This is approximately 240 lbs. of solid ,magnesium, which just so happens to be one of the exotic metals that we can work with. With magnesium being even lighter than aluminum, at 240 lbs. you know this weldment had to be huge! It consisted of two 3″ x 3.5″ bars attached to a 1.5″ thick plate, all 40″ long. The welds wrapped all the way around the bars. in all it was about 175 inches of weave welds! Not bad, huh?
A few weeks ago, we held one of our student workshops. In attendance we had kids from CSUN and UCLA, as well as teachers from Chaminade and even family members and just members of the community that were interested in expanding their skills. We always have a great time teaching, and watching how fast some of our students learn. Just a couple weeks later, we even had one of the people in attendance come back to the shop and weld his own part by himself! On the right you see two students practicing , and on the left is one of their “sculptures” of the pieces they practiced on!
Here we have some pictures of the frame for UCLA’s entry to the Baja SAE competition! This buggy frame was designed by engineering students at UCLA and all connections were laser cut and bent to dimension by computer. All the pieces fit like a glove, much to the delight of the team, and our workers who welded it! Javier worked with the students, assembling and tacking it together, and Terry did a good amount of the final welds. This chassis is made out of 4130 thin wall tube, and welded with ER80-S2 filler rod, which is a good strength match. Because the tubing is so thin, post weld stress relief or hardening in not needed or specified by the UCLA team. We are excited to have our logo on their buggy, and we wish them the best of luck in the upcoming race!
This is an example of what we are working this month! We are happy to be working with UCLA as they design their entry to the Baja SAE competition (Society of Automotive Engineering). Entries from around the world come to compete at the collegiate level and race their baja buggies for top honors. The frame of UCLA’s buggy is in the beginning stages, so no actual pictures yet, but we are very excited!
Javier is stuck in a cage! These frames are the beginning stage of large racks. We made four, and each one had 34 shelves, all constructed with over 85 pieces! We welded them with a combination of MIG and TIG welds. Before welding, though, come cutting precise parts and cleaning the weld areas with the wire wheel!
You may have seen us working on this fireplace bezel late last year, but we finally finished it and took it to the customer to be installed! It was in our shop for several months, and before that it was being planned and designed for several more months! This customer had been waiting for a year to get this built and put into her home, and when it finally arrived, she was ecstatic!