I'm at several of those moments and spots were I come to a screeching halt... slam on the brakes and sit in a holding pattern for awhile... I hate these moments... I've got the frame done except for One thing... I need a piece of 6"x13"x3/16" steel flat bar but my local metal supplier closed down and retired... with that piece the frame would be ready to sandblast and paint... Started setting up the motor accessories on my 440 but I need single V groove water pump and crank pulleys to build accessory brackets. Can't find my front brake hoses to move further along on the brake system... There are a couple other spots like above but these are the top 2 that's just burning me right now. First thing I need to do is find a job but ain't having much luck at that right now either ! Just had to vent and curious how many others find their selves in this predicament occasionally? ....
Remembering our trip down through the middle of Kansas a few years ago it might be a long drive to get to a real grocery store for some folks let alone a metal supply house. I used to get steel remnants from a farm equipment fabricating shop a few years ago and still would if I needed something. All I can say about the job part is that a lot of the time you have to have a job to leave to get a better or thee good job. It's a lot easier to tell a prospective employer that you like where you are working but there is no place to grow rather than you have been out of work for ______ . Some times pride gets in the way of having money in the pocket. On the brake lines, I resemble that, I need to completely empty my garage out and clean out and put everything back were it belongs or fits the best and start over. Last time I left my garage doors open two women from FEMA showed up with clipboards and hard hats wanting to know about the disaster.
not lately, but I've been there. I looked, I only have 1/8 and 1/4 thick 6" steel. If either would work, it's yours.
Been there done that! When I was working I had three projects (still do) going at once in one stage or another, I couldn't work enough overtime to sustain that cluster f#@k, had to (try) and focus on just one project, when one stalled for whatever reason, I went to another one. So yeh, it's been a love/hate relationship........for nearly 40 years.
@squirrel thank you for the offer !! I wasn't looking for hand outs just venting, it's just I'm getting close to getting something done and then get shut down. The frame being done and painted would be a major victory for me, building it from scratch then actually getting it in paint... even the thought of it seems like a long time coming. @Mr48chev the job part I understand, most places want someone young in hopes of them hanging around along time. At 60 I don't plan on working but for another 4 or 5 yrs. When I managed a body shop I liked guys in their mid 30's to hire, hope was they'd be around along time and still old enough to have good experience. Our local metal guy was old school, keep weird size stock around too. Weld about anything. We have another one just kinda starting but it's a side deal for them so they carry simple stuff like 1" 2" 3" strap in 1/8" thick. Angle iron in the same specs. They will special order for you but you got to want the whole 20' stick... ...
Any fab shops in close enough proximity to you that has some kind of cutting table? I've gone to a shop in the next town north of me that has a computer waterjet cutting system. They keep the cutoffs from big jobs and use them for the small jobs like mine, keeping the cost down. Might be worth a look in your area.
There are places online you can order and have it shipped to you. McMaster Carr sells some sizes, you might look on there. There are others as well. One piece might not be that much.
In the meantime there are other details that require doing...... go over , under , around and damn go right through if need be...get that free stuff if Hanb family offers it....
Job wise many places want someone young and untrained that they can hire and train at entry level pay. I applied for a job with an outfit that handled belts, bearings and anything to do with power and motion in a plant or on equipment and I had had a number of years of experience but the manager told me that he couldn't afford to pay for those years of experience.
I thought this was going to be like “I can’t find my…” But I feel you for local stuff. The place I used to go would charge me by the pound, regardless of shearing needed. The other place in town isn’t quite as “nice”. All good. Yes, my guy closed the doors years ago, not sure what happened to everything inside the building, but it’s all 3 phase.
I’ll look at the shop tomorrow. It’s 5 miles away or I’d look right now. I may have a piece of the flat stock but I’m thinking it’s 1/4” thick.
For stuff like this I can't find locally, I use a place called "Online Metals". They have wide selection, and you can get it shipped pretty cheaply. They have all kinds of materials (aluminum, steel, brass) and shapes (plate, round tube, square tube, bar, etc.). They specialize in small orders. Take a look at their website some time.
Thanks guys ! I've used online metals before and have no problem with them. It was just so nice to hop in the car, drive 5 minutes and grab whatever metal I needed along with a 15 to 20 minute BS session. He also had a 10' metal brake and metal shear that he let me have full use of, it was nice when I needed something bent or cut. But I'll miss him more than any thing. .....
Online Metals is maybe the place a coworker recently used. But I think it may have been “metal mart”. Can’t recall. He needed several pieces of food grade SS as he building a food trailer for his nephew, but has no way to haul or cut to size. He is danged good with a Tig though!
Yeah it was the last true welding shop we had that closed LOL !!! This is small town, Joplin MO is the largest city close to us, it's about an hour drive to its city limits. Welding shops, machine shops, anything like this is pretty much gone from our area. Being a small college town we have plenty of bars and restaurants and sadly that's about it. The days of small towns being self reliant are gone... ..
I feel for you. I work away from home, and am not home much. When I am, I juggle work stuff, family stuff and the odd hour here and there on projects. I've normally got two or three tasks on the go at once - say brakes, fuel line and motor assembly. I run each area until I come to a screaming halt through lack of parts or machining. I write a to-do list that I then take with me to work - order fittings, organise machining etc. I come home to a small pile of parcels, and appointments to drop off stuff to the machinist/fabricator. It all comes unglued when I order the wrong stuff, or it shows up after I get back to work, or the machine shop extends the pickup time a week or so, or my knowledge runs out. It used to frustrate me that my projects took so long. What has helped me is having a HAMB-era daily driver. Even when the projects are running slow, I can still tool around the suburbs and enjoy the car. Good luck on the steel plate. When you're hunting those brake lines, let me know if you find my Willwood NPT to inverted flare fitting.... damned if I know where I left that Cheers, Harv
I usually look for something else around the house that might work. I needed 2 pieces of 2 foot of 1" square tubing...my wife is still wondering where her E-Z-Glide Ski Exerciser went.
Been there and experienced that. I love living in a small town but the drawback is that anytime I need something metal or hardware related it’s usually an hour or more out of my day. Thankfully I’ve got several good resources for both. There is an old school hardware store ten miles away that has a lot of the stuff you don’t find in the typical modern stores. I go there a lot. There used to be a metal business that carried a large amount of anything you’d need, cheap too, but he closed up shop about eight years ago. There are still two or three other places that I can get what I need though. I run into the same work stoppage issues, fortunately there are enough things to do on my rides that I can jump from one project to another. The frustrating thing is having to stop when you seem to be making progress. There is always a mental shift I have to make to go from one project to another that seems to take a few sips of coffee and an attitude adjustment. Good luck on the job hunt.
Yeah I've worked myself into a corner so to speak, being jobless right now has really put a damper on my car. I've gotten to the point of all the extra stuff I had laying around to work on later like steering column, floor pans etc I've worked thru or ran to the point I needs more parts or money. So I actually have several more points I'm stopped at. It's one of those I need an extra 500 or 600 dollars to move on kind of deals. I'm not worried about stopping for a while I just hate having to stop. I'm about thru my extra surplus steel pile I had with stuff I actually need, still have some pile left just it's not what I need for the projects I'm working on. Work on tail lights but need 2" tube but I've used up what I had etc etc kinda things... Thanks guys for the words of encouragement though, I really appreciate it !! ...
There is a guy (who I don't deal with) here locally that has some kind of inside track where he gets/buys the left over steel from somewhere. I don't know if he just buys all the "off fall" from a steel dealer or from some large fab shop, but he sets up booths at the "Peddlers Malls" and then puts ads on Facebook. From the constant reposts, he must be doing a very good business doing this. My point here is that like yourself, there are probably lots of other guys needing metal stock. Since your source closed, it might be an opportunity for someone to do the same thing in your area. Here are some pics of his wares..........looks like making pretty good profit. When he started, he didn't have this much stuff........but it appears that he is now doing well because he is constantly adding new pics with more stock. Just a thought that might turn into a worthwile venture if a source can be found.
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