The Machinist

We normally don't pay up front and don't get paid up front for stuff. Some stuff will have in the contract that it must meet supplied standards or industry standards and such. The only time any money changes hands up front is on really large jobs some of the end customers will pay some up front or on a schedule during work for purchase of materials. Not for run of the mill stuff but maybe on a very large project we might have a purchase of steel that is $20million and the end customer will start paying for some of that. Not paying up front for the finished product tho.

But most of that type of stuff would fall under "meet industry standards or supplied standards" and such. But on really large jobs we might have a sit down between parties and work out something if something was late (mostly we just submit our info on why we were waiting on info) or possibly something had to be refabbed and we'll agree on a price for that.

We do something similar, big job are pay upfront or percentage of total, but nothing leaves until its paid for.

I had a job interview today with a cool aftermarket go fast parts company. Designing new products, go out a build them, fit them to engines and test then gear up to bring it to the market.. I choked in the interview something shocking, its my first interview in 17 years .. Fairly disappointed

At least you didn't call someone a total moron/idiot in the interview and it turned out the person doing the interview was related to them.

NEW TOY DAY!!!!!
Alumtig 200 AC/DC
$1599 AUD
SWS - AC DC TIG Welders & Plasma Cutters for sale Australia.


This is for home, better than the shitbox we have at work too.
I need a bottle of Argon at home so bad right now...

We have a plasma at work that we bought 10 years ago, maybe more, and it cost around $8K.
The one in the link is so much better than what i have at work, it's crazy the cost coming right down for the ability of the products.

One of my best mates has a laser cutting and folding business and i get everything for free so i'll never need one.
Waiting on some bike frame parts so i can make V2 of my DH bike with the NEWFUCKINGWELDER ...

I'm fairly pumped

From others I've talked to I think you can get a decent inverter tig machine now for not as much money if you are willing to put with a little lower duty cycle. I'm guessing most home welders aren't hitting the duty cycle to begin with. Bonus being it won't weigh 400 pounds or more like a transformer rig.

I have a syncrowave but almost never use it any more. I use a mig or a stick (for heavy strucutral type stuff) to tack it and then tack it to work and have someone else weld it.

I have a mig at home, arc can suck my balls. I know it has its place but just not for me.
I mostly weld al. And chrome moly so a tig is the best tool for the job.
I going to do repairs on my old car soon too and it'll be heaps neater to tig the panels than mig them.
No gas at home so nobody got to hear bzzzzzt bzzzzzzt all weekend

BrutulTM said:

I like to use arc on thicker stuff. I don't know if I have a good reason for that, but I just feel more confident with arc on heavy shit but maybe that's because I did that first. I also use arc for anything outdoors so I don't have to worry about the gas blowing away.

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99.9% of the structural we do is flux core wire feed. I can't remember the last time I saw someone using actual MiG. Stick I still see some shops the fitter will use it to tack but they mostly use flux core as well.

I instruct class twice a month for welders and fitters on how to read shop drawings for the fitters at a community college. From the guy who instructs the welding he says 90% of the people coming in already have some welding experience. I'm sure all hobby and such. I took welding back in high school for a 2 hour class. 2 hours of welding and then 2 hours of auto mechanics then 1 hour of English and then done for that day as a senior. I'm sure both of those are gone now.

Welding was pretty big where I grew up. Everyone was tied to the petrochemical industry and 1/2 the people I knew in school had welding rigs and shops at their house for whatever. Or their dad knew/did it at work a lot.

Now in the plate shop it's whatever the procedure calls for. Submerged arc for all the plate joining and tig for penetrations and such. The guys in the shop really bitch about welding the inconel and hastelloy and even more so titanium.

The only thing a welder should know how to read is a procedure sheet and welding symbols. Most shops that I work with don't give the welder drawings. It's tacked and the welder gets a small sheet with the welding procedure and the symbol at most.

Reading shop drawings is for fitters and qa.

Where I teach it's heavily subsidized by the local structural steel fab shop which is the largest employer in the parish. It's a feeder program for them basically.

But on ocassion I have been asked to do house drawings for someone because "I draw" lol.

I can see it for iso and stuff that's all pipe welding and such. In structural all of ours is 99% the same. Because it's galvanized it's 1/4" fillet seal welded all around unless noted otherwise. If a welder has a question they'll ask the fitter. Head fitters/layout guys make a lot more than welders for a reason.

Now in the plate shop I worked they get all kind of stuff with maybe one sheet having 14 different weld symbols. In extreme cases a 6" long weld might have a 4 page procedure. I hate those with a passion and welders do even more.

I do all the CAD design and drawings at work, with a new weldment i give the welder a dimensioned drawing with a layout then let him go for it.
Then once the job is done i'll go over it and add the weld symbols to the drawing. He's the expert and knows where and how big the welds need to be, no point in telling him how to do his job.

My mig at home, i use gasless wire so don't need a bottle and it is mobile as long as i have a extension lead long enough. It is only a single faze machine so really just a toy, good for up to 12mm (1/2") at a push for good penno.
The TIG will be for the shed only.
At work we 95% of the time use MIG on everything, never ARC. don't even have one but our work will be much different to you guys.

Borzak said:

The only thing a welder should know how to read is a procedure sheet and welding symbols. Most shops that I work with don't give the welder drawings. It's tacked and the welder gets a small sheet with the welding procedure and the symbol at most.

Reading shop drawings is for fitters and qa.

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Do the welders have an certs or are they just off the street cause they can weld? sounds like a production line.

Our welders are more like Fabricators who do the work start to finish. Not often big runs on the same product.