Fabrication tools

[crosbike]

What do you guys use everyday when fabbing up 4x4 stuff?

What do you really want that you feel will help you fabricate that much better?


I love my hobart 190 MIG, without it nothing would be done on my jeep, all my brackets are made with a grinder and cutoff wheel or purchased.

What I want/need next is:
Bender (JD2 Model 3 w/ hydro ram)
Compressor
Plasma cutter (table would be amazing)

[Harry]

Not very realistic for garage fabricators, but shears and punches are amazing. No more drill bits, no more cut off wheels. For normalish people doing shit in their garage, rotabroaches and plasmas are pretty nice.

[konastinky1234]

welder, grinder, sawzall, shitty drill, hammer. i probably have the combined worst tools of everyone on this forum for the work i do on my jeep. except my welder which is one of the nicest things i own, hobart 140. plenty of power IMO

[ct67_72]

I ahve a small drill press, welder, just bought a plasma cutter, I have rota broaches from 5/16-1-1/2 JD2 Model 32 is on its way.
I miss my lathe and tig a lot.
Right now on my short list is a band saw or porta band, shop press and a dimple die set.
After that a press brake (probably make one)and a better welder. Oh and some sort of multi angle belt sander. I love a good belt sander with different size drums.
Long list is maybe another lathe and a bridgeport, or milling machine.

[Zullock Holmes]

small drill press
Millermatic 211 mig
diversion 180 tig
I have an MSC band saw that is worth it's weight in gold... especially when making any kind of bracket
baileigh tube notcher
I have a have model 32 bender on order
of course angle grinder, sawzall, etc. i'd love to have a plasma cutter

Smaller stuff that helps too.
- Wixey digital angle finder
- a fuck load of angle magnets
- lots of c-clamps
- slide scales
- punches, transfer punches, couple scribes, got a couple sets of calipers
- scientific calculator, I like to use trig a lot when making stuff, gets my angles almost dead on, precision on cuts minimizes grinding time.
- mini bench grinder, I use for sharpening drill bits and tungsten

If I ever get really serious then i'd look into a smaller plasma table, without a doubt. Maybe a press brake and a stomp shear, that would help me a lot with some of the stuff I do, I have 4x8 sheets of .090 aluminum waiting to get turned into things but am limited on my ability to cut and bend them.

[ct67_72]

Oh, and I cant forget my chop saw, I love that thing. When I did race car stuff and built turbo piping and exhaust it was the best tool ever. Well, minus the tig.

[calvynandhobbs]

I've done my share of wrenching, but not fabricating. Hoping to get started soon. I'm finally getting electricity run down to the barn and my wife bought me a nice belt drive compressor for my birthday. I have a small collection of air tools, grinders, cut off wheels, etc, but once the electricity is in I plan to buy a welder. I have just borrowed friends' welders over the years.

[Bigbike]

MONEY!

[DizzDizz]

Piranha sheer that's all I would ever need. Has so many uses. My buddy had one I use it almost every day.

[StompJrKz400]

Love my little miller 135 for small stuff, and our Lincoln 250 for everythinv else

the cnc plasma table is great, but limited to 3\8 mild steel, which hasnt been a problem yet. I like our kemppi tig welder but really wish we had a high frequency setup for aluminium, but spool gun works ok

hydralic shear and brake is nice to have along with 4ft power rolls

Biggest thing I want is a nice tubing bender!