I am new to this forum and am a 63 year old plumber/welder who is training welders to fill the shortage of craftsmen needed. I work at Chrysler in Detroit now, ( went inside when work slowed to zero ) and in the past have welded on powerhouses and refineries. We practice on used pipe bought at a scrap yard that I paid a friends brother to both cut into 2" long pieces in his shop with a automatic feed band saw, and bevel (37-1/2 degree) both ends in a cnc lathe.
I am looking at possibly purchasing something to cut and bevel thousands of 2"long pieces of various sized pipe myself possibly in my garage where I have 220v single phase, or if no machine would run off of single phase, in the Plumbers training center where I come from.
My question is which machine( used) would be my best value ( cnc lathe) for pipe sized 2" to 8" or even 10 and 12" cost allowing. We test on 2" and 6" so with the goal to pass a test to gain employment, the minimum spec would be 2"-6".
I used a manual lathe to bevel a few at work and it took over 10 minutes to shave each square cut pipe into a bevel with a feathered edge. I ground the next dozen in about 5 or 6 hours but my ears were ringing a week. I called a guy with a regular lathe who wanted 30 dollars per hour to do them by hand. I just about gave up when a friend at work said he had a brother with a shop in Detroit who needed work. I finally got a price of $2.00 each for the 2" and 4" x 2" long pipe pieces (240 pcs each) and $3.00 for the 6" and 12" and some 9" heavy wall. I have now over 500 beveled "coupons" that will be used to practice pipe welding on.
I can either buy some more used pipe and pay him his price or I can buy the equipment to do it myself.
I am looking at this to possibly go on a large scale operation and sell the coupons for a few dollars more each.
Is this something I would be able to get into with the help of a automatic feed bandsaw? or even manual. I don't want to work for $5.00 per hour so a cnc and bandsaw seems the only way to mass produce these. Or should I just forget buying one since I know zero about this field, and help my buddys friend out and let him cut them for me.
I also am looking at this as a way to give back to my home local union who trained me decades ago and are in the dark ages as far as training welders. They still flame cut 1 weld at a time and a fellow spends more time cutting coupons than welding. My idea and their money training facilities nationwide could help bring them out of the dark ages. Thanks Mike .
I am looking at possibly purchasing something to cut and bevel thousands of 2"long pieces of various sized pipe myself possibly in my garage where I have 220v single phase, or if no machine would run off of single phase, in the Plumbers training center where I come from.
My question is which machine( used) would be my best value ( cnc lathe) for pipe sized 2" to 8" or even 10 and 12" cost allowing. We test on 2" and 6" so with the goal to pass a test to gain employment, the minimum spec would be 2"-6".
I used a manual lathe to bevel a few at work and it took over 10 minutes to shave each square cut pipe into a bevel with a feathered edge. I ground the next dozen in about 5 or 6 hours but my ears were ringing a week. I called a guy with a regular lathe who wanted 30 dollars per hour to do them by hand. I just about gave up when a friend at work said he had a brother with a shop in Detroit who needed work. I finally got a price of $2.00 each for the 2" and 4" x 2" long pipe pieces (240 pcs each) and $3.00 for the 6" and 12" and some 9" heavy wall. I have now over 500 beveled "coupons" that will be used to practice pipe welding on.
I can either buy some more used pipe and pay him his price or I can buy the equipment to do it myself.
I am looking at this to possibly go on a large scale operation and sell the coupons for a few dollars more each.
Is this something I would be able to get into with the help of a automatic feed bandsaw? or even manual. I don't want to work for $5.00 per hour so a cnc and bandsaw seems the only way to mass produce these. Or should I just forget buying one since I know zero about this field, and help my buddys friend out and let him cut them for me.
I also am looking at this as a way to give back to my home local union who trained me decades ago and are in the dark ages as far as training welders. They still flame cut 1 weld at a time and a fellow spends more time cutting coupons than welding. My idea and their money training facilities nationwide could help bring them out of the dark ages. Thanks Mike .