Well I'm new to the forums and a newer welder as well. I'll give you a little history on myself. I took a couple welding classes 35+ years ago and at the time the instructor told me I had some natural abilities if I applied myself. Well I had heard that in just about every class I took back in HS and although I enjoyed these classes I didn't do anything afterwards. Just over a year ago I had purchased a tractor for my small place and needed some hooks welded onto the bucket and figured what the hell I'd see if I could find a used welder on Craigslist. I found a Hobart Handler 175 and picked it up for $400 buck. I messed around practicing on scraps I had around and I also picked up some drops from the local steel yard. I really enjoyed practicing and decided to do a project and built myself a welding table which turned out pretty nice.
Then a fella at work asked me if I thought I could build him some jerk blocks. I had no idea if I could or not but I agree to do it and I'll be damned if they didn't turn out pretty darn nice. Well then request started coming in from gyms around the area and I was building plate racks and barbell racks. About 6 months ago a friend sent me a picture of a dinning table and asked me if I thought I could build a base for a table. Well again wasn't sure I could but I agreed to it and darned if it too didn't turn out pretty damned nice. Well I've since build countless items for my buddy the furniture builder and billed out thousands of dollars. I've reinvested most all the money into shop equipment. Bought a new Millermatic 211 welder, upgraded my old Jet bandsaw with a new to me Carolina Industries commercial band saw, gave away the Chicago Electric 14" abrasive chop saw and bought a Evolution rage2 and on and on. Most recently I purchased a 36"x48" fabBlock table from CertiFlat and love it. My hopes are to acquire a CNC Plasma table in the next 12 months.
Needless to say I'm having one hell of a good time with my hobby that's going crazy. I'm working on what I call my 3 year plan. See in roughly 3 years I can start drawing from a retirement and with any luck I can build this hobby business up enough to help me just stay home and have fun.
I'm looking forward to sucking up as much info as I can from you the true pros!
