In 90% of welding applications from jobshops to construction sites most welders deal in fractions and very basic ASME weld callouts and usualy only work in increments of 1/16 of an inch. The call outs you used would only be understood by 1% of the welders in industry and the only place I have seen decimal callouts is in areospace work.
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@Fireball_Wyatt Thatâs good insight for if I ever need a part to be welded. Iâm coming from a background where most of the work I do is with machined and injection molded parts.
I still stand by my statement that the drawings could more clearly define the part, even if you didnât use GD&T or decimals. For instance, the callout for â1/16 Max Frame Twistâ should include more information about the application maybe something like âShould sit flat with no more than 1/16 gap at any pointâ or something. I think there is a discontinuity between what the drawing says and how the parts were tested/used.
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Iâd like to know what temperature difference is between your shop and theirs.
Having ANY kind of drawings and making the âgood enoughâ assumption is a terrible way to do business. If the drawings do not meet expectation you clarify with the customer and/or reject the job. You donât assume and charge for that. Just my two cents.
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100% agree, I guess thatâs just how the welding industry does it.
In your position, and if he hadnât gouged on time and materials, I might have given Shop A a fixture table, and as-is I might offer one at significant discount. The other two I would sell full-price to.
Whether to get a refund or have them fix/re-make the parts? If thereâs one thing their excessive confidence versus what they delivered screams, its âI have the money and shop-time/materials available to offer a money-back guaranteeâ.
I would discount for Shop A strictly because we all know he wonât buy it otherwise, even though he seems to understand the importance of a flat, stable and rigid(?) work surface. Some people have to be tricked into delivering on what they should be capable of.
I think it could be neat to ask them all why they believe they didnât meet spec, ask them how they recommend moving forward to address the issue, and then maybe you could give away some free tools to the most reasonable fabricator, perhaps a free set of the tools that would ensure that they could easily meet the spec.
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What info is that going to give you? Even an absurd 50°F or 30°C temperature difference is going to give you only an expansion/contraction of 0.007" or 0,19mm over a length of 20" piece of steel. Thatâs why shrink fitting two pieces of steel together takes temperature deltas in excess of 300°C or 540°F
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Hah, I was gonna reply with something like this but didnât want to pull out the books for expansion. 
I wouldnât give the old timer a discount. Reward his attempt to scam what he thought was a hapless customer? Why?
Not about him. Itâs about his future clients and whatever kid gets a chance to inherrit it or finds it at the inevitable estate sale. I didnât suggest to discount it below cost eitherâŚ
His future customers should just demand refunds when he delivers sub-standard quality while price-gouging them. Itâs people like him that give the entire profession a bad name.
A discount should be given as a reward, an apology or because you expect the discount to be worth it in future sales. This guy would probably tell his customers about his great fixture table and then still scam them, which would be the opposite of being âworth itâ.
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This is not surprising. Better tools designed for one type of outcome (precision) will result in better outcomes for anyone doing the job provided they have a basic understanding how to do the job. For example if they used the surface block to do the layout the outcome would have been far more precise. Tools make the worker largely when it comes to precision, but technique is equally as important.
I am not surprised at the result. I worked at a fab shop where we did a lot of work with culverts. The biggest thing I heard was the part is close enough when it comes to tolerances. I struggled with it honestly.
That being said I would take them back and see if they would be willing to rectify their mistake. weather it be refunding you or remaking them to the specs. Because at then end of the day it is not what you ordered.
This is the problem. Youâre forcing engineering drawings to a welder. Welders read weld drawings and more simple instructions. Youâre basically suggesting a correctly formatted drawing wouldâve made these products more accurate and precise when a fabricator, aka someone who actually have experience in handling and welding steel, understand why the squares failed.
This is the worst practice ever unless youâre doing this for a pack of cigarettes.
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the comments being off is kind of a red flag to me, that youâre not open to criticism it also kills the traction your video can get. I think he should just leave them on, as this is far less convenient than watching through youtube to comment.
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Quite a heavy operation youâre running there. Are you inspecting each and every object that leaves your facility? Seems quite overkill unless the work done is critical.
Anyone that denies the value of a good fixture table is only fooling themselves. They are incredibly useful tools that exist because they provide value.
Any business that tries to save money by using crappy tools pays more in the long run. Pay upfront for good tools, or pay every time you use your crappy tools.
Itâs not really a surprise to me. I contracted out manufacture of furniture to shops of similar scale to those you used for several decades⌠and I was quite picky as to the quality of the products I accepted (since I warrantied them myself). I needed parts to be able to replace damaged parts made by other manufacturers⌠and with the specified hardware, holes needed to line up⌠(1/16 of an inch on the panel, and 1/32nd of an inch max deviation between hardware holesâŚ
I think the measure of the first use of a shop isnât if the part is perfect (as long as itâs of reasonable quality), but the willingness to correct their mistakes without hassle⌠once you build a working relationship with a manufacturer, a good shop will know that âgood enoughâ but not to specified
tolerance isnât good enough.
Iâd give the shops a chance to fix their mistakes⌠and if they refuse, show them the video.
Hello, Jose from Puerto Rico and new to this forum. I had subscribed to your channel on YouTube, and I found out about this newer forum after watching the topic. Iâm 66 years old and retired, but Iâm learning to weld now at this age. What got me to subscribe to your channel in the first place, was admiration of your amazing skill set, care for quality craftsmanship and how you built your company. I have no complaints about your skill, and Iâm just here for the ride and learn. Your experiment yielded surprising results. As for the toxic commentary, you just keep doing your amazing work, man! Iâm glad I found this forum and as for critiquing your work, sheesh, thatâs like me showing Michael Jordan how to play basketball.
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