Hey Jason,
I am very interested to participate in this experiment to see what my setup is capable of, I am a hobbyist who does a lot of welding in their garage making frames, guards, and new parts for vintage machinery. I custom make everything I build and I make style and function a very important part of my work. I am based out of North Idaho.
For welding projects I use a custom welding table with a table saw top and has been serving my needs very well because of the flatness of the cast iron surface. I also use a small handful of Fireball Squares for ensuring my frames are square when assembled; I also pair those with USA Made Vice Grips during layouts/frame prep. I use many vintage machines along with my main welding tools to increase my speed and quality of my work.
Here’s my equipment:
(Some equipment also doubles as projects I made, stands and such)
4 Tool Multi Stand; belt sander, bench grinder, wire wheel, and polishing station with gas spring lift flip shelf, quite a challenging project and was very fun and has been extremely functional for my small workspace.
These are just a few of the projects I have done but I’ve done custom stuff at work. In any case this experiment you have planned will bring out some extremely useful data for the community! Best of luck.
Not sure if my complement to Mil Design landed in the right place. But to you Jason, You have drawn a lot of wonderful “first time posters” out of the shadows. Here’s to you!!!
I am super interested in helping you with your data collection! I have been in welding and fabrication for over 10 years now for a local water department. I have made my own version of your hardtail vise, and fixture tables. I use pretty basic metal working tools. Esab welder, 4.5 angle grinders, plasma table, 2x72 belt grinder. Here are some pictures of my work below
Good afternoon Jason , et all. My name is Jared Sams. I run a small veteran owned welding and fabrication shop called Buxton’s Fab & Dab over in Sanford, NC. I’m interested in becoming one of the nine volunteers for your data collection project. For anyone who’s interested you may see examples of my tooling, work, and experience on Instagram. Although I do have a Facebook page, I tend to keep Instagram more current. Let me know when and how I can help you.
I do 95% aluminum in my shop, we are setup to mig/ stick steel if needed. I would have a tig setup but I’m holding off so we can keep turning away the endless calls to fix boats as my focus is towards short run manufacturing.
My new Fireball table might be a factor in this challenge.
We also have skills in CAD, CNC, electronics, process control, machining, line boring/ welding, pneumatics and more.
I would love to be in the data collection group. You can show your competitor’s results from my piece…My shop should be fully equipped to handle the task! We have the 5’ x 10’ Kovosu table with two 5’ extension blocks, a clean cutting Scotchman SU280 saw, Millermatic 252, Millermatic 350P, and anything else needed to fabricate custom forged work, giant driveway gates, railings, doors and more @artistic.ornamental.iron
Check out some of our tools and a few of our custom jobs:
Hi Jason, I’d love to participate. I do fabrication and machining as a side business and am a mechanical engineer full time doing machine design. I do mostly custom furniture, some railings, as well as assorted commission jobs. My instagram is @kylelucydesigns, and my website is designs.kylelucy.com.
I have a Bridgeport, 20x60 manual lathe, and Langmuir CNC press brake, as well as a Kovosu 4x8 table with mostly Fireball Tool fixtures, an HTP Pro Pulse 220, and a Doringer Cold Saw. I’m also just finishing up a custom 3x79 belt grinder that will work with the fixture table fixtures.
The welding half of my shop is still a work in progress, but the workbenches / saw infeed/outfeed should get it mostly finished. The fixture map video you did for the conveyor support is part of those, and they are currently out for powder coating.
Hello, I would like to volunteer for data collection. I am home shop where I do fabrication and machining. Please see some of my work and tools attached!
I have a shop in a shed with a 3’x6’ table, I use an AHP tig welder for all my work. I use my portaband and belt sander for most of my fitting.
Hello! I’m Aqil Ahmed, a Civil engineer student on the path to be a structural bridge engineer. I’ve had the opportunity to design build test and compete with a bridge at the AISC Steel bridge competition this year. Up until then I’ve never picked up an angle grinder or used a welder. I had the chance to work in our steel fabrication shop with no more than a welder, drill press, chop saw, and grinders. Me and another student came together with the help of many others and put together a bridge we were very proud of! We made a bridge with very little money old tools and a whole lot of work but we put it together and we plan on doing it again! Because of how much I learned during that journey I purchased my own welder and hopefully with your videos and some trial and error I’ll put together something I’m proud of again!
I saw your recent post for welding volunteers. I am 52 years old, a medically retired Police Officer and a hobby level wood worker, machinist and fabricator. I currently own a Hobart 210 MIG welder, various saws and a couple small Fireball tools. My welding area previously consisted of a 12" x 12" steel plate which I have just upgraded from, to a repurposed table saw with a nice cast iron top which I am using along with home made magnetic based clamps (photos attached).
I enjoy your videos and products and would like to participate in your welding project.
Hi Jason,
I would like to participate. We are a family owned custom sign shop and we have added fabrication work to our product line a few years ago. Particularly when I discovered how the mega squares improved our fabrication work flow. When we added CAD design as a service, we then needed to add the precision set up of the fence block system.
I’d love to contribute to your data collection project!
I run a small side business called Fehr Fabrication — you can check out some of my work on Facebook. I’m a Mechanical Engineer for a commercial trailer manufacturer by day, and I do custom fabrication on the side. Living in rural north central Iowa, I stay busy with repairs and improvements to ag equipment, along with some custom sign work and product development based on customer ideas.
As far as equipment, I’ve got the basics covered: CNC plasma/oxy-acetylene table, Miller 350, ESAB 215ic, and Miller 251 welders (including a spool gun for aluminum), a large band saw, Ellis drill press, 12’ brake press, and an ironworker. I’ve got a decent set of clamps and built myself a 4’x8’ welding table from 3/4" plate—no fixture holes, but I’m dreaming of a Fireball Table one day!
I’d really appreciate the opportunity to be part of this and will do my best to document the process on video. If you’d like photos of my equipment, I can either send them to you directly or add them to this post — just let me know what works best.
Wow I cant believe how many people have Volunteered. Now someone has to pick the finalists.
Nice getting to see some of the shops and equipment. Even saw some so clean, that you can tell no work has ever been done in them!
