sberry
Banned
I been in a lot, all kinds of them. I didnt want to dump on another thread but some of the stuff I learned and if I had a chance to do it again would for a couple reasons but cost and speed are part of it.
I put off buying a few pieces I should have and bought some I didnt need. In lifes great scheme its rather low on the list of mistakes a guy can make but if done easier often makes it so much more rewarding.
Some MyGyver things are really my most rewarding,,,, way better than all the fussy stuff. As I mention,,, times and tools and vendors mean a lot different than when I started and a lot more susceptible to opinion, etc.
A master I had a while back said,,, we got good tools here. Sometimes I was interested in some stuff,,, he wasnt scared to buy,,, bought a couple things we needed but he would also say when he could see that glaze,,, we get along just fine for a long time without it.
I would copy masters more and invent less. I listened to a lot of paranoid self engineer types, they knew some **** but jump to a lot of conclusions and set up a pattern of obsession about a volt or pound loss, were overkill, they also always had to add a booger or 2 to take if from standard to a work around for some grand vision.
Today would buy only few true high dollar tools, every time a guy needs a Northstar water pump tool even the guy at the Cadilac dealer used a Lisle he scored off the shelf at the time. 30$ is huge for 3 uses and 300 tossed at it wouldnt make it any better.
Its a good way to buy tools. I can feel it, we are short a couple clamps here, we need a couple hammers and 2 more 12 inch etc, some of the most fundamental are that way and it all adds up fast enough without tossing 4 grand on a table sits in a guys garage, takes space and he really doesnt need it. I would be very aware today,,, learn early on and now I see why my Bud, licenced master pluma 50 yrs, can get anything he wants, any pipe or air filter, any gadget, any compressor still uses his 1/2 steel line he put in when he was 20 something.
I found the longer I went and really did some revision that a guy uses less not more, can get way more simple, some of the big investments became paper weights or never used most of the expensive options and features. **** I thought was critical dont mean squat,,, some of this even goes to very pro shops, taking a little longer once in a while or one off may be a lot better than rushing in to set up for something not work out.
I like what clyde does, the band saw he has is a beauty. Got it used, set up he can use it every day, he has legit work for it. I could use it but it wouldnt save me any money, already have a fast way to do that work I do. In general repair and occasional fabrication precision isnt a big deal, accurate and making it work right, getting it reassembled correctly and this is often so true,,, well thats the way it came apart or putting **** together so it worked.
Did a job a while back tipped myself when I made out the bill for fitting it all up, the guy even said,,, you hooked it up first for I went crazy with the welder. I got a neighbor has a fab shop. He really doesnt like walk in work and really rightly so. They can weld, they can cut but they dont fix.
This is where it all hits the road, the bottom line no matter what the tools and today the quality of the tool isnt as much contributor as its made out to be. Some of the best mechanics I ever met use common stuff and a lot of the first Sears **** and more they ever bought. I know a couple drag a bit behind but they do it and lack of success doesnt seem all that connected to the brand of screwdriver.
My shop is a "professional" but not dedicated to a particular craft as it is general, all the way from tractor to telephones. My career is welder, it blends with this and on occasion the ability to do higher level work is needed, its not really a real tech deal and fundamentally uses the same equipment being able to stick head in a ditch and weld a fitting on a pressure pipe in a pass or chase a hole in something upside down and under is a skill all its own as is to be able to pass welding test if needed.
It can be a welding shop, it just isnt. Last time I took a job, maybe 75 ton of misc small steel we had a small bench with no holes and about 20 clamps. A welder or 2 and a plasma cutter. Made all the jigs on plates and stood them up in the corner, designed it to use 11R and a couple screw clamps. Wouldnt and couldnt been done any faster. I bought a couple bottles whisky for Christmas at the steel yard and instead of quoting paid them by the hour for band saw and shear. I had about 50 cents a cut including shearing 75 1/4 plates. I went couple times a week with my cut list in my hot hand. I would try to dodge the manager but I ran the list, they loved it made it easy, 10 of these, to of these, 3 plates in to 10 or 12 blanks. I had about 1 thingI truely had to miter and cut the blanks square and simply plasma cut the angle and they were welded in hidden joint.
Did it all short circuit, might change that today but we designed the welding to be hidden when we could and limited to the need vs welding the **** out of every piece.
90% of our welding and fab stuff done today is one simple piece to another, chop saw 90 degree. 99.5 % of it got nothing to do with a flat bench or a hole in one. All done with common clamps that have a LOT of use in a general garage, I cant think of a thing in the last 30 years a real fixture table would have helped or really saved me 15 minutes.
Lots of guys will find this out 30 years from now. They will find out a 10 cable to a 6-50 will do every welding chore they ever did. They will find out that a whole gob of air hydrants they installed sit un used and they use the same 2 for decades.
In my own case had a fire interruption, I managed out of it with a lot of my tools barely but I did all the clean and rebuildand salvaged a lot out of need and speed and how so much worked out so much better than the plans, some I changed, some I didnt replace. I did some remodel a while back and moved some and removed more than I added. I changed a panel out and didnt include a welder outlet back on it. Put it on there in 94 or 95 and never used it. I aint putting it back "just in case"
I put off buying a few pieces I should have and bought some I didnt need. In lifes great scheme its rather low on the list of mistakes a guy can make but if done easier often makes it so much more rewarding.
Some MyGyver things are really my most rewarding,,,, way better than all the fussy stuff. As I mention,,, times and tools and vendors mean a lot different than when I started and a lot more susceptible to opinion, etc.
A master I had a while back said,,, we got good tools here. Sometimes I was interested in some stuff,,, he wasnt scared to buy,,, bought a couple things we needed but he would also say when he could see that glaze,,, we get along just fine for a long time without it.
I would copy masters more and invent less. I listened to a lot of paranoid self engineer types, they knew some **** but jump to a lot of conclusions and set up a pattern of obsession about a volt or pound loss, were overkill, they also always had to add a booger or 2 to take if from standard to a work around for some grand vision.
Today would buy only few true high dollar tools, every time a guy needs a Northstar water pump tool even the guy at the Cadilac dealer used a Lisle he scored off the shelf at the time. 30$ is huge for 3 uses and 300 tossed at it wouldnt make it any better.
Its a good way to buy tools. I can feel it, we are short a couple clamps here, we need a couple hammers and 2 more 12 inch etc, some of the most fundamental are that way and it all adds up fast enough without tossing 4 grand on a table sits in a guys garage, takes space and he really doesnt need it. I would be very aware today,,, learn early on and now I see why my Bud, licenced master pluma 50 yrs, can get anything he wants, any pipe or air filter, any gadget, any compressor still uses his 1/2 steel line he put in when he was 20 something.
I found the longer I went and really did some revision that a guy uses less not more, can get way more simple, some of the big investments became paper weights or never used most of the expensive options and features. **** I thought was critical dont mean squat,,, some of this even goes to very pro shops, taking a little longer once in a while or one off may be a lot better than rushing in to set up for something not work out.
I like what clyde does, the band saw he has is a beauty. Got it used, set up he can use it every day, he has legit work for it. I could use it but it wouldnt save me any money, already have a fast way to do that work I do. In general repair and occasional fabrication precision isnt a big deal, accurate and making it work right, getting it reassembled correctly and this is often so true,,, well thats the way it came apart or putting **** together so it worked.
Did a job a while back tipped myself when I made out the bill for fitting it all up, the guy even said,,, you hooked it up first for I went crazy with the welder. I got a neighbor has a fab shop. He really doesnt like walk in work and really rightly so. They can weld, they can cut but they dont fix.
This is where it all hits the road, the bottom line no matter what the tools and today the quality of the tool isnt as much contributor as its made out to be. Some of the best mechanics I ever met use common stuff and a lot of the first Sears **** and more they ever bought. I know a couple drag a bit behind but they do it and lack of success doesnt seem all that connected to the brand of screwdriver.
My shop is a "professional" but not dedicated to a particular craft as it is general, all the way from tractor to telephones. My career is welder, it blends with this and on occasion the ability to do higher level work is needed, its not really a real tech deal and fundamentally uses the same equipment being able to stick head in a ditch and weld a fitting on a pressure pipe in a pass or chase a hole in something upside down and under is a skill all its own as is to be able to pass welding test if needed.
It can be a welding shop, it just isnt. Last time I took a job, maybe 75 ton of misc small steel we had a small bench with no holes and about 20 clamps. A welder or 2 and a plasma cutter. Made all the jigs on plates and stood them up in the corner, designed it to use 11R and a couple screw clamps. Wouldnt and couldnt been done any faster. I bought a couple bottles whisky for Christmas at the steel yard and instead of quoting paid them by the hour for band saw and shear. I had about 50 cents a cut including shearing 75 1/4 plates. I went couple times a week with my cut list in my hot hand. I would try to dodge the manager but I ran the list, they loved it made it easy, 10 of these, to of these, 3 plates in to 10 or 12 blanks. I had about 1 thingI truely had to miter and cut the blanks square and simply plasma cut the angle and they were welded in hidden joint.
Did it all short circuit, might change that today but we designed the welding to be hidden when we could and limited to the need vs welding the **** out of every piece.
90% of our welding and fab stuff done today is one simple piece to another, chop saw 90 degree. 99.5 % of it got nothing to do with a flat bench or a hole in one. All done with common clamps that have a LOT of use in a general garage, I cant think of a thing in the last 30 years a real fixture table would have helped or really saved me 15 minutes.
Lots of guys will find this out 30 years from now. They will find out a 10 cable to a 6-50 will do every welding chore they ever did. They will find out that a whole gob of air hydrants they installed sit un used and they use the same 2 for decades.
In my own case had a fire interruption, I managed out of it with a lot of my tools barely but I did all the clean and rebuildand salvaged a lot out of need and speed and how so much worked out so much better than the plans, some I changed, some I didnt replace. I did some remodel a while back and moved some and removed more than I added. I changed a panel out and didnt include a welder outlet back on it. Put it on there in 94 or 95 and never used it. I aint putting it back "just in case"
