Random Metal Fab Fun.

Acquaintance I did some metal fab for in the past called and wants a winch mounted on his mower. He brought it over last night so I will start mocking the mount up later today.
 
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What might I expect to be charged to have a local shop cut the following pieces?

(4) 3" x 11" x 3/16"
(1) 3-3/4" x 31" x 3/16"
(2) 7" x 75" x 3/16"

A36 or closest is fine.
Cut method isn't important. Edges don't need deburring.
Steel can still have scale, doesn't have to be pretty.

Rate for:
-table time/labor alone, i provide material
-materials and labor please.
 
All stainless camping grate to replace my old one. It was a good excuse to pull out the 309l rods. I just love how this material welds.
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Of course it works perfectly.
Tested it out the following weekend in the swamp. Also pictured is an old Lodge pan I refurbished at work after hours. It's incredible what a few seconds of sand blasting can do. This thing was beyond rusty. Also coated the underside with 2k degree header paint.
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7075 aluminum fishing rod holder. This summer I plan on doing a lot more sandbar fishing along with a few more trips to the coast. 4043 rod burning with the old trusty Esab.
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Does cleaning up a 150 year old vice count? There are a few welds on it, not mine, but those of Owen Jeffery. Old man Owen is the owner of Jeffery archery, who my dad used to be the lead recurve bow builder for back in the early to mid 80s. Very few even knew the man could weld, despite his other infinite creative abilities. This is the gift of a lifetime.
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catfishblues said:
Look into Dynatorch before you commit. They seem to be the absolute best bang for your buck right now in entry level light industrial tables. Plasmacam may be about the biggest name in the industry, but not necessarily the best
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We didn't use a table. Its all hand cut. We did used a drill press and iron worker for the larger holes.

We have a dynatorch and a Lincoln table. For the same price range of each I wouldn't touch the Dynatorch. The models we have where each around 30k.
 
Here's one from work. Richland county public library in downtown Columbia contacted us about making a few dozen decorative but functional brackets to go on the benches outside. Theyll be anchored to the benches once theyre finished and powder coated. Their main reasoning behind it is to keep skateboarders from chipping up the concrete, or perhaps to prevent the drinks from crashing on them overnight. These 90 degree angle brackets are designed to resemble the shape of a book and will be hand etched by each person in our fab department, in a signature design of our choice.
Here's a finished product that the owner made as a test piece.
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The face design I went with still follows the South Carolina theme, as it seems appropriate. I used an ariel photo taken by DNR and duplicated in on the aluminum plate. It shows the layout of the Cowasee basin. Congaree, Wateree and Santee rivers. It also got the state silhouette and for a finishing touch I etched an arrowhead into it. My stepdad just published his second book recently, this newest one on the history of native American Indian mounds. This is my salute to him and his work.
I'll post quite a few pics of the finished products once we install them on site. I don't want to spoil it just yet. Some of these are just down right cool.
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XJsavage said:
Here's one from work. Richland county public library in downtown Columbia contacted us about making a few dozen decorative but functional brackets to go on the benches outside. Theyll be anchored to the benches once theyre finished and powder coated. Their main reasoning behind it is to keep skateboarders from chipping up the concrete, or perhaps to prevent the drinks from crashing on them overnight. These 90 degree angle brackets are designed to resemble the shape of a book and will be hand etched by each person in our fab department, in a signature design of our choice.
Here's a finished product that the owner made as a test piece.
View attachment 265648
The face design I went with still follows the South Carolina theme, as it seems appropriate. I used an ariel photo taken by DNR and duplicated in on the aluminum plate. It shows the layout of the Cowasee basin. Congaree, Wateree and Santee rivers. It also got the state silhouette and for a finishing touch I etched an arrowhead into it. My stepdad just published his second book recently, this newest one on the history of native American Indian mounds. This is my salute to him and his work.
I'll post quite a few pics of the finished products once we install them on site. I don't want to spoil it just yet. Some of these are just down right cool.
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What tooling are you using? That's cool.
 
BigGreenMonster said:
That is really cool!
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Come by and check it out in person once it's finished. I'm assuming you're in Charleston area? I used to ride with some GDI members back in the River Rock days.
 
The boss hands me a stack of butterfly cutouts he did on the waterjet and says "use your imagination". Fine....
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Wall mounted deco, so I AC tigged brackets on the underside. I can't wait to see how these look after powder coat.
 
Got tired of having to load and unload my grass cutting stuff every week to go cut grass at my rental property. Also with it all just sitting in the bed of my truck, I couldn’t go anywhere else without someone stealing my crap.

I added 4’ to the tongue of my 5x8 tilt trailer. It needed more tongue weight anyway.

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This was a rainy day project that the boss and I got to have fun with. Always a pleasure to work side by side with such a creative person. We had a round bowl left over from some water collection robots we built a while back where we had to cut off with a torch to create a flat bottom.
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Fast forward to today, we decided that a small self standing fire pitt would be the best use for the bowl. These were originally oil tanks that date back to the 1950s. Dirty, rusty, and smelly, but a great thickness that should hold up to many years of heat. Slightly robotic looking with a touch of steampunk, and 100% badass.
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Tripod legs and all bracketry are 5/16" steel cut out on waterjet. Top ring is 1.25" tool steel rolled to the correct radius. The smaller diameter solid was heated with a torch and hand bent. I take little to no credit for dreaming it up, only the assembly and welding. The top ring welding was all done in horizontal position weaving shut anywhere between 1/8"-3/8" gaps. I usually get really bored MIG welding, but this offered just enough of a challenge to hold my attention.
 
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XJsavage said:
This was a rainy day project that the boss and I got to have fun with. Always a pleasure to work side by side with such a creative person. We had a round bowl left over from some water collection robots we built a while back where we had to cut off with a torch to create a flat bottom. View attachment 266929
Fast forward to today, we decided that a small self standing fire pitt would be the best use for the bowl. These were originally oil tanks that date back to the 1950s. Dirty, rusty, and smelly, but a great thickness that should hold up to many years of heat. Slightly robotic looking with a touch of steampunk, and 100% badass.
View attachment 266930
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Tripod legs and all bracketry are 5/16" steel cut out on waterjet. Top ring is 1.25" tool steel rolled to the correct radius. The smaller diameter solid was heated with a torch and hand bent. I take little to no credit for dreaming it up, only the assembly and welding. The top ring welding was all done in horizontal position weaving shut anywhere between 1/8"-3/8" gaps. I usually get really bored MIG welding, but this offered just enough of a challenge to hold my attention.
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That is very cool! On a side note, that robot kind of looks like Bender from the animated show Futurama.
 
Every time I look at this thread, it makes me realize more and more how little imagination and skill I have... Oddly, it's depressing and inspirational all at the same time! o_O
 
Scooter402 said:
Every time I look at this thread, it makes me realize more and more how little imagination and skill I have... Oddly, it's depressing and inspirational all at the same time! o_O
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The imagination and skill is already there. ;)

Artistic expression comes as natural to some as being able to swim. At the same time, it's a perishable asset. A person can push themselves for decades to keep persuing the dream, but that flame can and will burn out eventually. It helps greatly to stay surrounded by people who help bring it out, be it a spouse, friends or even an employer. I'm beyond blessed to know the people I do and to have landed where I did. Crazy friends are the best to keep around.

Quoth nobody in particular; It's your brain. Use the hell out of it. The worst that can happen is that you'll get smarter. :p
 
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