Back in the days of my youth, before the internet and GoPros and streaming videos, before social media, before Starbucks and Nirvana and the proliferation of ready to go pizza, before we had cable TV or CDs, back when rotary phones where the only way to make a call and you still needed to jump … Read More
TheFabricator.com: A quick fix, Ill-fitting aluminum baffle on a Honda S2000 oil pan
As a gearhead, you get used to the idea that an aftermarket bolt-on part or even a weld-in piece billed as “made to fit” doesn’t usually live up to its promise. As a matter of fact, when a part even comes close to lining up as it should, it’s a cause for celebration. (Continue Reading)
Still Building America: Aspiring welder Haley DeMitchell
At the end of June we attended a celebration of all things America and automotive at the “Cars Under the Stars” fireworks event at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Mich. Among the crowd of friends and strangers we overheard a conversation nearby. A young girl was talking about her passion for welding, and we couldn’t help … Read More
TheFabricator.com: A truck fit for a metal fabricator
In an age of plastic bumpers, bedazzled wheels, and other bits of faux off-road virtue signaling, the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is breath of fresh, argon-tinged air. It looks and feels substantial, more “fabricated” than merely assembled. With a high-strength yet lightweight steel frame, aluminum body, sturdy metal bumpers, heavy-duty skid plates, and rock sliders throughout, the Gladiator … Read More
The WELDER: Inspired to “normalize” women in the workplace: Meet welder and artist Melissa Gillespie Davis
Over the last few years we’ve been featuring young, blue-collar workers in our Still Building America blog series at thefabricator.com. Once in a while a story leaps out at me, and this is one of those. My wife Darla shared Melissa Gillespie Davis’ industrial paintings with me, and they stopped me cold. Themes of tradeswomen, … Read More
TheFabricator.com: For metal fabricators, free time is a luxury
Whether you’re a mechanic, a fabricator, a machinist, or a writer, there’s no such thing as free time. Over the span of many years, you’ve spent long hours nearly every day of every week honing your talent, developing your skills, and gaining knowledge that only comes from such experience. Both the time it takes you … Read More
