want to get into the fabrication world.

[jcrazyjj]

alright. ive had my hand in production welding for a few months and i hate it. i dont like the boom boom boom pace or having to push out hundreds of pieces a day. its not for me. i want to get into fabrication.

however i dont know what quite to look for in finding a fabrication job. i can mig, novice tig, O/A weld, and some stick.

id be happy with a lower level job just so i can learn form the ppl in the business and fine tune my skills.

ideas?

[NOMADMAD]

youve gotta start somewhere. take the good from the job you have right now and and make it work for you till you find something else. think of it as practice. its all in how you look at it. just try to do the best you can and eventually someone will notice and offer a footstep in the door at something better.

[lotechman]

Keep that job you have for now. I would look for a production welding job in a structural shop where you can see fabrication being done near you. Another choice would be to get into a maintenance operation that repairs heavy equipment. Again you will see stuff being fabricated and occasionally will be involved especially if the shop is small. Don't think fabrication is not push. You get a print and have to read it and understand it on the go as you break out material and start tacking together. Hurry up! The customer is expecting that unit and we still have to get it welded, cleaned, painted and on the truck. Welders who can fab are highly prized.

[eyspy]

Why not fabricate trailers or what ever else your community needs.

I have only just been bitten by the welding bug and I love it. I suffer from a debilitating injury which means I have to work at my pace and not at a paying employers pace, hence me learning to weld properly.

Once I have sufficient skills to get certified I intend to work from home and make trailers and other things that crop up, whilst advertising in my local area for welding jobs.
I'm in no hurry and hopefully in a year or so I will become busy enough to keep me at home and happy.

The thing is to find something that no body else is doing, or if they are, you can do it better and cheaper.

[Ken Dennis]

eyspy and jcrazyjj!

Watch out for the advertising!
I am a member of a John Deere garden tractor club, have my own older garden tractor machines to work on, I started making some of the hard to get stuff for myself like old 110 hitches and lift arms, brackets, making my own implements and so on, and a few odd items for others, some years ago, so now I have a pretty good list of things that I can build/fab from hand drawings, blue prints and cad drawings that I have collected.
last October I quit my last driving job cause the boss and I had a difference of opinion, I thought I should get paid and he thought I could work for free!
I decided then to work for myself, been welding and fabricating for most of my life, so why not!
I advertised my first post on craigslist and a few tractor club web sites, got a few bites, this went on for a few months, and then all of a sudden, I am getting calls from all over the place wanting me to do things, make/fab things that I have never even heard of, let alone know how to even get started on.
I also for example 2 nights ago got a call from a gent that wanted me to make him a sleeve hitch for a JD GT245, JD had never made one for this model, but he also wants me to add some steel to a trailer frame, no problem there, what got me was when I asked him where he had found my add at, he simply said the his local John Deere dealer had give him my name and number and the dealer said he saw it on craigslist, my point to this is, once you advertise that you can do fab work, you will get all sorts of requests, be ready for them, and also be ready to take on a growing amount of work cause advertising isn't the only method that will get you customers, word of mouth, and an endorsement from a few other businesses doesn't hurt either!
Now my biggest problem isn't finding enough work, its trying to decide what work I feel comfortable with.
At first, all I wanted to do was to make a few pieces parts for tractors and sell them to collectors and those that had the older tractors and couldn't find those parts anywhere else, just do enough to keep myself busy and out of trouble, and make enough money to keep bread on the table, but its looking like this thing is going to turn into a full time, might need to hire some help kind of business, right now I am turning work away cause its either out of my comfort zone or I just plain ain't got the time!

Oh, BTW, I am doing this out of my 18'x22' tiny little shop.

Sorry for the long post!
I had a few minutes to sit down, but now I have to get back out there, doing another 3 point hitch build for a John Deere 318 garden tractor starting this morning, and I need to get it done, painted and boxed to ship on Monday!
Oh, be ready to work 7 day's a week too!

Good luck!
Ken.

[eyspy]

Thanks for the good advice Ken.

I am lucky in that I live in a rural community in an old farm house on a busy road. First up I am going to make a sign to hang out the front of my property, then take things from there.
I guess if I get too busy I can just be honest with the customer and say 'No'

But I do hear what you are saying, it seems that all around the world welders are in demand, which is a good and bad thing in itself.

[El_Lloydeo]

get your welding symbols down. very important. send me a private message with your email and ill send u the aws symbols book on a pdf. anyone else who wants it can do the same!

[NOMADMAD]

Originally Posted by El_Lloydeo

get your welding symbols down. very important. send me a private message with your email and ill send u the aws symbols book on a pdf. anyone else who wants it can do the same!

ill take you up on that offer. good to have things like that on my computer to ref back to . when you dont use it you loose it. im in the process of teaching some of the youngbucks that work for me there life skills so that will come in hand. ill pm you with my email
dave

[z0diac]

Originally Posted by jcrazyjj

alright. ive had my hand in production welding for a few months and i hate it. i dont like the boom boom boom pace or having to push out hundreds of pieces a day. its not for me. i want to get into fabrication.

however i dont know what quite to look for in finding a fabrication job. i can mig, novice tig, O/A weld, and some stick.

id be happy with a lower level job just so i can learn form the ppl in the business and fine tune my skills.

ideas?

Yah I do production. It sucks. Same thing over and over, sometimes with a foreman or lead-hand breathing down your neck checking how many you've done every hour. Sometimes it's alright if you have a radio nearby and can put your mind somewhere else while you work. 'Strain on the joints though.

Fabrication skills are completely shop-dependant. Basically for fab you'll be expected to know a lot more than just welding. Reading prints, cutting, measuring, and any other engineering skills will defintely come in handy.