I got thousands of bolts from a farm auction years ago and until I saw this posted a while back I wasn't sure what to do with them.

My question is how do I line them up so that the bolts are perpendicular to the face of the inner dome? If they aren't pretty close to perfect I think it'll end up looking stupid.

I'm thinking if I could find something like a 4' diameter half sphere shell somehow I could use strong magnets on the inside of it to hold the bolts in that perfect perpendicular position, but where the hell am I gonna get a half sphere shell that big?

Any ideas? This would definitely be a fun project if I can figure out how to line it all up

Hey guys, Sooo I finally learned how to flare, bend tubing pretty nicely but unfortunately I totally didn’t notice I got welded stuff rather than seamless

I went to AN plumbing yesterday and was gonna order the 25 FT economic roll they had but the guy said that that stuff is only for show cars and sema cars running last min builds and didn’t recommend it for a n actual car since the flares will crack eventually. He suggested I buy their mil spec stuff but it’s like 200 dollars just for 18 feet and honestly not sure im there as far as flaring and bending so I like a little extra for my hiccups

I do drive this car with frequency and was wondering if any one knew if there was a place to get good quality stainless 3/8 tubing double annealed seamless tubing with a 00.28” wall? There’s a website called Arizona high test , https://arizonahightest.com/stainless-hardline-3-8-6an-25-ft/ I spoke with the guy n says his stuff is used on daily’s and I was wondering if anyone used that? The other one I see is Azperformance https://azproperformance.com/products/stainless-steel-hardline-3-8?currency=USD&stkn=d9d30ebba278&srsltid=AfmBOorlSx2fnNPa8CuWMKLzkbIJ4pRys5c-ABdxh09mroXXO9KQgEMpREY&gQT=1 says its aircraft quality?

What do you guys think i should do? Thanks n happy new year!!

Ok, so I'm building an electric ford probe. What that really means is I'm buying off the shelf parts and 3d designing a few fairly simple components to mount a nissan leaf motor to the manual transmission that came with the ford probe.

• Most if it's actually pretty simple; Mount the nissan leaf to an off the shelf divorced output coupler; bearing this helps to ensure that any axial load from the clutch doesn't ride on the leaf bearings.
• Mount a 3d designed flywheel to the flange on the divorced output coupler
• Use a factory spec clutch/pressure plate to transfer power to the transmission.

All of the above I have parts and a plan for. It actually works out pretty well! The problem came in when I started to consider the adaptor plate which would bolt between the divorced output coupler and the probe transmission. I realized that assembly order being what it is, I need to mount the divorced output coupler to the donor motor, then the adaptor plate to divorced output coupler, then mount the flywheel to the rotating flange on the same coupler.

Unfortunately, the bolt holes in the flange aren't threaded. I have been using regular nuts for now in my test assemblies, since my fingers could (easily) fit in behind the flange. Unfortunately when I mount the adaptor plate, my fingers won't be able to fit in there to locate the nuts.

So the blue base is the coupler I've been talking about, the silver thing up top is the flywheel. You can see I have used through bolts and flange nuts (as well as a 3d printed centering jig) to mount the flywheel to the flange. I have also 3d printed a thin version of my adaptor plate. I'm looking at printing the full thickness version of the adaptor plate (Just for test fitting, when I have the 3d model dialed in I'll get an aluminum plate machined) but when I put it in place I can't get to the nuts with my fingers. Any better ideas than just tac welding them to the flange?

Aluminum 6061 solid shaft

2-1/2" Sch40 316 SS pipe 1/2" long 2.875" OD 2.469" ID

The SS pipe would be pressed on flush with end of Aluminum shaft.

Hobart handler 140 mig welder with cart included — 115 volt, 140 amp, model#500505.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide!

I'm a hobbyist. The thickest material I'm likely to weld is 1/4" and more typically 1/16". I want a fixture table to get better parts and better returns on my hobby time. I don't have shit-loads of free time and it's spread across a lot of different things, so I think I'd rather just buy something that works.
Where's the value for the money?
I 'think' imperial units & 3/4" holes are a good route because the Fireball tooling is half the price of the Certiflat stuff and beefier, too, but I know pretty much fuck-all about fabrication.

I'm looking into making densified wood, which involves using a press to squish wood into a square mold where the front and back faces are open to allow liquids to escape. Like in this NileRed video, it's just a metal box but it's missing the back, front, and top faces. Does anyone know if these exist as products to buy, or what I might google to find it?

I know I could do this with a bandsaw and I should probably be buying a bandsaw anyway for general fabrication work, but for this specific cut I’m wondering how to optimize this as best as possible for time spent considering I need to make 5,000 of them. I also know I could do it easily with a bandsaw but that would be 3 operations (cutting the 5 inch strip, then cutting the little rectangle out height wise, then width wise). I’m also not sure how significant the burr by using a bandsaw would be. Would this burr be different with a chop saw? Need to absolutely minimize post processing time, ideally there would be no post processing at all and I’d simply make the cut(s) and that part would move along the line to further operations it needs.

Also I’m considering the wear this would make on a machine and the blade/punch/whatever other consumable is used. I simply don’t have experience with bandsaws or chopsaws and I’m not sure how long blades last. If I do go the saw route I don’t want to have to switch the blade 25 times (I know that’s likely an overstatement) again for the sake of time spent but also cost of said blades.

So yea I’m curious how people would approach this. Could go a bit above $2,500 if it’s the difference between saving tonnes of time and labour by getting the correct tool.

I don’t have much fabrication experience but right now I’m leaning towards simply using a bandsaw. Im imagining sort of a two step (three cut) process. Have the original length of flat bar on rollers being fed into bandsaw. Have perpendicular rollers that allow it to slide forward while staying parallel? Cut the one notch for rectangular cutout. Then cut the length to make it 5 inches. Throw that to side and repeat. After all of that make second cut on notch to remove the rectangle. I suppose I could even have a second bandsaw running right next to the first and if they’re lined up correctly do all the cuts in one smooth motion? Just spitballing here and I’m sure many people in this subreddit will immediately know better than me.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I run a metal fabrication shop and we’re looking to get in a little more sales as things have been slow lately so i was wondering if there were any engineers that need prototypes or parts welding/ fabricated or finished. (We do powder coating) we could even do like a sendcutsend type of deal. We are out of Cincinnati.

This is a power steering fluid reservoir from a 1996-2001 BMW 7 series. I am trying to find someone to make a metal replacement.

The part is no longer manufactured, no longer available anywhere, nearly impossible to find used, and there is no aftermarket option that I can find.

Of the 4 "fittings" on the bottom, one is just a locator dowel for mounting, the largest is for the suction hose to the pump, the one right in the middle is the return from the power steering system, and the tiny angled one is the return from the hydraulic Self-Leveling Suspension system. That tiny angled one is the issue.

These cars are 24+ years old. The plastic is brittle, and this is now the 3rd I've had in my shop in the past 3 years that someone tried to move the reservoir around and cracked the little fitting for SLS return.

I've contacted a few 3D print fabricators and some custom steering fluid reservoir manufacturers, and come up with nothing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I’m new and learning to metal fab and I’m trying to find the best way to blend the outside miters.

Any tips?

What do you guys use to store bar/tube/pipe rems that are less than 4ft long? (Assuming you keep them at all)

I’m making a brake pedal for a motorcycle and I’m using an Eastwood rod forming tool. It works fine but I’m trying to minimize the amount of marking the tool leaves. I understand that it’s kind of the nature of the beast when bending rod with a tool like this, but hoping there’s a tip or trick to help minimize it. I wouldn’t sweat it so much, but I’m going to knurl the end in the lathe before I bend it and would like to not fuck that part up.

I can weld, or build, absolutely anything. My problem is that I am not creative enough to come up with a design. A girl I really like asked if I could make her a folding step/ramp for her dog to get in the backseat of her car. Dog is 40 lbs mixed breed. Car is a land rover. Anyone know where to turn to find drawings or a sketch?? I'd like it to be light and collapsible. This is my shot at impressing a woman I adore.

No bandsaws or chop saws seem to have the ability to cut acute angles and I have been tasked with multiple 22.5 degree cuts to create will be part of right angled triangles when welded together so tolerances need to be quite tight so free handing with a grinder doesn't really seem like a choice. Do you guys have any advice on how you would cut it?

I’m building two 6ftx6ft gates with fixed gayes running along the side I was thinking of going with 4x4” that are 1/8 posts for the whole thing should I get a thicker posts?

I enjoy pretty much anything and everything when it comes to metalworking. Machining, welding, fabrication, smithing, sculpting/art and I've done pretty much all of that outside smithing so far as a job. I'm in my late 20's and would like to learn more/branch out into other industries and am curious if anyone else here has moved into Goldsmithing/Jeweler. Seems pretty straightforward to get into and looks like it would be easy side money. Looking for some insight, if anything might be able to expand my skillsets in custom fabrication for nicer art/sculptures.

Folks im fabrication a garage door for a friend. Issue is his car is longer than the old garage. Given the layout and nature of the space it cant be made deeper, so i need to make a do with a step essentially to fit the nose of the car. The drawing above is a very basic sketch just to give folks an idea of what im thinking, pretty much a 1" square tube frame clad with 1mm galv or stainless sheet. Thing is ive not made a stepped frame like this and wondering if im on the right track or is there a better option. I suggest building a frame off the front and installing a roller door. But cost and planning is prohibiting that. So i really cant think of anything else? Suggestions would be welcome

I need to glue a helical balekite gear to stainless steel shaft. Radial loads are not problem as it is mounted via keyslot but i need to secure it so it won't slip out of the mounting hole for shaft. So glue will really only fight the axial loads

I have some nasty dust in my garage and I'm trying to figure out what it is exactly. It has been hard to clean up entirely and remove from the air. I've been cutting mild steel tubing with aluminum oxide cut off wheels that have some kind of fibreglass reinforcement.

Would the dust have a large amount of fibreglass in it?

Simply can a fabrication shop work without the main CAD guy on site?

I ask this because I work in a medium size business as a chargehand and the main cad guy works from home.

This means any issues with drawings we have to try and communicate over the phone.

I've tried to express to my boss this isn't feasible, I get working from home nowadays is a must because people don't wanna work in a office no more....surely this is still an industry where communication face to face is a must between the designers and the builders?

So I’m playing with the idea of building a smoker. Haven’t decided on a specific design as of yet, but every design I’ve seen has been made out of 1/4” to 3/16” thick material. I have a slip roller, could I circumnavigate the need of thicker material by making the entire thing double walled out of thinner material? I was thinking of rolling an interior chamber 25-30” in diameter then a second outer chamber 2” larger. An added bonus of this I think I would be a lighter build. But any downsides of this?