Metal Fabrication Tools

Metal fabrication tools like this 3 axis clamp can you save time and money if you have a lot of framing to do.

Over the last 35 years, I have fabricated quite a few tables, carts, racks, etc.

I did most of it the old fashioned way because the companies I worked for pretty much only bought the simplest of metal fabrication tools like a framing square and some C clamps.

It was up to the welder to fabricate temporary fixturing for framing and fabricating.

You know, like welding 90 degree angle on one corner of the table with a short piece of angle iron as a riser to clamp to...it worked pretty well but not nearly as well or as quick as using this precision machined 3 axis clamp.

I sped parts of the video up to trim the time to around 10 minutes because I know everyone is busy like me.

But even with the video at 2x, I think its easy to see how the clamp makes things go together fast.

Just for a quick review....A few months ago, I made a stand to hold my porter cable portable band saw....and as far as metal fabrication tools go, it is about the handiest thing I ever made.

But... I found myself using it so much, that it was kind of a hassle to move it around and I did not have a table dedicated to store it so I would have to pick it up, put it on the welding table, plug it in, then move it back to its place.

So I decided to make a table for it that was the same height as my welding table so that if I wanted to cut something long, I could just rest it on the table while I made a quick cut.

My welding area is part of a machine shop and sometimes the horizontal band saw is being used for other jobs so if I need to cut a short piece of round stock, I just use the portaband in the stand.

I framed up the table top but then had to stop because a hot job came up.

I had to weld up 2 small stainless steel parts before I could finish the portaband cart.

Once the hot job was done, I used this nice 3 axis clamp from Stronghand tools.

They sent it to me to review and possibly include it in a video. It has been on the shelf for a while because I didnt have a job where I needed it for several weeks, but today, It definitely came in handy.

I was able to get the cart completed in just a few hours even though I was filming everything. I would guess that without filming, I could have knocked this job out in not much more than 1 hour.

Now I have a place to store the portaband where it will stay plugged in and ready to make quick cuts....and when I need to cut something long, I can wheel it over next to my table...and then move it back out of the way easily. exit metal fabrication tools and visit home page