Friday, September 12, 2014

FABRICATION EXERCISE

I recently worked on a project with a fella who is a bit of a fabrication and toolmaker guru.  I picked up a huge range of tips and experience along the way and it has helped to guide my skills growth immeasurably.  I have mostly been keen to improve my TIG welding and I have definitely come away with a whole new approach.  All welding and fabrication requires hours of practice and honing to realize the best results and so I am excited to pursue a bunch of things that will yield practical outcomes and improve my skills.  This exercise combined a number a of skills focus elements as well as little problem solving.

The goal was to produce a guide that assists in holding a tube so that the end can approach an upright linishing belt so that it can be held square to the belt with nominal deviation.  Now that I’m staring to get a handle on treating TIG with the precision it is designed for, rather then swinging it like an axe, it’s nice to attempt some finer fusion.  




Wingnut modification for bolt head for clamping bolts – easy to hold turn with gloves on.  These actually work upside down to the photograph, as in, they tighten underneath the bed of the linisher.



Oh, and I may have got a little excited…  and made a box…  everyone loves a tool that comes in a box, right?...