ATX-Iroc

I'm making this post to ask those of you who make a living fabricating how do i get into it. What schools are there, where do i look for work. Im 19 and realized that I need to jump into a career and get my life going

irocbirdbuilder

If your looking into getting into custom, hot rod, fabrication it may be a few years, find a local tech school and take a course in welding and basic fab ie, cutting, bending, pipe work etc. This is what i did took my first year in high school and since the tech school i went to was in district my first year was free second year i had to pay for think it was roughly 1400 bucks, 2 months after i was graduated and certified i got in with a trailer manafacturing company and didnt start welding but assembling components for livestock trailers, i came in early and stayed late alot fine tuning my welding and finally took my work to the manager to "prove" myself, in 4.5 years i was tossed around alot from area to area before i found my home in the Grain trailer steel frame area, changed alot of things there and rolled some people over and now i'm the head of all the welding operations for the grain and gooseneck trailer lines, this consists of all the steel frames, aluminum decks, tig welding on roof coves, rear headers, small welded components the final weldup of the trailers on both lines. I couldnt be happier i went from starting at 14 bucks an hour back in 05 to currently over 20, at 24 years old i bought a 5 bed 2 bath house!!
Welding and fab work is all about what you put into it, practice and work your *** off and you will move up, originally i came to my company to get some years under my belt and then try to get into more custom work, however the instructor i had in tech school really straightened me out and put me on the right track and everyone laughs when i tell em since i HATED school growing up but someday i'd like to go back and take over the welding program at the school i went to. Infact today i got the nod to hire another 2 welders for my area and the first email that went out was to the instructor at the tech school to bring me up 2 good welders
Sorry for the long read, but obviously this is something i moved quick and succeded in, i have my days, we all do but at the end of the day i absolutely love welding!!!

FYRCHKN

When the weather warms up a bit you can swing by my house and I'll teach you all I can.

I do custom sheet metal work for a living in Austin. Our Sheetmetal Workers Union Local 67 has a 4 year school that is FREE. Plus, they'll find you a place to work. The classes are 5-9 two nights a week from September to March.

PM me if you want more info.

radical82

I would assume you're talking race car and hot rod fabrication???? Next time you're at a car show or at the track spend some time looking at the fab work on the cars there and find out who did it. Contact some of these builders and see if you can hang out and learn a bit... Don't be expected to get paid for your time at first!!!! Matter of fact, be prepared to do some volunteer time sweeping floors, cleaning parts, or whatever might be asked of you... Got to pay your dues! It's expecting a lot for a fabricator to teach you the trade for free--or to pay you while you're learning and making mistakes!!!!

Alternative to this is spending a ton of money on schools learning the basics then hopefully land a job. You'll have to start at the bottom and work your way up, nobody gets out of Vo-Tech and gets the big bucks right from the start!

Don't bother getting into fabricating hot rods and race cars if you think it's going to be quick and easy money--it isn't!!!! Only reason to get into it is because you love it and want to be good at what you do--the money will come later once you've established yourself as a quality and trustworthy builder!!!!

I've been at it for 45 years and still love it!!!! I built up a good business over the years, then some health issues forced me to sell out, sit back, and take it a lot easier......and now I'm really having a blast!!!!! I work primarily on my own stuff, but will take on outside projects if it's something unique and challenging. I'm a part-timer for a young guy who is in the process of getting his own shop going. I do a bit of the work and spend some time teaching his employees some of the tricks of the trade... I set my own hours and come and go as I please....

Building and modifying cars is about the only interest I have other then a couple grandaughters!!!! If you can find some "old fart" who will take you under his wing and give you some hands on experience and teach you some of the tricks, go for it!!!! IMO, not a better job anywhere for any amount of pay!!!!

AlkyIROC

I've been a mechanic all my life. Stuff I fabricate isn't "show car" quality. The majority of the time when I need to fabricate something, I look to see what needs to be done then try to produce it the best I can. Many times it's a trial and error process. I don't have the skills to create a lambo door hinge system from scratch but I've fabricate many special brackets etc over the years for many different things. Having a fully outfitted shop would make fabrication work a lot easier but many of us don't have that luxury.

When you talk about fabrication work, there's different aspects of fabrication. Mechanical skills allow you to create something structural. Typically that would be the domain of a structural or mechanical engineer. Anyone can weld together a tube chassis kit but not everyone knows where and why tubes are in specific locations and why they need to be specific sizes. Artistic skills would be the aspect of design and fabrication. Being able to see a final design in your head before creating it then having the knowledge of how to create it be it in metal, plastic, glass, etc.

When you look at someone like Chip Foose, he started working on cars for his father at a young age before attending an art college. The rest of his skills are learned over years of work.

Like the majority of most skilled jobs, years of schooling comes first.

I remember watching a few episodes of american hotrod. I think most of the workers who were on TV were the more unskilled ones even though they had some ability. It seemed like every episode someone was hired or fired. The well skilled workers probably didn't want anything to do with the TV show and stayed off camera.

101btp

iTrader: (1)

Ya me I just turned 19 over this winter, and ive been going to classes at the local tech since October, Going to a Vo-tech really dose help a lot, and even classes they might seem high in price from tech, but going to a pure good technical school can be just as much if not more, O and im not sure about with yours but mine will end up counting for 18 college credits because it's going through a local college it's nice we even got a state grant that knocked price right off classes!

89_RS

If you are going to a 4 year University, see if they have a Formula SAE team. That will give all the fab skills you could ever want and more. You might even get a job out of it even if you never officially went to a tech school for fab.

When I started Formula, I knew nothing about fab. A year and a half later, I can do just about anything with a manual lathe or mill, lots of stuff on a CNC mill, and TIG weld.

ATX-Iroc

Thanks for all the help. I'm not really focusing on race car fab as I'm not sure if theres lots of jobs in that. I just want to make stuff out metal and make a decent living, I cant even get an apartment on this wal-mart paycheck. Look forward to hangin out with fyrchkn hopefully attending the classes he mentioned

itsMikey

WyoTech