Anything welding

That would be a situation where I would say Well I've started already and bought all the materials which is what the deposit was for, so I either need someone else to take your spot to cover the materials and time, or finish the rack for the agreed price and you can sell it to get his money back. Or maybe in some situations, settle on a fee taken from the deposit for your hassle and give the remaining deposit back(partial refund). It's difficult to deal with those situations for sure, but you did make an agreement and uphold your end of things it sounds like, so it shouldnt be costing you for their indecisiveness.

 

As far as a $150 credit towards future purchases; no way.. If be backed out of the first deal, I definitely wouldn't want to give him incentive to possibly do it again.

When I do business for friends, I treat them the same way as everyone else.. I know the tendency is to, "well, they're my friend - so I'll knock off $100".. Screw that. If they're really friends, they'll appreciate your time and effort.

Seems like you've had a fair amount of stress caused by "friends" lately!

 

Better to have a policy that says you require a 50% non-refundable deposit before starting work and be able to make the decision when a customer asks for a refund if you've got another customer or use for the material.

And it's better to have your policies written down so there's no misunderstanding.

 

I wish this were the case.

 

X2!

 

Running my business and helping run other businesses I have learned several important things.

1) in a business, there is no such thing as "friends". If you don't like my prices, find someone who will do it for a better price. I am here to run a business. Outside the shop, I will help you with installing things, or giving advice, etc. But at the shop, the price is the price. (Now granted I do offer discounts to TW members, but that is only on the total price of a job)

2) I notify every customer that a deposit is a payment made in good faith that you will honor the total repair cost. This deposit can range anywhere from a deposit for special order parts that cannot be returned, to a deposit to disassemble and diagnose a failure (suspected internal engine failure, differential failure, transmission failure, etc) and that the deposit does get credited towards the repair, but if the repair is declined, the deposit is forfeit. Period. I had one customer who wanted me to disassemble and find out what broke on the inside of his transmission. I required a $300 deposit for removal and disassembly. I gave him a quote and he didn't think it was worth it, and had the balls to ask me to reassemble it for him, and return his deposit. Yeah, right. lol


On topic though here, Does anyone have a recommendation of a basic plasma cutter? Looking at something under $400 if possible.

 

YMMV, but I think you will have a really hard time finding a quality plasma cutter around $400..

I'd scour Craigslist - that's where I scored my Hypertherm Powermax 800 for $800.

If you decide to go the use route, I think you'll stand a much better chance of getting a quality machine by sticking with known manufacturers, (Hypertherm/Thermal Dynamics/Esab)..

I see lots of Miller Spectrum's for sale - haven't heard great things about them, to be honest.

I'm sure you'll find anecdotal advice all over the interwebz.. But I'd DEFINITELY not get a Harbor Freight machine.

 

I'm running a 625 spectrum. In 10 years Ive gone they 10 tips. I do have a very good prefilter on the air. In was a good Investment.

 

Absolutely.. Those Motorguard filters are worth their weight in gold.

 

This. And put it close to the machine.

I have a Thermal Dynamics. Although I've had a couple torch problems (the twist lock), they have always fixed it under warranty even though it's been out of warranty for a while. The second time, they replaced the torch and receptacle.

 

Yeah, I just know I need one more for a hobbyist, rather than a fabricator. It might get used 3 or 4 times a year at the most, so not looking for anything big.

 

I thought the same thing before I got mine. I use itore and more. The more you use it, the better I get. I can make cuts almost as neat asy bandsaw.

 

Anyone know anything about oxy propane cutting instead of acetylene?

 

World Great for cutting, but Ive found it males more of jagged cut. With that said, we are scrapping shit out and nice cuts arent important. May give you trouble if you want to braze weld.

 

^^^^ Nice, would love to have the ability to dimple shit.

Here is what I got done this weekend. Stock bumper off Friday night, winch mount done in about 5 hours on Saturday, and most of Sunday to get the rest cut and tacked, then began to fully weld everything last night.

 

I recently came into a bunch of box framing pieces that were used to make the frame of a old camper trailer... I wanna use them to build a rear bumper but there's a problem I think.... I've got two main pieces that were the tongue and are 2x5" and the rest is all 2x4" but it's all 1/8" wall. If I was to weld the two 2x5" pieces together to effectively have a 4x5" box do you all think it'd be strong enough? Or will my problem then be that the walls could just crush in if I land on it?

 

Hitch receiver welds on a tube bumper..





welded a small shackle mount to each side of my bed rack to hang the hammock from

 

I use a 30a miller spool gun all day at work. Its a champ. You can run what ever metal you want on it, ive known people that use the 30a for steel just because its got a longer reach and 100% duty cycle. Ive welded up to 1/2" alum and down to .080 alum with the 30a

 

I run spool gun's on my ThermalArc's. They work fine, just take some getting used too.

 

If you fail you have to close your fab thread. Only fair.