. I ordered two 8” monster squares, two 6” mega squares and a set of edge alignment pins. Out of curiosity, how long did it take to receive your order?

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Not long at all. I ordered on a Friday, and I think fairly late, or maybe even Saturday. So they shipped on Monday and I got my order on Friday. It’s actually sitting at my feet right now waiting for me to open the box. Man it’s heavy! lol

I also just placed my 2nd order… a special deal you can find out about by watching the final video recently posted on the Fireballtools.com Exclusive Videos page showing Jason’s breakdown of the test results. Go check it out!

BTW, I feel pretty special - I only found out about it by email them and then I got to be the very FIRST person to “Like” the conclusion video! lol I’m all geeking out over this whole experiment.

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Thanks for the reply! I’ll check it out! And by the way, those smokers are sweet!

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Hello from Australia!
I have a steel table 2 inches thick 5ft x 8ft how would I go drilling holes.? Its heavy maybe 3 ton.
I would like to purchase Justin’s jig.
Your thoughts?
Cheers,
Graeme

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Graeme, welcome - I’d probably post this as a topic of its own in the Fixture Table forum. You’ll be more likely to get attention to your question standing alone than as an add-on at the end of an unrelated topic. :+1:

Welcome, though!

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Can you post this question in the fixture table section. It will be easier to find so we can all help

1 Like