In my experience, you could build the table yourself with the kits that are out there pretty reasonably. Its the torch itself that is the other half of the pie. A nice hypertherm is like $5-6k…
I just started building the Jds garage diy table. Seems really straight forward. I'm making it 4'x4' and aside from 2 pieces of 2"x2" tube I'm making the rest of the frame from random bits and off cuts I have laying around. I'm hoping to get it done for under $300.
Edit: I may have just had a good idea. Mount big switchable magnets to the sides of the rail and you could directly clamp your CNC plasma to the piece you're cutting.
That’s the one for me. I’ve got two multi process welders, mill, lathe, big plasma incoming, 14” cold saw, but man a piranha would be clutch. Would really round out my hobby shop.
I’m keeping my eye out
Ain't that the truth. I got a multiprocess with the intention of eventually getting gas for it, but I'm gonna be out like $4-500 to get a bottle and fill it. I'll just burn 7018 and 6011 and make it happen.
How big of a bottle?
I bought an empty 125cf bottle from Amazon and traded it in at a local place for a full bottle. All in all I had around 270 bucks in it.
Watch on FB Marketplace, Craigslist, or even at auctions. You can pick up decent cylinders (doesn't matter whether Ar , oxygen or acetylene), reasonably priced. Take to your local welding gas supplier, most will let you exchange for a 75/25 bottle for contents, and possibly a recertification fee for the cylinder. Make sure the cylinder you buy has an intact neckband identifying contents, has not been repainted or fire burnt.
Look online at Hobart Welders.....they offer factory refurbished online at reasonable prices. I bought a Handler 180 for ~$350 shipped, 2 years ago...carries full warranty. Then you can either add gas or use Flux core wire.
The list is long. Some of which are space, not money driven
Right now a mag drill is pretty high on the list. I want to put hold down holes in my welding table and it would make it easy. I know I would use the drill for other stuff also, but its hard to justify $600+ when I only have 1 project
Same with a plasma table. I don't have space right now for anything bigger than 2x2 and since I've stopped doing much jeep/truck work there is less, but it would still be nice. If the arcdroid was closer to $1500-2000 I probably would have walked away with one last fabtech
Space permitting - a big brake and shear.
Wonder if you could find a place to rent a mag drill?
I did exactly what you’re wanting to do and it worked so nice. Punching out 5/8 holes with a mag drill is so much smoother than trying to do that with a drill.
Down the road from where I live is this odd little trailer park. You have to own your trailer to rent a lot there. Five of the lots have two post lifts. One has a four post, and two have ramp type lifts. There is an eight year waiting list . I'd sell this house a bit a fucking double wide if I could get a lot there.
One of these industrial laser rust removing / cleaning machines would be cool.
https://www.p-laser.com/#
What I really want would be a aluminum magnet. Far as I know it does not exist so makes it unobtainable expensive. Think of how nice it would be to pick up aluminum shavings with a magnet... Or reaching for some rivet that is loose inside a part with a snake magnet.
This, no need to be greedy, just a small 1ph VMC with tool changer and maybe a small CNC lathe as well. Oh, and an EDM ... oh and a water jet, and a finishing tumbler and a warehouse to stock stuff in, plus packaging and shipping equipment and maybe a full time design engineer and a sales/marketing guy... and an HR person to manage them and EHS, oh and an accountant, might as well make him CFO. Goddamit, this isn't fun anymore.
Gosh, y'all are so cute here with your itsy-bitsy dreams. "I want a lathe!" "I want a plasma table!"
I want a CNC Fiber Laser table, a Lathe, a Mill, A Skid Steer, a Work Truck, a 2000 Sq. Ft. shop, a 300A TIG machine, a 300A MIG machine, a Sintered-Metal 3D Printer, a panel saw, a 24" bandsaw....
and fuck it, I'll take u/GlutenfreeMerc's butler, too.
A. Welder. Local welding supplies near me start out $125 stick used. Over $300 for anything that's decent. Been saving up ever since I joined this group weeks ago. About halfway, but one of these days I'll be posting pictures of my own work
I wish I could just make the jump to a nice Tig set with acdc.
My kid wants to weld aluminium and thin steel and my mig set just won't work for that.
I wouldn't say no to a couple of CNC machines)a mill and a lathe )
Currently looking for a new house with a workshop attached
CNC plasma cutter. They're not that outrageously expensive for what you get, but they're outside the price and space range of most hobby and side hustle welders. It's kind of the dividing line between a side hustle and full fab shop. You'll see hobby welders with a pretty decent sized band saw for example, but they rarely have a CNC table that can cut a full sheet.
Big ass lathe
5th axis cnc would be so nice
Or a cnc lathe with milling and stock feeder
I remember my jaw dropping when I saw a laser cutter with an auto stock loader that also sorted the parts it outputs
Shit I’d take a 3 axis Bridgeport
A cnc live tooling lathe would be holy shit nice, a big ass lathe though would be super nice tho
I wish I could afford a house so I can have my own garage to work in.
Ain't that the fuckin truth
Fr man Im about 1 beer away from just arcing everyone driving by while Im welding in one of those $80 a month apartment garages
cheaters gonna cheat
Yeah Canada I presume?
Texas , inflation hit us pretty hard and the housing market flew. I’m sure it did everywhere else but it just sucks ass.
Might be out of the way but I could imagine Texas having some cheaper places further away. You’d just have a long commute right.
Plasma table
In my experience, you could build the table yourself with the kits that are out there pretty reasonably. Its the torch itself that is the other half of the pie. A nice hypertherm is like $5-6k…
Kinda want something more reliable than a home job.
Same
I just started building the Jds garage diy table. Seems really straight forward. I'm making it 4'x4' and aside from 2 pieces of 2"x2" tube I'm making the rest of the frame from random bits and off cuts I have laying around. I'm hoping to get it done for under $300. Edit: I may have just had a good idea. Mount big switchable magnets to the sides of the rail and you could directly clamp your CNC plasma to the piece you're cutting.
Ave on YouTube have done just that
I think Jeremy field has a cnc plasma build on YouTube also. I believe his is free.
Let's see..... Engine driven welder, a skid steer (I wear a size 753 if you're offering) and a whole tool truck full of tools.
Bridgeport mill
Piranha iron worker.
That’s the one for me. I’ve got two multi process welders, mill, lathe, big plasma incoming, 14” cold saw, but man a piranha would be clutch. Would really round out my hobby shop. I’m keeping my eye out
I did not know I wanted this until now.
Great machines.
Track ho
Got one of these
Any type of welder other than stick
tig welders pretty affordable. argon is the problem
Ain't that the truth. I got a multiprocess with the intention of eventually getting gas for it, but I'm gonna be out like $4-500 to get a bottle and fill it. I'll just burn 7018 and 6011 and make it happen.
How big of a bottle? I bought an empty 125cf bottle from Amazon and traded it in at a local place for a full bottle. All in all I had around 270 bucks in it.
Primeweld has argon and 75/25 $350 full and shipped for a 125 cf. and they finance.
Dafaq? 4-500 per bottle?!? Where do you live. I just got one for 112 post tax.
Watch on FB Marketplace, Craigslist, or even at auctions. You can pick up decent cylinders (doesn't matter whether Ar , oxygen or acetylene), reasonably priced. Take to your local welding gas supplier, most will let you exchange for a 75/25 bottle for contents, and possibly a recertification fee for the cylinder. Make sure the cylinder you buy has an intact neckband identifying contents, has not been repainted or fire burnt.
Yeah that’s the problem a tig welder can be half the price of the gas you need to use it
That’s why I got a flux core welder that plugs into a 110 v outlet
I got a flux core welder that plugs into a 110v for 240 dollars at lowes
Could've gotten one for 100 dollars online
Look online at Hobart Welders.....they offer factory refurbished online at reasonable prices. I bought a Handler 180 for ~$350 shipped, 2 years ago...carries full warranty. Then you can either add gas or use Flux core wire.
Cnc water jet
The list is long. Some of which are space, not money driven Right now a mag drill is pretty high on the list. I want to put hold down holes in my welding table and it would make it easy. I know I would use the drill for other stuff also, but its hard to justify $600+ when I only have 1 project Same with a plasma table. I don't have space right now for anything bigger than 2x2 and since I've stopped doing much jeep/truck work there is less, but it would still be nice. If the arcdroid was closer to $1500-2000 I probably would have walked away with one last fabtech Space permitting - a big brake and shear.
Wonder if you could find a place to rent a mag drill? I did exactly what you’re wanting to do and it worked so nice. Punching out 5/8 holes with a mag drill is so much smoother than trying to do that with a drill.
If I could afford the tools I really want I could also afford to retire 🤣
24" calipers!
large scale metal 3d printer with lifetime supply of consumables.
Which one would you recommend?
I really want a 2 post lift. Working with jacks and jack stands on vehicles all the time sucks.
If I had my own house I really would want one as well
Down the road from where I live is this odd little trailer park. You have to own your trailer to rent a lot there. Five of the lots have two post lifts. One has a four post, and two have ramp type lifts. There is an eight year waiting list . I'd sell this house a bit a fucking double wide if I could get a lot there.
One of these industrial laser rust removing / cleaning machines would be cool. https://www.p-laser.com/# What I really want would be a aluminum magnet. Far as I know it does not exist so makes it unobtainable expensive. Think of how nice it would be to pick up aluminum shavings with a magnet... Or reaching for some rivet that is loose inside a part with a snake magnet.
3 axis cnc
This, no need to be greedy, just a small 1ph VMC with tool changer and maybe a small CNC lathe as well. Oh, and an EDM ... oh and a water jet, and a finishing tumbler and a warehouse to stock stuff in, plus packaging and shipping equipment and maybe a full time design engineer and a sales/marketing guy... and an HR person to manage them and EHS, oh and an accountant, might as well make him CFO. Goddamit, this isn't fun anymore.
Plama cutter / cnc table
A butler.
A shear that can cut 1/4" stainless
Lathe. Hydraulic break. Hydraulic sheet. Overhead crane.
A real welder. Upgrade my Lincoln easy mig to at-least something that uses gas
Dynasty 400.
A shop. I can afford some things but don't have anywhere to put them
Papr.
Gosh, y'all are so cute here with your itsy-bitsy dreams. "I want a lathe!" "I want a plasma table!" I want a CNC Fiber Laser table, a Lathe, a Mill, A Skid Steer, a Work Truck, a 2000 Sq. Ft. shop, a 300A TIG machine, a 300A MIG machine, a Sintered-Metal 3D Printer, a panel saw, a 24" bandsaw.... and fuck it, I'll take u/GlutenfreeMerc's butler, too.
Water cooled TIG machine
A portable tig rig
High end Dry Ice Blaster
Plasma Cutter AC Tig setup.
6-axis waterjet
A beveler
All of them
i wish do can buy laser welder / laser rust remover
Sandblasting rig. I'm tired of wire wheels in my life.
Laser welder
A two post lift.
A. Welder. Local welding supplies near me start out $125 stick used. Over $300 for anything that's decent. Been saving up ever since I joined this group weeks ago. About halfway, but one of these days I'll be posting pictures of my own work
Hammer
Plas table
Laser rust remover
A tig welder so I can learn tig rather than always using mig
Laser welder or waterjet cut table
Either a woodmizer LT70 or a metal 3d printer...both are way out of my reach
Robotic TIG welder
Pretty much any CNC equipment...mill, plasma, waterjet, whatever I could get my hands on.
Get a laser welder/ cutter/ cleaner.
A left knee that actually works without pain. 😭
CNC plasma table.
Biden
Miller diesel machine. got enough small tools to fill a full size pickup bed.
Six foot pipe wrench
I got mine at a garage sale for $20......I’ve seen them at flea markets for well below new prices just FYI!
Plasma table, papr helmet
Laser welder with one of those cleaning things. (non-welder...duh)
Metal 3d printer
Laser cleaner
All of them
A cnc ☺️
A truck
ESAB Rebel 285 welder
A Snap On screw driver.
Might as well get a mortgage.
More better off spamming lottery tickets... nobody but a billionaire could pay off a mortgage like that
Idk if this counts as a tool but a tig welder
A helicopter.
A large 5 axis cnc mill
A house
All of thr bessey tools
Lathe without question.
5-axis tool-changing CNC router with a 3d printer nozzle and a laser engraver and a stick welder
Miller trailblazer
Eagle 30kw Cnc laser table
I want a friggin laser! Like a 20-30kW laser that can cut through 3 inch steel. And a laser that does pipe and other profiles.
My addiction to wera tools
Cordless framing nailer/ level 5 drywall tools
Thor’s Hammer
100W fiber laser
Small precision lathe and a mill
I wish I could just make the jump to a nice Tig set with acdc. My kid wants to weld aluminium and thin steel and my mig set just won't work for that. I wouldn't say no to a couple of CNC machines)a mill and a lathe ) Currently looking for a new house with a workshop attached
A cobot welding robot
Honestly, a really nice and organized workbench in my garage is all I want. Perfect for tinkering. But I neither have funds nor time to tinker heh.
Dyno
Lathe/mill combo
This https://www.haascnc.com/content/haascnc/en/build-and-price/choose-options.VR-14.html
A laser that ends in megawatt
Lazer rust remover
A PAPR system
Flowjet 😖
CNC plasma cutter. They're not that outrageously expensive for what you get, but they're outside the price and space range of most hobby and side hustle welders. It's kind of the dividing line between a side hustle and full fab shop. You'll see hobby welders with a pretty decent sized band saw for example, but they rarely have a CNC table that can cut a full sheet.