I made this floor lamp using a combination of welded steel and 3D-printed ABS. I wanted it to be wireless, so I used a powerful rechargeable light bulb originally designed for camping, which can be controlled with a remote. The entire piece is finished with automotive paint, just like the other projects I share on this page. The skulls and the bowl at the top are 3D-printed in ABS, while the rest of the structure is made from welded steel sheets and steel tubing. The project combines metal fabrication and 3D printing to create a sculptural lighting object.
The 2 last pictures is before the paint job.

I have tried to straighten this weld deformation out with a propane/oxy torch but whatever i try will just bend back as soon as it cools. What im trying to do is join a ready made sink (1.5mm) with a countertop (4mm). Now, usually i laserweld this causing minimal warping but since a while inspection told us we cant use our laserwelder anymore. So now today i had to make another sink and this time i tig welded it causing this pretty bad warping. Does anyone have any idea how i could maybe bend this back with this torch i have? Heating just 2 corners already flattens most of the countertop accept the most bent piece: the front. But after heating the warping returns post cooling so im kind of at a loss here

Hello guys! I’m a furniture maker and I’ve been building pieces with aluminum panels for the most part but I decided to pivot to mild steel for the looks and the weight.

But my issue is its a lot easier to sand compared to aluminum but how do I go about making it rust proof? I’ve been using crystal clear enamel over prepped steel but this week I noticed some of my pieces are rusted!

Any help is appreciated, I don’t have any sprayers or a compressor I have to stick with aerosol or brush on type stuff. And curing time is important too what do you guys use?

doing a wip and pause second day in my class,
I can take any kind of advice or commentary!

also, I really just wanted to post on the welding page of Reddit, but I need to write something big here, question that was gonna be to the welders is if there is anything that you say in your own brain to maintain the proper timing for whip and pause welds, like as an example i say BingBing and bong, back in my brain to get the exact same timing lol

Hello ya’ll, please let me know if this isn’t the place to ask, but I’ve been attempting to DIY this 6 piece industrial locker set. It sat outside in Southern California for idk how long in the outside portion of an antique mall, and I want to bring it back to life.

The grey paint on the outside comes off in a grey dust/residue that leaves my hands grey if I run them across the surface. The plant on the inside of the locker does not have this problem, it’s still glossy and doesn’t not come off with any kind of residue.

Additionally, the feet are made of pretty thin metal that is bent and rusting, I will supply pics in the comments.

I attempted to sand off the paint with a 6 inch orbital sander with 80 grit, and got the above results. Currently ran out of sandpaper, but I have a large can of acetone. At this point, I’m sort of looking for general advice. I know I want to get a foam interface pad for my sander because the locker isn’t fully flush, and some more 80 grit, and then keep at it.

As far as the acetone, has anyone ever used sanding and acetone in order to paint strip metal? For something of this size, should I just lay out paper towels on the metal and soak them in acetone, or just wet it in patches and try to scrub it off by hand?

Lastly, if anyone has any advice on how to reinforce the thin, bending legs of the locker, that would be appreciated. I will send pics of the legs when I can.

Hi guys, hope your well.

Im making some hexagon nuts out of 310 stainless steel, the starting diameter is 35mm and my finished a/f im aiming to achieve is 30mm

Im using a Trishul 2ts polygon milling machine, ive set up the program to take 2 passes at 1.25mm each time and im using tnmg yg3030 inserts with a tool nose radius of 1.2 but burning through inserts really quickly.

My parameters are 0.04 feed rate and spindle speed of 140m/min

Can someone advise on better speeds or feeds or maybe some inserts

I'll be building my own workshop in the near future, and this is actually a practice in building things from scratch, making tools to make better tools and whatnot.

I've been looking into the Gingery lathe due to it's construction being well documented, accessible, and a part in a series about building all its prerequisite tools.

But I understand that it's not the best lathe. It's small, has a bit of slop and chatter, and maybe isn't the most physically stable design. But it gets the job done, and at worst could be used to make a better lathe later on.

But if there's a better absolute scratch lathe design out there, I'd love to hear about it, especially if it results in a mechanically superior lathe to the Gingery design.

This is an enclosure for a piece of industrial equipment. The angled corner is an aesthetic choice. If it's not possible, I'll go ahead and square it off. The premise is that the formed edge will create a well-supported landing for tacking on a piano hinge. The cabinet material is 16ga and will be powder coated. There is a finger latch in the open slot.

My thinking is that I can fold this around and use those tabs to tack weld to the inside of the sheet. I can certainly make this into multiple pieces and weld, but it would be elegant if I could make this from one piece.

In my head, I'm imagining a goosnect to get the bend most of the way then sliding a channel or L into the fold bolting that to the table to fold the rest of the way.

So I've been going through my late father's belongings recently and came across this grinder. Looks barely used. The guard is still shiny black although it should be noted my father wasn't the type that would use it. So when I plugged it in to check if it still works it did and I cut some pieces no problem, but it did occur to me that I heard a weird noise when starting. Lather on I tried to use a solid abrasive disk, or stone disk as we know them. Attempting to do so results in the grinder recoiling off the workpiece and deep gouging and doesn't feel safe at all. I then removed all the accesories and felt the spindle doesn't have any off-axis wobble so that is fine. I then opened it up and I see the gear attached to the motor is rather clean and there isn't much grease further up the head. Is that my grinder's problem?

Recently I tested the cutting performance of a cantilever fiber laser structure. Unlike traditional gantry laser equipment, the single-side open frame design provides extremely spacious operating space, which solves the loading difficulty of ultra-long and oversized metal profiles in daily processing.

During the steel plate cutting test, the servo drive system maintained stable operation at high-speed travel. The laser beam output was uniform, and the cutting section was smooth and flat with almost no burrs or slag residue. It greatly reduces manual polishing and secondary processing work.

This structural design is very practical for steel fabrication workshops. It adapts to various thick steel plates, channel steel, and long structural profiles. Adjusting the focal length and cutting parameters reasonably can effectively improve processing accuracy and overall work efficiency in metal cutting production.

#lasercutting #metalfabrication #cncmachining #metalwork #steelcutting

Hey all,

I volunteer in a museum, maintaining old industrial knitting machines. I broke a part. I want to repair the part.

The part is a cast iron lever that controls the Jacquard mechanism. Now the machine does not make pretty patterns anymore. It broke where the steel bar connects to the cast iron part. The welds were an earlier repair, not by me.

I want to repair this properly. There is not really money available to let someone professional do more than slap a bit of weld on it (like it was done). I was cautioned against welding, as it embrittles the cast iron (which may be the reason why it broke now). I was thinking about milling away the broken flange, and brazing on a new piece of steel, then drilling the holes again. The milling I'm ok with, but the brazing not.

So I come here to ask for opinions on how to approach this. Should i mill it flat? should i mill in a locating step, so part of the brazing is loaded in shear? Or is that much more difficult to braze? What should I look out for? Should I drill and tap and put some screws in? To reinforce, or to locate the part for brazing?

Thanks a lot!

Working through a batch of these 6061-T6 structural brackets today before bead blast and Type III hard coat.

Running a pneumatic DA with 120 grit to clean up the blend lines on the flat datum faces. On production jobs we just tumble everything, but on small prototype runs with sharp edges and flat mounting pads, one bad cycle in a vibratory bowl almost always washes out the corners. Doing it by hand is slow, but at least we dont scrap parts.

What tumbling media are you guys running that can actually knock down machine marks without rounding crisp edges?

running an older manual lathe facing down hex stock in 4140 pre-hardened steel. our carbide inserts keep micro-chipping on the heavy interrupted face cuts, even when slowing feeds and switching nose radii. should i transition over to premium m42 8% cobalt cutting tools ground with plenty of rake to absorb the intermittent mechanical shock, or is there a specific carbide substrate and geometry that holds up on manual machines with slight backlash?

Just pulled this 3-flute tungsten carbide MLCC cutter out of the oven 😄 Still a bit warm.

Curious if anyone here works with MLCC / ceramic cutting tools: what flute count, edge prep, and coating are you running for best tool life and chip evacuation? Any tips on avoiding micro-chipping?

Specs:

· 3 flutes
· Solid tungsten carbide
· Application: MLCC processing
· [Add diameter / coating / tolerance here]

Would love to hear your experience.

I'm working on a prototype that will ultimately become a suspended fixture, made from light gauge 3/4 or 1" square aluminum tube. The fixture will be approx 8' long and about 3' wide, using a long 90 on each corner.

I've looked into DIY benders but frankly don't want to invest the time into building/tweaking one.

Appreciate any and all suggestions on bender/die options. I may need to use the bender for other things in the future as well, including light gauge round tube.

Thanks in advance!

What does it mean when the metal it indented like this during the manufacturing process vs it being straighter? For example bent when to cold vs hot Low grade metal Maybe very thin metal Does this comprise the strength?

This is a workout machine off Amazon, a lot of inconsistency in photos shown vs what I received

It’s supposed to be able to handle 400 pounds when pulled horizontally to chest, it’s a sitting row machine with independent arms