Starting a Business

[HWooldridge]

I know this is a loaded subject and the questions have probably been asked before but I'm new to this forum so please humor me. I taught myself to weld about 25 years ago while working my way through college and purchased an oxy-acet rig and a Lincoln AC buzzboz at the same time. A few years later, I was installing low pressure steam pipe (15psi max) for a living with stick process, E6011 for the root and E7018 for the cover pass on DC with a grind in between. While at this job, I also bought a Miller 150 MIG and learned to use that. All of this dove-tailed pretty nicely with my other hobbies of blacksmithing, gunsmithing and auto restoration plus I thought it was fun. I then got laid off during a local economic downturn and subsequently went into a completely different line of work (plastic injection molding). I worked my way up the ladder and after many years, finally wound up owning a molding company with 200 employees. Unfortunately, with the current economy and trend to foreign sourcing, our company recently was forced into liquidation so I am 45 and unemployed. I have a little bit put away but not enough to retire.

Here are the questions. I always had difficulty finding people to weld on tool steel such as H13 and S7 and the two guys who do that kind of work in this area are always very busy (Austin/San Antonio in Central Texas). I already have a well equipped shop at home and am considering starting a performance welding shop that would serve molders, stampers, etc. and focus on repair of production tools. There is also an ultralight plane field about two miles from my house and they are always looking for welding. In the past, I turned them down because I did not have a TIG.

Therefore, I am willing to invest some amount of money in a high quality TIG unit and am curious what the forum readers would recommend as a good model. I have owned Lincoln and Miller and both seem equal. I am also interested in any opinions on starting a business that focuses on this type of work. At this time, I do not plan to take on anything more than what I can handle as a one man shop. Thanks for taking the time to reply...Hollis

[Planet X]

I chose a Lincoln Precision tig 275 and I am into it around $4000 bones.
More expenses to come include; industrial power plug/shop wiring upgrades, torch consumables,larger argon bottle, and other minor stuff.
PT 275 reasoning;
1)more current for less $$ than miller machine.
2)simpler than equivalent inverter based machines.
3)perceived durability.

The 250 amp class tig machine was the best choice for myself based on the fact that it has enough power and features to handle anything I can conceive of welding on. There are certainly other machines Inverters in particular that have more features/bells/whistles, but this one has enough of them, that going back to welding school would not be a bad idea.

Inverter based machines have more capability to manipulate the Hz frequency than this one. But my target welding goal is to make welds equal or better in appearance than ones on my custom Ron Davis aluminum radiator. They use similar types of machines and that level of welding skill is more than enough to demand premium tig welding rates from the marketplace.

[Planet X]

Mig welders have TWO prime controls: Wirespeed and Voltage.
Tig welders have ONE prime control:current(amperage)

Everything else fluff:eek: Finding out what 'fluff' is useful and what is useless will be difficult. Even when asking for opinions on welders, very few owners are able to give an objective viewpoint on something they have just invested considerable $$ to acquire.

With that said I did spend extra $$ to get the 'advance process panel' option- pulsing is supposed to be useful for tig welding, and I too am a sucker for 'song&dance' :D

[Franz]

If memory serves me, Jerry Streets does a lot of tool welding, and I'd listen to his advice on the subject.
The things that are going to govern what TIG you can use will be power availability and $$$ availability.

[axehind]

Originally posted by HWooldridge

There is also an ultralight plane field about two miles from my house and they are always looking for welding. In the past, I turned them down because I did not have a TIG.


hhmmm kinda sounds like you better know what your doing if your going to be welding on any type of flying device. I think you would feel pretty bad if your weld broke and someone died from it. Just something to think about anyways.....

Sorry to hear about your company. I myself am losing my house.

axehind.