Kenfab HQ (Australia)

[kai1980]

those trophies look great!
and nice choice on a work vehicle too..

 

[Kenfab]

Ken, you do it well..

Thank your sir

Not a fabricator ? Looks like some pretty good fabrication to me. That garden screen looks pretty well fabricated as well.

Haha thank you, i meant more so that im not exactly a qualified fabricator, the bulk of my learning came from watching American Chopper

 

[Kenfab]

In exchange for donating the trophies, I was offered a spot in the artists gallery friday night and saturday night, i was also allowed to have a stall during the day on saturday and sunday. I pumped out a few items but mostly went down with my own personal signs. I figured if i sold them i could just make new ones.

This was my stall in the gallery, it was in a walkway between the event and the toilets. Got a fair few people wandering through looking and asking questions.

Didnt end up selling anything friday night, so i moved outside when i set up saturday morning. My mates / barbershop have a stall there every year so i set up next to them.

Chatted with a bunch of people, but didnt sell a single thing on saturday. Drunk beers with my barber mates though

 

[Kenfab]

Ended up leaving around 6pm on the saturday, the event continued into the night, but a full day without making a sale was pretty depressing. The organisers didnt hand out any trophies for the Hot Rod and Kustom showdown which ticked me off a bit. There was at least 50 awesome cars there worthy of a trophy. There was easily 5 trophies for each day. I asked about them handing them out so i could get some photos, and they said they would let me know who got them, 5pm rolled around, and cars started leaving.

Thats just a quick snapshot of what was floating around the carpark, there was a lot more awesome stuff, i left my camera in the van most of the day.

 

[Terrick down Under]

K, some shows are funny like that. One field day we did we thought was an absolute bomb from looking at the books on the Sunday night, but over the next twelve months it come in big time. So...hang in there.
You could be like us and get your main yearly income in July August and September, and have to live off it for the next 9 months. It really cures you of impulse buying.
Your product is good, people will pick up on that.

 

[Kenfab]

Rolled down on sunday for the poker run and swap meet and set myself up again

found my trophies

heard a bit of a roar and the poker run had arrived

noticed the hotrod trophy had actually been given out, you may recognise the guy, he has a tv show called my garage rules.

The remainder of the trophies went to bikes for some reason, not really my place to tell the organisers who to give the trophies to. I definitely had cars in mind when i made them.

I ended up selling a clock for $10 on the sunday, my only sale for the 3 days, so i treated myself to some nachos

 

[Kenfab]

K, some shows are funny like that. One field day we did we thought was an absolute bomb from looking at the books on the Sunday night, but over the next twelve months it come in big time. So...hang in there.
You could be like us and get your main yearly income in July August and September, and have to live off it for the next 9 months. It really cures you of impulse buying.
Your product is good, people will pick up on that.

Thanks Mate,

The event was great, I really enjoyed showing my stuff to people, got a lot of good feedback. Not really an event for buying and selling though. I should have gone to enjoy the kulture and just drink beers. I will definitely try a market where people have come to buy stuff.

My mate that runs the barber shop loves my stuff, so he ended up buying $700 worth of stuff for his shop. Still didnt break even for the weekend but ya get that.

 

[Kenfab]

Been focusing on the house a bit since Kustom Kulture

Knocked up a quick fire wood rack, loaded up with plenty of pine to get the fire hot enough to start. A guy i do work for has 150 Tonne of firewood on his property, just need to buy a chainsaw to get some for myself.

went up and grabbed a load of stuff he had already cut up, hows this table he won at an auction

Came home to find the missus had introduced her car to a pole.
Seems to have just popped the bar off the clips, and scuffed the paint.

I found some old polish in my shed, and a bit of elbow grease, not quite perfect, but it will do until she crashes into something else or gets hit at the shopping center

topped off last weekend with a bbq

 

[Kenfab]

So by default i have fallen into the site supervisor role at work for our biggest job. The last foreman and 2ic both quit, and me being the next most qualified tradesman makes me the boss.

The job is the main Pit building at The Tailem Bend Motorsport Park, future flagship motorsport park for South Australia and should have the "v8 supercars" or whatever they will be called by the time its finished.

I went down to the father in laws work, and ran some pine through his big 3 phase thicknesser. Might have to invest in a benchtop one.

Going to make a benchtop for a frame i acquired.

 

[kai1980]

your mate's table is awesome!

getting involved in 'the bend' is great, there's plenty of money being invested there!
i have a friend at Meningie and whenever we drive through Tailem on our way i always stop to look for progress on the race track!

 

[HOTFR8]

I would not worry about not making many sales. The fact is you have your name in front of people and in 12 months or even two years they will say we spoke to at such and such event. I still get feedback from advertisements in magazines from 20 years ago.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Ken, just an awesome week end by the looks of things. Thank you for sharing.

 

[hewey]

Just catching up - those trophies look amazing, well done! In my experience most hot rod runs aren't necessarily run by people with professional event management experience, so sometimes details can get lost on the day with the stress of running an event. Shame you didnt make more sales on the day, but as others have said it's also about getting your name out there as well. If you want to take it to that level I'd suggest a dedicated facebook page and instagram account as well. And the whole job situation sounds like a complete rollercoaster too!

 

[kai1980]

Hewey has a good point. set up a facetube page for your signs!

i've followed this guy for a few years. don't know him. i did buy one custom made to order piece from him a couple of years ago. just using it as an example for promoting a small venture...
word of mouth spreads so much quicker online!
https://www.facebook.com/richard.marchant.marchosmurals.710

 

[Kenfab]

Just catching up - those trophies look amazing, well done! In my experience most hot rod runs aren't necessarily run by people with professional event management experience, so sometimes details can get lost on the day with the stress of running an event. Shame you didnt make more sales on the day, but as others have said it's also about getting your name out there as well. If you want to take it to that level I'd suggest a dedicated facebook page and instagram account as well. And the whole job situation sounds like a complete rollercoaster too!

Thanks Mate! Yeah your exactly right about the organisers, they are just enthusiasts. i really need to work on my social media presence. www.facebook.com/carbonplasma is my page, i really should do an instagram though, seems alot easier without paying for advertisement. Rollercoaster describes my work perfectly

Hewey has a good point. set up a facetube page for your signs!

i've followed this guy for a few years. don't know him. i did buy one custom made to order piece from him a couple of years ago. just using it as an example for promoting a small venture...
word of mouth spreads so much quicker online!
https://www.facebook.com/richard.marchant.marchosmurals.710

haha yeah i have a faceballs page www.facebook.com/carbonplasma, a few guys from garagejournal are actually some of my first likes. That guys pressed metal things are awesome! My only issue with facebook is the pay per view nature that having a business page on there goes, I dont really have a marketing budget yet haha

 

[metalhead140]

Love the trophies! Very nice.

 

[TwoBytes]

Trophies and the new van look great mate

Congrats on the new job

 

[johno7]

nice screen you made for the outdoor area, any more pics of the phantom mural?

 

[dlcwent]

Ken, I just wanted to say thank you. The Sunoco sign arrived here today. Awesome job mate.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Ken, I just wanted to say thank you. The Sunoco sign arrived here today. Awesome job mate.

ken, top job...

 

[Kenfab]

Long time no update. Been fairly busy, tried to come back a few times but seeing all my photos from photobucket gone just irritated me. For some reason they have reappeared so my thread isn't just garbage anymore.

had a dig through my photos on my phone and will throw some bits and pieces up.

whats the go for hosting these days thats reliable?

 

[1/2 Cup]

Ken start an album in your profile it will host 1000 pics.

 

[HOTFR8]

Ken start an album in your profile it will host 1000 pics.

A good failsafe if posting photos on the GJ.

 

[Kenfab]

Vehicle update:

from the last 12 months

riding home on a very slippery night, got cleaned up on my scooter, this was the view from the stretcher.

70 year old bloke with a bullbar didn't even see me and punted me just as I came to a stop. I landed next to the car in front instead of sandwiched which was lucky. Could have been a lot worse, quick trip to the hospital and I was home that night. Bit sore for a few weeks but all good now. 7 Grand worth of repairs on the bike, good thing for insurance

found this absolute bargain while I was waiting to get the bike back.

1JZ twin turbo Soarer, pretty high kms, but pretty looked after. Hoped to find a manual gearbox and make a fun little weekend / track car.

Got straight to work deleting this rats nest

Old alarm / immobiliser system that was tied in to absolutely everything and bound to cause some sort of issue one day.

Ended up that a gearbox and manual conversion was going to cost more than I paid for the car and I was starting to get consider selling it when I got offered $1000 more than I paid, so I jumped on that straight away. Nice little 4 week ownership. Catch ya later

I also decided to annoy motorists and start cycling, don't worry no lycra

 

[Kenfab]

Quick little eBay purchase for the van, $360 and has android software and an 8" screen, gps all the bells and whistles

My favourite customer always gets a bit excited when the bottle-o has specials on super dry

got sick of the cheapo Bunnings shelving unit rattling around in the van so a few lengths of formply and some fun in the shed

and picked up a bolt after a 12 hour night shift.. excellent

Invested in a snow foam cannon from eBay

The missus is a bit rough on the old brakes in the golf, good excuse to get some spanners out

 

[Kenfab]

Plasma Cutter Update:

The old girl has been a bit neglected. Gave her a bit of love

filled her back up with lime cordial

and straight back to work

One of my popular items that I whip up

whipping up a sliding gate for the father in law

 

[Theodulf]

Nice work. An impressive thread all the way through.

Your jaunt with the Toyota made me look at Carsales...

 

[1/2 Cup]

Ken wow you have been through quite a bit. Glad to see that you were not seriously injured.

Good to see you back in action with the plama cutter.

 

[hewey]

Great to see you back mate, even better the bike accident wasn't worse. Good to see the plasma get some love too.

 

[Kenfab]

Nice work. An impressive thread all the way through.

Your jaunt with the Toyota made me look at Carsales...

Thanks mate! it was a month of fun. If you have never experienced a 90's Japanese turbo car I highly recommend it, the noises they make are ridiculous

Ken wow you have been through quite a bit. Glad to see that you were not seriously injured.

Good to see you back in action with the plama cutter.

Thanks mate!

Great to see you back mate, even better the bike accident wasn't worse. Good to see the plasma get some love too.

Thanks mate! I have missed GJ

 

[Kenfab]

Le Shed Update:

So being that I suffer from flat surface syndrome I put together another bench. I found the basic table frame in the bin on a job site I worked at. I zapped out the base plates for the wheels and some gussets and hot glued them on with the mig. Grabbed a couple of castors and a ryobi electric planer from the big green shed. Gave it a lick of paint and this is how she turned out.

I never got the email about how to operate an electric planer, so I made a meal out of the top, its just biscuit joined pine so no big deal, one day I might try to make it level, but for now it has my mitre saw on top in the carport

while I was making it, I watched this bad *** wasp drag this spider up and down my driveway about 10 times

I continued to build my Milwaukee collection with these additions, the bandsaw was a steal on gumtree, the guy won it in a tipping contest amongst other Milwaukee stuff, but saw no use for it and let me have it cheap, ha sucker. The light is like a handheld led light bar, its magnetic and I love it, charges off usb and is super bright.

A guy I know, his work has to redo there office furniture every 5 years, and the staff are allowed to take anything they want home, the rest goes in the bin, or probably home with the furniture mob. He knows I don't mind a freebie, and none of the staff wanted anything, so 3 trips with my van and 1 trip with my mates navara, I got 3x cabinets with soft doors, 1x full size metal filing cabinet, 2x small oak filing cabinets, 4x desks, 4x bookshelves. It was like Christmas

The cabinets are now in my carport, ill have to take a pic when the car is outside

 

[jbmatth]

Always great to see some of your projects and updates. Very glad the bike accident wasn't worse than it was. Looking forward to more in the future.
JB

 

[1/2 Cup]

Ken great work on the bench and top score from work..

 

[Grumblebum]

That's a great update mate except for scary bullbar guy - yikes.

Tell us about the pushie...

cheers GB

 

[Terrick down Under]

You need one of those beepers like on the new cars that flashes in your mirrors when cars are too close.

 

[HOTFR8]

Bad luck with the Scooter and Bolt. Great score on the car. Nice looking laser cut fire place.

 

[Kenfab]

Always great to see some of your projects and updates. Very glad the bike accident wasn't worse than it was. Looking forward to more in the future.
JB

Thanks JB!

Ken great work on the bench and top score from work..

Thanks Steve!

That's a great update mate except for scary bullbar guy - yikes.

Tell us about the pushie...

cheers GB

Thanks GB! haha she is an s-works tarmac. Carbon frame , carbon wheels, weighs about 6-7kg. It’s a fairly old model (2011), but barely ridden, the guy won it and already had a nicer bike. I got a killer deal on it so I couldn’t resist, the money from selling the soarer was burning a hole in my pocket

You need one of those beepers like on the new cars that flashes in your mirrors when cars are too close.

Haha i barely remember even putting my foot down before being up in the air and then on the ground, the beep would probably haunt me if I had something like that

 

[Kenfab]

Bad luck with the Scooter and Bolt. Great score on the car. Nice looking laser cut fire place.

Thanks mate! Aside from a few weeks of pain the bike ended up with a new exhaust, all new fairings and the frame and wheels got painted. The bike had a few scuffs as it has done 20,000kms but now it looks brand new. I’d call that a win overall

 

[TwoBytes]

Great update Ken, you've been busy mate.

Sorry to hear about the bike going rubber side up, but sounds like it worked out OK.

Nice Specialized, that should be fun.

 

[Kenfab]

Great update Ken, you've been busy mate.

Sorry to hear about the bike going rubber side up, but sounds like it worked out OK.

Nice Specialized, that should be fun.

Thanks Mat!

Honestly I cant really complain, except now I'm scared to scratch it

Cant wait for the weather to come good again so I can get back on both 2 wheeled machines. The Specialized is quite pleasant to put KMs on.