Intro to my side gig: Homegrown Metal Fab

Steem is my newest side hustle. This place is great. But I can't turn my back on my baby: my shop.

I posted a bit ago about setting up my shop. I've gotten a few more followers since then, and was reminded by @ogbrog that not everyone probably knows what I do. I've made progress on the shop but not enough to post about, so I'm going to write about what I do.

I'm a welder by trade. It's what I do for my full time job going on six years now. I also run a small weld shop in my spare time when there's work. It's my project, my hobby, and my funding for most of my other projects. I've been running the shop for about four years now, building up from a single welding machine to two machines and many other fabrication tools.

As I get the shop set up in it's new space, I'm reminded of everything I have put into this setup and why I love what I do. This is my engine for progress.

I first started my shop because I wanted to practice and develop my trade. I didn't intend for it to be a business or turn a profit. I wanted to learn to weld exotic metals like titanium. So I spent a lot of money on books and a membership to the American Welding Society, signed up for a few industry magazines, and set my sights on the expensive path of training myself on titanium welding. I'm glad I failed in that venture.

Realizing the thousands of dollars I would need to spend before striking an arc was daunting enough that I deemed titanium an unprofitable route.

My first welder was a 1982 Lincoln AC stick welder. It needed leads and a good cleaning and cost me $25. I got it running and sold it for $150 to buy a newer AC/DC model that I still have. It cost me $175 from a union shop across town. It was the deal of a lifetime really because I can turn around now and sell it cheap for $400.

I added an 80cf argon bottle ($250) and a Tig torch ($150) and I can do scratch start Tig welding. It's not a fancy rig, but I'm not a fancy worker. We do good work together.

I use it to weld steel and aluminum.

My other machine is a Lincoln 125 amp wire welder that is my money maker. I got it for $350 from home Depot because someone returned it. It's usually a $450 machine new. This machine has paid itself off many times.

After that, I wanted a brake. A brake is a machine for bending metal. So to the scrapyard I went to look for materials. That's my favorite place. How Melissa goes to Kohl's is how I go to the scrapyard. The day I was there they had thousands of pounds of actual press brake tooling. What. A. Score. They had a bunch of pieces of something that had been cut up into rectangles that were made out of channel steel. Perfect. So I made off with a haul off around 250# for $80 and made me a brake.

That's where I got my name, Homegrown Metal Fab. My homegrown equipment. The brake has been used once lol

My 3/4" chuck 1 HP standing drill press came from a friend. I traded an afternoon of concrete work for it. Well worth it, because so many projects are simplified by having a drill press. I love this thing. The cover for the gears got blown away off the trailer while we moved, but that doesn't change the function of it.

I inherited an air compressor and a really nice tool chest from my father in law when he passed a year ago. The compressor has a small leak, but it's ultimately insignificant as it takes a day and a half to leak out all 140 psi. Maybe one day I'll see what's up, but I think it will be fixed by changing a fitting.

Since starting off on my own, I've done tons of projects. From the anthills I described a while back to bumpers and steel targets. I've never had a customer complain about my work, which is a big deal for a welder.

I take a lot of pride in my work and in my shop, which will be another post when it gets set up. For a total cost of just over a thousand bucks, my equipment pays for itself regularly. Not too shabby for a hobby.

Lately, any money I've made has gone to crypto. Soon it'll have to go to more equipment and consumables, but until then, I intend to use my little free market business to increase my presence in the crypto space. I love having hobbies that play well together like that.

Anyways, thanks for reading the whole thing, it's a long post that's taken me a couple days off and on to type up. Hope it's a good intro into what's to come. Any other welders or tradesmen on this platform hit me up and we can start making us a little crypto craftsmen community.

Stay relevant y'all, enjoy your weekend.

Nate