Anything welding

i use the same torch and lead. absolutely wonderful to work with. it does get a bit toasty on the long run high amp stuff, but such is life without liquid cooling.

 

I put the lead up over my shoulder and in the cold its quite nice. A nice 140 amp heated scarf.

 

genius

not quite cold enough for that here, but probably for the best. i'd forget it was there and try to walk away from the bench.

 

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this lol. A customer from 2023 asked me if I wanted to buy my own products back from him lol

 

They should just post them on whatever forum you guys frequent. Odd to offer them back to you.

 

My thoughts exactly lol. I don't understand people's thought process most of the time haha.

 

Reply back you are happy to take them off his hands He pays shipping back to you an a 24.97 enviromental fee for disposal

 

Didn't even feel like dealing with it. He then proceeded to ask me if I knew anyone that wanted to buy his old Tacoma parts. Nah bro go sell your stuff somewhere else lol

 

Got some stainless tube welding coming up, and am tired us using aluminum foil to purge. $30-60 for a purge plug though....
How about $2 of 3d printer filament and about 10 minutes in CAD!

Tested it out on a couple scrap pieces and it worked great, so I'm going to print another for the vent side.

 

I have always just used AL foil.

 

Got the HF welding table and immediately started cutting it apart. A shelf for the welder and and one for the tooling and I think thisll be a nice little setup.

More solid then I thought it would be but I wouldnt want it to be my primary bench for beating stuff on. Not bad for $150

 

Helping a Friend’s Fabrication Shop – What Should I Charge?

I have a buddy who owns a fab shop, and he’s always working on wild projects—things like swapping a 6.7L Cummins into something it was never meant for, a Hellcat swap, and even dropping a V12 into an M4. He’s been doing this for a long time, and recently he asked if I’d help out.

For context, I have a full-time job (I’m a principal data scientist in an unrelated field), and I’m not looking for a career change at this stage in my life. This is just something I enjoy, and a little extra cash doesn’t hurt.

That said, I have no idea what to charge. I want to make it worth my time but also keep it fair since I don’t want to mess up a good friendship.

Some factors to consider:

• I have no formal experience in fabrication.
• He has seen my personal projects and thinks I’d be useful in the shop.
• I’d likely be helping with CAD design, electrical work, some welding, and general problem-solving.
• The projects I’d be helping with are all insane engine swaps.
• I have no overhead or risk—just my time.
• The shop is well-established and doing fine financially.

What’s a fair way to approach hourly rates or a project-based payment? Would you just go with what a shop helper makes, or something else?

Appreciate any advice from those who’ve been in a similar spot.

 

I've always been told to charge OT for side work. It's not worth working that extra time without that extra incentive. NOW, I don't always do that. It does depend on the situation. I've done my hourly before, but also up to 4 times my pay. It does depend on the situation. If you are going to be working your butt off non stop, I'd suggest a wage to prevent resentment. If it will be a fun environment where you'll make quality contributions, but enjoy the time, I might be closer to my hourly.

 

Blocks again

 

I'd say somewhere around 50-85% of what you do for a day job. That would put you in the same ballpark as doing overtime +taxes and imo would be a fair representation of your skill and ability minus how applicable it will be as you're outside your regular field. If you're 'making the big bucks' and that number would be a bit out there, then a shop like that charges at least 85-100 an hour for that kinda work possibly even in the range of double that in some areas and/or if well established - leaving with less than $40-50 ish per hour or a solid commission would be donating your efforts

 

For steel that thick and a suspension part you should probably feather those and run a second pass. Come back through with thin filler like .045 and pulse with the pedal. It'll look even better and be a lot stronger too

 

Are you left handed?

 

Nope lol

 

ah shit, put my brain on backwards this morning. for some reason i was thinking the bead was stacked backwards. must be the pretty colors distracting me.

 

The colors get me sometimes too lol