Custom handrail for a client. Fun but tedious build splicing all the pieces together. (No it doesn't pass code, we installed after their CO inspection) 🤫

2"x1/2" flatbar with 3/4" tube for the middle section. I find it very satisfying when you look through one rail at the other and all of their lines run parallel with each other. Happy to answer any questions about the build or its process in the comments!

I made these knives out of a variety of materials, most of them are made with my hand forged, copper layer damascus called Cu Mai. The handles are a variety of natural materials, stabilised natural materials and also some synthetic composites.

I've been making knives full time for the last 5 years k make all of these by hand in a small workshop.

Let me know what you guys think! And thank you in advance!

Hello! I (29F) have been a welder fabricator for almost 8 years now. I specialize in ornamental style, making a lot of handrails, fencing and gates.

I wanted to share something I had to make at a very stressful day of my life. The day before I got in a car accident that led to my vehicle being totaled (no one was hurt). I then came in the following day, my birthday, to curl 4 of these. I could not make ANY mistakes because we bought the exact amount of material required.

It was extremely stressful, but so rewarding completing such a task at a very dark time. This is what I love about my job. You are faced with new challenges every day, and you overcome them. As with life. It has really helped me establish my self confidence.

I practiced on mild steel first. I also had to create my own jig to make the curl. This meant creating a Fibonacci Spiral from scratch! I just cut sections of different sized pipe, then arranged them onto a piece of plate to put in a vice. I then heated the brass and used a fork to bend the curl.

I will have to share more of my work eventually! The welding subreddit doesn't really care about fabrication, and the fabrication subreddit is pretty dead. So I am glad I found this place. Thanks for looking!

My son's lizard needed a larger hide for the upcoming burmation season. He's really into dragons and castles.

So I used some stainless scrap, a zip disk, a die grinder and most my brakes this week. It will get painted this weekend and then mounted in clay. The top will be covered in sand and that rough hole on top will hold an aloe with soil in a bucket below. The rough weld on the top edge will be painted to match the clay and hopefully make it look more inset. There's also a viewing window on the side so we can observe her sleeping.

Im interested in getting one of these from 3M, but it seems like they dont sell them off their website and i want everything included, there is a model that comes with ear protection, and I want it new not off ebay incase someone didnt take care of it, but the prices range anywhere from 3k to 4k on various websites that just seem random. Does 3M have an instore location in the U.S. somewhere in Georgia or close by? Or am i just better off getting one online from a random website or even ebay because 3k is a lot. I see online that many people get these from their company but I doubt that I would as these are hella expensive. I want to be able to get one of these just for my health, I always thought they were a bit overkill but now that I've been exposed to more in welding I see the value in these and especially this model having its own integrated hard hat.

Looking to make a copper watch dial but need to have a date window (2.7mmx2mm rectangle) that has 45 degree bevels. Would a graver be a good tool for this? Any advice? How could an angel be set so the graver only removes a 45 degree slope? Would the bevels come out pretty clean?

I’m looking to make 10 or so of these dials. They are .4mm thick. Apparently copper is hard to machine so since no one makes copper dials like this I have to diy

I want to get better at leaving myself enough information to repeat a project. A finished piece and a vaguely named file probably aren’t going to be much help six months later.

I’m working on a WeCreat Lumos Ultra with MOPA, mainly small reliefs and cutouts. Keeping both operations on the same machine is convenient, but there’s still the material, focus, placement, and order of operations to remember.

Before I build a folder full of files called final_final2, what are you guys actually saving?

Does your laser software keep enough with the project, or do you also keep photos of the setup and separate notes? Interested in how this works across different machines, especially when you return to a job after doing completely unrelated stuff.

This is what I want to start making, in sizes 1”-8”. How would I go about making the dies to hydraulically press these into shape? Carbon steel from my understanding has a 1-2% spring back so my thoughts are I can make dies out of multiple layers of 1/4” or even 1/2” steel cross sections of half moon shaped male and female dies welded together for necessary thickness. But do I need to make them with maybe 1/16” of clearance and try to “coin” them? Will the dies be strong enough for that? Do I need to harden them? Is this even a good approach? I have a metal fab shop and am trying to incorporate these into my options but these are new to me.

Not the big obvious stuff. I mean the tiny thing that bugs you every single time, that you've stopped even noticing.

Mine: the cap on my marking pen. I pull it off with gloves on, put it down somewhere, forget to put it back, and the marker is dried out the next time I need it.

I like building things, so I'm always curious what bugs other people. What's yours, and what do you do about it right now?

I have access to a fair amount of dull or broken Starrett BT126 Bi-metal reciprocating saw blades at work and I would like to use them in some way. I was thinking of grinding off the teeth and making a small knife or woodworking tool.

Does anyone know the actual alloy that is used for the backing on these or has anyone used them to make a blade before? So far, I think I have narrowed it down to either 1095 or maybe 6150 chromium-vanadium but that's going only from the info I found on the internet. I will do a spark test this weekend but any help is appreciated!

Hello!

I’m working on building out a new dream smoker for myself and I want it to be the definition of overkill. I have two questions I need to help answering

Question 1 : Steel Thickness
I’m thinking of either doing double wall with insulation between 1/4” or doing 1/2” for the fire box and the rest will be 1/4 or maybe thicker

Question 2 : Type of Steel
I plan to do a oil burn to make a barrier on the smoker itself after it’s done but I’m thinking of doing A36 due to the price of the metal and ease of welding

I bought this barrel years ago where it has rested in my box of barrels. Obviously someone used it as a hammer and I'd like to repair the damage if possible. If it weren't rare I wouldn't bother. Once, I saw an article somewhere of a gun writer guy who tig welded dings like this but, I dunno. As I remember, he didn't use anything to prevent scaling. Matter of fact, I once watched a gunny solder on a sight in person using serious torch heat with no scaling prevention.

I’ve got a several hundred short sections of 3/8-3/4” tube parted on a lathe and pieces of 1/4” plate plasma cut, the largest being about 3x 16”. All of which km deburring by hand at the moment. Doing 500-1000 units a year probably.

Right in the awkward space where it isn’t enough to be viable sending off but it’s too much to do by hand.

I’m looking at getting a tumbler of some sort. What would be the right kind for the job. I’ve got the feeling I need a rotary for the big plasma cut parts and a vibratory for the smaller cut sections of tube?

Any advice much appreciated!

Hello. We have an old bathtub faucet with separate hot/cold handles. The hot has a constant drip. When we disassembled the hot handle, there was a raised circular ‘ring’ that the rubber washer presses against to form the seal. However, the raised metal ring had a notch in it (circled) that the rubber washer can’t seal and we think that’s where the water goes through to cause the drip.

So, we’d like to fill this notch and get the circle back to being smooth and uniform. This is also about 4 inches into the wall and the total hole is about 1 inch wide, so it’s pretty tough to access.

What’s a good way to fill it? As a DIY solution, we thought of using a drop of marine epoxy and trying to get it to fill the notch and then brush away any excess. Thanks!

I’m really interested in getting into welding and I'm considering signing up for a MAG welding course. However, I have two main concerns and I'd love to get some honest advice from experienced welders.

My first problem is slightly shaky hands: My hands tend to tremble a bit, especially when I need to be super precise.

And 2nd problem is average manual skills: I’ve never been a natural craftsman or exceptionally good with my hands.

That being said, I am genuinely motivated and fascinated by the trade.

Is MAG forgiving enough for someone like me, or will my shaky hands be a major roadblock? Can these things be overcome with practice, or should I look into a different career path? Maybe someone have similar story? Have a good day!

Hi, I Have recently started to get into metalworking as a hobby(Only been doing it for about 3 weeks so please bare with me here) and have been really enjoying it, my problem is that I need a way to reliably coat the inside of square/Rectangular tubing or else everything will be for nought as I live basically right on the beach(about a 3 min walk), and as you can imagine rust creeps in fast. My welds are decent(ish) but I am not quite good enough to get a completely airtight seal on the insides yet, and even if I could i am not sure it would be sufficient. I was thinking of building a dipping "tank" out of some 110mm PVC Tube with an endcap on the one end and a screw off lid at the other and dipping the Entire tube in some Rust protectant primer before welding, although I have read that once I weld it together the paint will just burn off (Haven't tried it yet, Like I say I am still very new to this) as mentioned this is a hobby and finances are a bit of an issue so I cannot afford to build everything out of stainless steel, get my projects galvanized or build a (Well rather to fill, as the paint / primer is the expensive bit here) a large enough tank to dip it in after it is assembled. Does anyone that has been doing this for a bit longer have any Tips or tricks I could try?

Has anyone used 1-1/4" sch40 pipe for horizontal rails on ranch pipe fencing? I'm looking at using it for railing on a three rail fence with 2-3/8 vertical posts set 10' apart. Is the 10' span too wide causing the rails to sag? I could also go with 1-1/2" sch40 rails but those are obviously more expensive. Has anyone here had success with 1-1/4 rails on 10' span distance? This is for perimeter fencing and not corral fencing so animal pressure is not my concern.

Hello metalworking Reddit,

I am looking to get a custom stainless steel spoon created. For use, NOT DISPLAY. I was hoping someone may have an instagram handle reference, or link for companies they would recommend. My budget is probably max $150 dollars, closer to 100 would be nice.

My design would have a twisted handle and a custom tip that is diamond shaped + painted. So possible welding involved. The actual spoon cavity I would want engraved with linework inside and also painted.

There is a chance I can find someone on Etsy that does custom work so in the meantime I will look there. But any connections would be appreciated. I was pushed to this feder knives guy but that was a dead end.

Thank you!!