np307
Well-known member
Pretty fun week, mostly rolling solo. Built a header for a valve cluster, finished up a hall tree, and made a piping change at one of the plants. Last one was a good chance to practice my isometric drawing.
Metalworking Hunttalkers!
- Thread starter p_ham
- Start date
np307
Well-known member
Capped a 3 inch ammonia line and started work on some 4 inch sch10 stainless (steam line to a heat exchanger) by getting a flange welded on. 
The winch mounted on my chipper was on there with some one inch washers to get the needed height when I purchased it. Knew the bolts would eventually have issues because the base of the winch was only sitting on those washers.
The bolts finally snapped and it was time to put in a strong, permanent mount.
And I was very happy with my midnight welds. It’s taken a while but they are coming along now. I think building the cart was good practice!
millerkiller77
Well-known member
I recommend you gusset the "load" side
np307
Well-known member
Nothing crazy interesting going on at work recently. Well, there were a few welds up against the ceiling but there might have been some not postable climbing methods involved.
Made some stainless pans to collect hydraulic oil under molding machines. No idea why they didn't let us make them from aluminum. This was one of the bigger fab projects I've done, used a manual brake for the pans and a press brake for the handles. Not very fun to bend the stainless by hand.
Currently we are demoing some fructose and sucrose lines to get a new sucrose system installed in January. No fun at all draining these lines.
Made some stainless pans to collect hydraulic oil under molding machines. No idea why they didn't let us make them from aluminum. This was one of the bigger fab projects I've done, used a manual brake for the pans and a press brake for the handles. Not very fun to bend the stainless by hand.
Currently we are demoing some fructose and sucrose lines to get a new sucrose system installed in January. No fun at all draining these lines.
np307
Well-known member
I could be hunting the rut right now. Instead I'm going to be staring at these all day.
I can not stand repetitious welding. I had to make shoe holders for a friend's wife. I politely asked how many she needed, thinking maybe 3, She asked for 10! Aluminum angle. Tried to bend the angles... snap. Then heating each bend... repetition kills creative builds for myself.
Had it been 3 I would have enjoyed the heck out of crafting though 10??? I put on the Amazon 80's rock music on the garage sound bar and went into assembly line work. I asked... Lesson learned.
Had it been 3 I would have enjoyed the heck out of crafting though 10??? I put on the Amazon 80's rock music on the garage sound bar and went into assembly line work. I asked... Lesson learned.
p_ham
Well-known member
Fired up the MIG for the 1st time in I don't even know how long. I'm a bit rusty, it's got some undercutting here and there. I bounced around to keep the heat manageable. Good enough for a bluing tank. I was able to use up some leftover 10ga sheet from when I built my bench.
np307
Well-known member
Been on several different projects recently. Forklift barrier in the cooler at a plant, repiped some tank connections, building more stainless pans to collect hydraulic oil, and some hose stands. 
blueridge
Well-known member
Always impressed with your welding skills, Nathan. Respect. 
np307
Well-known member
Appreciate it. I've still got plenty to learn but it's cool to do stuff that I know I wouldn't have been able to last year.Always impressed with your welding skills, Nathan. Respect.
np307
Well-known member
Boss got a call in the middle of a job yesterday from a new plant needing something built in a hurry. We showed up at 0830 today, took measurements, drew up a sketch, and got it built. I took care of the frame and boss did the sheet metal work. 
Here's a project, less the crack pipe... Haha! Pretty bad ass! I wouldn't cruise the streets in it BUT I would definitely take it out to the desert with a gremlin revamp project and race, smash, roll and make it a new quality target to shoot at... You know, giveth metals back to mother earth.
Just kidding. We'd torch them first... What? Clean up our garbage? Bah!
Just kidding. We'd torch them first... What? Clean up our garbage? Bah!
A few recent projects. Put a scale kit on the dry spreader, beefed up the plans with the angle iron welded to the box. Extended the wheels out on both AA bars so the wings will stay in the ground better. And put together a scoreboard frame for a local town. I need to get better at taking pics during the projects. 
KB_
Well-known member
I know you said you had a boss, but is this a family business? Why dont you go out on your own, you clearly have the skillset.
np307
Well-known member
Not a family business, but my boss (the only other person in the business) is a friend that we go to church with. Several reasons to stay with how things are.
1) I really don't have the skillset to break out. I've made a lot of progress and am pretty confident in my ability as a welder, but there's a lot more that I need to learn and practice.
2) money. I don't have my own rig or shop. I don't have enough reserves to try to start up a business and deal with the long periods of time with no income.
3) time. I work 4 days a week and can take plenty of time off to hunt and fish. I'm W2 not 1099 so I have tax advantages that way.
4) goals. I enjoy welding, but I also am a pastor at heart. We are working on planting a church and while there'll still be plenty of years I'll have to work bivocationally, ultimately I don't plan to be doing it forever.
KB_
Well-known member
Yea that makes sense. I do a little fab work out of my garage, but only for friends and cash under the table. The tax and time situation makes running a business and working my normal day job as a desk sitter very difficult. Especially considering my wife works full time in the ER as well.
That must be nice to be able to work with your friends. Makes the daily grind and commute to work much easier to deal with, when the person you work with is a personal friend as well.
np307
Well-known member
Got a few days off so I decided to complete a project that I started last year. The plan for this bed was supposed to involve a lot of woodworking. I have all the wood sitting in the shed but I just don't have the time to mess with getting it all dimensioned and usable, so I decided to order some square tubing and use the plywood panels I already had cut for a nice contrast. Pretty straightforward design, it'll bolt onto a prefabbed frame. 
np307
Well-known member
First coats of paint and Danish oil are on. Did a test fit with the footboard once they were dry to the touch. Very happy overall. 
np307
Well-known member
We've been slammed at work, projects at 5 different plants in the works. The main thing we've been working on is completely redoing the steam lines in a CIP room, all in stainless. This is a bunch of prefab so that hopefully we only have to shut the system down for a day to install and make a couple in-position welds. I also got handed a pump housing that had cracked in a previous repair, they have a new housing coming but they needed to be able to run the pump so I fixed the crack. Monday a crane will be putting 300 ft of 4 inch sch40 on the roof of another plant for us to run new glycol lines, all in megapress thankfully. 
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