Coffee project.

[pipefitter]

'Coffee project' is what surprises you find on a Monday morning. I usually walk in, fix a cup and then get my work orders, plans for the week long goal. The owner just thinks there is not anything I can't shape a pipe into, even if it's an aluminum thing like this that the owner really loves enough to restore. This thing is rough as a cob and I doubt it was even built symmetrically in the first place. I know the painted stripes were off as much as an inch from one side to the other. I just say to myself, "Don't ask why, Paul. . .". There is no machine at our shop that can do compound curves, which leaves the hip bender and my knee to form such a contraption with. There's a doubled seam, right up the middle. I offered to notch the windshield frame for this but ended up just kink forming it there and letting the weather strip that 'they' opted to bed it in. This used up my whole cup.



Anybody else have any weird projects they get roped into?

[pipefitter]

Ok, here's another. Take a perfectly good t-top and make it demountable, so it will fit in a barn door in Michigan somewhere. Anyone that has welded an aluminum closed frame such as this, knows what happens when you cut it apart. It springs to where it wanted to go if it had not been subdued. Then, add machined fittings to where all the allen bolts can be started by hand. 6 of them(6 breakaway fittings/12 Allen bolts) to boot! Everyone had gone home when I did this. Sometimes, additional help, no matter how good the intentions, end up being too much help if you know what I mean.




I turned the 2 fittings on the rear grab bars 90 deg to the 4 mains, so that the customer (an elder gent) would have a way to have this self aligning in the event he had to assemble this solo or with minimal help. This was a 2 cupper. Exacting surgery with my favorite tool, the reciprocating air saw.

[The Bigfella]

Anybody else have any weird projects they get roped into?

Just about every job I do - because they all involve conflicting people and objectives in some way or another.... trouble is, I have to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Nice work Paul! .... as always.

[Bill R]

Damn Pipefitter. Very impressive.

As far as projects, nothing that rises to the level of what you just showed us. I am my company's "odd and unusual stuff" guy. Whenever something out of the norm is needed from millwork to basic metal fabrication I'm the lucky (?) guy who gets the call.

Right now I'm working on an antenna switch hanger that will allow this switch to be hung upside down due to space constraints. This one has been tough due to the switch design. Hopefully have it done this weekend.

As usual Pipefitter, thanks for posting your pics. Gives me something to aspire to.

[mmd]

One of the joys of my job is to work with skilled craftsmen such as yourself, Paul. The process of taking a client's desires, figuring out the hows and wheres and whats, then collaborating with a skilled craftsman to work out the bits that I don't know about, and seeing it come into reality is a process full of personal satisfaction.

Nice work, Pipefitter.

[pipefitter]

Bigfella, that's a daily part of the grind here too. You would not believe how many 'engineers' I come across in this trade. There may have been one that was actually somewhat qualified and he still left it up to us when all was said and done.

Bill, again I can relate. Some of the fittings and such that we get from the outside are very odd and unusual. It's good solutions training and I suppose you find that you can MacGyver your way through many situations in every day life as well. Could you imagine going to a regular job where all of that is done for you? I couldn't.

mmd- What you just said about working 'with' the craftsman, would make you a very good architect/engineer. So many engineers leave that step out and I bet there is many here that can relate to dealings with such, that really made them question credentials. I used to run across it more often in the construction trades, where the workers hardly ever knew the architect beyond second hand. I have seen the scale of your work. It's quite impressive and I know you really have to be intensely focused to not miss any details, most, if not all could be an expensive mistake. Does it ever get to you?

[Noah]

Cool stuff. I like the look of the first boat - very retro speedboat.

[Thorne]

Since it is only a hobby for me, I have myself to blame for the strange stuff I end up doing.

Rebuilding a HF utility trailer into a boat trailer was one totally stupid project which involved much fiddling, welding, fabbing and trips to the metal suppliers. A waste of time and money, as the axle and other parts are junk. So I'll do it right the next time with a real boat trailer..

[mmd]

"...you really have to be intensely focused to not miss any details, most, if not all could be an expensive mistake. Does it ever get to you?" - Pipefitter

I rarely can't sleep, and I don't have ulcers or nervous tics, but the job is rarely far from my mind even on weekends and holidays. And yes, I do miss stuff; nobody is perfect. But that is where the relationship with the craftsmen becomes a gift. I take the preliminary plans to the guys who are going to actually build the stuff I create in my mind and they can spot the glaring omissions in their specialties in pretty short order. Building big stuff like ships is a team effort - I know how to do bits that you don't, but you know stuff that I don't. If we collaborate, there's no screw-ups.

I like working like that.

[pipefitter]

Since it is only a hobby for me, I have myself to blame for the strange stuff I end up doing.

Next time? I have a fab shop and even I can't build a trailer cheaper than I can buy one for. If so, not enough to make it worth it. Although, I would like to build my next one, pipe and girder style out of the material I work with. That would be a novelty, something that no one else has and I could build it economically with the materials I am accustomed to.

It still came out nice and fits the boat well.

[pipefitter]

I rarely can't sleep, and I don't have ulcers or nervous tics, but the job is rarely far from my mind even on weekends and holidays. And yes, I do miss stuff; nobody is perfect. But that is where the relationship with the craftsmen becomes a gift. I take the preliminary plans to the guys who are going to actually build the stuff I create in my mind and they can spot the glaring omissions in their specialties in pretty short order. Building big stuff like ships is a team effort - I know how to do bits that you don't, but you know stuff that I don't. If we collaborate, there's no screw-ups.

I like working like that.

I don't have any real stress from mine either, but like you, it is always on my mind. The rigging/electronics guy I collaborate with as well. I am always asking him if he can install what I build. Such as a screw that will be somewhat obscured by a pipe that he won't be able to get a drill/screw bit around, wires through a certain styled chase etc. I am fortunate in that the owner of my company pretty much lets me do most of the designing. Every once in awhile he throws a cog in the gear. His new thing is using 2" pipe. The pipe notcher doesn't accommodate 2" so I have to cut compound copes on the bandsaw. Ok then, doable, but he doesn't consider that some pipes needing a cope on one end are 10ft long. I would like to see him try that on for size one time!