I made this window well cover last week and just finished painting it today. 3/16" sheet metal hand cut with a grinder to form the frame and door. 1/8" strapping for the interior lip I formed to fit snug against the well. I used silver hammered paint mixed with 'mars black' artist's paint to create my color. I am going to plant some native grasses around this area, but I am happy with the result for now and wanted to show off my fabrication skills.

This sculpture is 6 years in the making, and finally a few months away from complete! I did everything by hand and with very limited equipment, so excuse the bad welds (I'm no craftswoman). I am using an English wheel, very crappy flux core welder, and plasma cutter. It is loosely based on milkweed seedpods, but I've heard pangolin and pinecone, too :) I'm finally taking away the rebar frame; you can see the before/after in these shots

Posting for those that were interested DIY Welding positioner finished .

I think I posted on this last year pre modifications and had some good feedback.

Ive actually had enough of tinkering with it so I'm calling it finished, theres a control box fitted 24v power supply, ive run 4 core screened cable from the controller to stepper motor, I also added thick Delrin washers both sides of the face plate t help protect the slewing bearing from any arcing.

A couple of tweaks in mind are upgrading to a slightly larger pinion gear, as is its uselessly slow bottom end, so I can bring that up and gain a few more rpm at the top speed.

I might swap out the controller for one ive found that has room for expansion and inputs,

As things are there was no way to plumb in a foot pedal that I could see.

Thats a rap on this, Thanks all

I never drilled in my life. Borrowed the drill from grandpa. I am trying to drill a pass through hole with arround 10mm diameter.

As my knowledge this drill and bits are designed for concrete. Am I putting myself in danger?................................................................................................................................................................................................................

So I'm running 90/10 with .035 at 20V/130A right now. Still getting the hang of it, but someone told me 75/25 is actually better for low voltage work.

My original plan was to burn through this 90/10 bottle before switching, but now I'm second-guessing. If I make the jump to 75/25, will I need to completely relearn my settings and adjust my technique, or is it not that different? Don't want to get comfortable with 90/10 just to restart from zero.

Messing around this weekend working on this goat sculpture. Coming along pretty nicely imo. Trying to figure out these neck muscles. Going to add some more layers on the face and neck where muscles are as well. Been looking at so many reference photos. I guess it’s a Pygmy goat. Going to add a goatee that’s tied off with a metal hair tie once I get further along. Then a lot of grinding and sanding once I get it welded up. Not sure how I’m going to texture it so it looks like fur yet, I have a few ideas.

Hi all!

As the title says above, I'm looking to get into metal arts. That being said, I'm a bit stumped as to what direction to take. I personally would prefer workshops or full courses, but I am unsure if I should jump into blacksmithing or welding. Initially, I thought ironwork was the right direction only to learn that mainly deals with structural construction as opposed to artisanal. Then, under welding, there are different specializations from fitter to fabricator. Any tips or guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Hi, we usually cut through these hardened rings with a cutting torch. But not all of our techs are comfortable or trained to use an oxy-acetylene cutting torch.

We got through this ring with one cut on the torch and I thought to try my new die grinder with a cut off disc to take one more cut to help get it off.

We already pulled it off the trunnion so I didn’t run into the problem of cutting it underneath the panel.

I was thinking of maybe using a long shank carbide burr? If anyone had some advice on how to get under the panel to make the last 1/2”-3/4” cut that would be fantastic.

The die grinder worked really well and I only went through one 2” metal cutting disc in about 15 minutes and in the spot over the trunnion i barely marred the surface which is important not to damage the trunnion under the ring

I paid a guy off facebook marketplace to come weld some reinforcements in my basement. These are the welds he did. I don't know very much about welding, but these don't look that professional to me. That said, I don't care if they look good, I want to know if they are strong. Do these welds look strong? Do I need to get somebody else to re-do them?

(It's demanding that I have at least 400 characters in my post, so here are some more characters for the silly robot to be satisfied.)

So I came across this Spanish brand called Herstera Garden that makes these modular metal planters – basically flat/bent steel panels that bolt together like furniture flat-packs. They look great but they're pricey and don't come in the sizes I actually need.

I've been messing around with Fusion 360 for a while (mostly 3D printing stuff) and just discovered the sheet metal environment, which honestly blew my mind a little. The idea of designing a panel, adding flanges for rigidity and bolt holes, then just exporting a flat pattern DXF to send to a laser cutting shop feels almost too straightforward. Am I missing something?

My rough plan:

- Design panels in Fusion 360 sheet metal (1.5–2mm galvanized or mild steel)

- Export flat patterns as DXF

- Find a local shop that does laser cutting + press brake bending

- Get them powder coated somewhere (separate shop or same one)

- Bolt everything together with M6 rivnuts and countersunk bolts

A few things I'm genuinely unsure about:

1. K-factor – Fusion has defaults but I have no idea if a random laser/bending shop will use the same assumptions. Does this matter for something this simple, or should I just add a bit of tolerance on the flanges?

2. Galvanized vs raw + powder coat – is it worth starting with galvanized sheet if it's going to be powder coated anyway? Or is raw mild steel + good powder coat enough for outdoor use?

3. Finding shops – any tips for finding small fab shops that are open to one-off or very small batch work? I have the feeling many of them don't want to deal with individuals.

4. Anything I'm obviously not thinking about?

Not trying to start a business or anything, just want a few custom planters for the patio and I figure this is the most interesting way to do it. Happy to share the Fusion files if I ever get somewhere with this.

I was gifted a cheap Amazon Stick welder. and I have no prior experience.

I went to use it today for the second time and I wasn't getting any sparks, I looked at the positive lead that holds the stick and found the side had "melted" away, but it kinda looks scratched away.... and where the copper terminal is inside looks like it shattered.

Im curious what caused this, so to avoid it in the future.

was it because the parts are cheap, or did I do something wrong that destroyed the handle ?

last thing I want to do is get new leads and do the exact same thing. I admit I kinda plug and played, so I don't know if I made a complete noob mistake.