Hey guys,
I'm trying to figure out how much I should expect to pay per hour for TIG welding aluminum. I'm trying to produce a new part and I've gotten quotes from $15 to $60 a piece. Each takes less than 10 minutes to weld. There's under 20" of weld on each one, and everything is jigged nicely. Material is 6061 T6 and I want 4043 filler used.

 

how many pieces are you having done per time (batch size)? are the jigs yours? who pays for the filler and gas? whose machine is it? is it done at your location or thiers? how are parts shipped to and from the welding site? what are the tolerances demanded? how is quality control done? how much lead time are you allowing per batch?

i mean these are all factors that get taken into account.

 

I make freestyle scooter decks for mostly street orientated use. Street translates to big drops, steps, ledges, grinding, sketchy riding, etc. The welder I normally go to is getting a lot busier with repairing dies, so I can't have as much done. The guys over there liked me, so I got really cheap prices compared to quotes I'm getting from other places

Batch depends on how many are ordered. 1-20 a week. The parts are not technically jigged any more. The decks are built in a way that the pieces can be bolted together and then welded. The welder's filler, welder's gas, their machine, their location. I drop all parts off, call, and pick them up. I am more than willing to wait a few days and work on their schedule.

Quality has been controlled by myself since I ride, a lot. I also put a random one on the tensile strength tester at my dad's work every couple weeks. I have yet to have a deck snap on a customer. As long as I get clean penetrating welds I'm set. I pwa the decks before I sell them (dad caught me water quenching at home, I think it was the 970 degrees that got to him).

Keep in mind that I'm only 17, and I don't really know a whole lot about the trade, but I'm trying. I'd like to figure out how much an average welder makes an hour. Sort of a benchmark number to compare with, so I don't get ripped off.

 

vids of you extreme razoring'? haha good luck finding someone new.

 

You can expect to pay 60-100 an hour.

 

First of all, my scooter doesn't have a single razor part on it. I'll try not to take offense, I understand what people think of when they hear scooter... Not a video of me, but BenJ is a pretty cool rider, http://www.vimeo.com/4237333

60-100 to me is very reasonable. Previous welder welded the decks 20 a piece which is over 100 an hour. I still don't understand how I got two quotes for $60 per deck. Thanks for the reply,

 

weird....i had no idea this scene existed....pretty cool though. good luck on your entrepreneur endeavors.

 

Those prices sound about right but I bet you can get it cheaper since the economy in Mich blows. I grew up in GR but the only places I know of that have good AL welders probably wouldnt weld by the piece for you. Where have you gotten quotes from so far?

 

All Phase
Kent Welding
Lewis Welding
Avery's Welding & Machine Shop (tomorrow, nice older man...)
A few others that are more industrial and expensive, these are the smaller businesses that I'd prefer to deal with. Who were you thinking of?

Did you ever deal with Central Iron and Steel or Alro? I'm having a heck of a time getting 4130 alloy steel or even 1020 DOM for a decent price around here. I'm ordering many of my materials on the internet.

 

You have to realise also that when you are calling or talking to welders, they don't know whether you are prepping it right or even have pieces that fit right. I have people ask me for stuff all the time that to them sounds simple, but then when it comes in it becomes a nightmare trying to make chicken soup out of chicken ****. It's easier to quote higher and then come in lower when you can actually see it than to give a price and then spend the afternoon screwing around with parts that don't fit and aren't cleaned or prepped right.

I'm not saying you aren't prepping stuff correctly, I'm just trying to show what it's like on the other end.

 

have you thought about doing it yourself?

 

so if your scooter isnt a razor then what is it, i ride bmx but used to rip a razor at the skateparks, i always broke them, and i would weld up the hinge to keep it more tight.

 

Ugh yeah buying material there... I had the same problem. Alro wants to you buy by the truckload to get a decent price and Central pretty much rapes you on new steel but is pretty reasonable on scrap by the pound. You MIGHT be able to piggy back a bigger shop and buy from them. Coturour(sp) Iron Craft is owned by a really nice family and they might be able to help you out. They do bigger commercial stairways and off the wall custom fab so they might to busy for someone small like you(no offense)For the life of me I can't remember the name of the st they are on. It's by Magnum powder coating somewhere. Otherwises, try posting on ef-honda.com there are a bunch of local guys there who are more in the know than me as I've been gone for a few years now. They should know of local, small operations that I forget.

 

I completely understand where you're coming from with the wrong prepping; I don't think I'm like that. I'm not trying to over complicate this small project, but I'm low on money because I'm out of work. I don't have open access to a TIG and my MIG isn't set up for aluminum.

I ride scoots that I make. See how beefy that deck is? It's a prototype that I snapped it today.... I never thought it would bend in the ways it did, haha... Ignore the wheels.

 

I can't believe I forgot about ef-honda! I'll post up on there shortly. The only way I've been getting my 6061 is to order from Alro through Central Iron and Steel which is a royal pain and takes extra time. Thanks a lot for the reply,

 

That video was sweet. Good luck man. Big dudes on those scooters still looks gay though..lol j/k

Many others are right....just calling those people is difficult to get a good quote. Take it up there, assembled and in pieces for quotes.

 

i saw the other thread you made about cleaning the welds up. the set up will bend.

 

Why don't you get welding samples from these different companies, so you can make sure you are really comparing apples to apples.

 

That one is actually in nearly two pieces now... What did you notice wrong with it? Thanks for the help everyone.

 

What he is saying is that you say in here that you are prepping the pieces right and everything, but that's not evident in your other thread. If someone brought me something like that I would end up brushing and cleaning every piece before I welded it together.